Hello all, wondering which manufacturer designed & made these reels? Was it KP Morritt, Shakespeare, Quick, or ?? In some ways, it shares design with the old Norris-Shakespeare reels. Thanks all.
The majority of SB/Gladding Classic series reels were made by Omori of Japan. Things started getting complicated back in the mid '60s & early '70s with corporate buyouts, mergers and the transition to Japanese & Asian manufacturing.
Here's a brief synopsis of some of the relevant events of the time.
South Bend and Gladding merged in 1964.
Pflueger was bought by Shakespeare in 1966 and operated under its own name until 1969 when it became the Pflueger Division of Shakespeare. Shakespeare underwent a lot of changes throughout the 1960s, including forming Norris Shakespeare, buying S Allcocks, JW Young, M Lee, Top Tackle, etc., and also buying Southern Tackle in 1972. Shakespeare began working with Omori of Japan in 1970, too.
Omori made many of the Diamond reel models. Southern Tackle was the US distributor for Diamond reels. Omori also made a lot of similar looking reels for other companies, including the "Classic" series' for South Bend/Gladdong in the late '60s & early '70s. A few of the Omori made reels, specifically the 900 series SB Classics, are worm gear driven. Also, Omori made reels for a lot of different companies so connecting all those dots requires a lot of in depth study, reading and in hand experience.
Wow, what wonderful information, thank you ! It's great that resources like you have this knowledge. I feel fortunate to have lived thru the 60s & 70s when a large variety of designs were available to chose from. So I still fish (spin & fly) with vintage equipment from that era and relive memories.