Mitchell 300 Technical Perfection

[sandbar]

I'm wondering if anyone can date this booklet.
The schematic references the "Mitchell Rapid No.350"
Thanks
-Steve

[sandbar]

The PDF

[Midway Tommy]

Probably 1958 or 1959 since that was when they came started promoting them.

[MarkT]

All I fished in the early 70's were Mitchell 300's. If it swam in the Connecticut river I caught it on a Mitchell 300!

[oc1]

Did you ever point your rod tip down (like when fishing from a pier) and have the Mitchell 300 push button spool fall off and into the water?

[oldmanjoe]

Did you ever point your rod tip down (like when fishing from a pier) and have the Mitchell 300 push button spool fall off and into the water?

  I have , that`s when you realize how much line is on the spool as you pile it up on the dock to get to the bottom to retrieve the spool ! 

[foakes]

In 1956, Mitchell introduced the "Rapid" —- which was a high speed 5:1 geared version of the original egg shaped bodied popular Mitchell reels.

A year, or so later, they decided to add a number designation to their reels.  The Rapid became the "350", the original 3:1 egg-shaped reel became the "300".

I think I read somewhere that Mitchell had produced 30,000,000 "300" reels.

In the heyday of French manufacturing —- 12,000 300's were being produced each day.

A few years later, the Asian Rim manufacturers were the main culprit in Mitchell seeking partners, mergers, buyers —- basically a White Knight to save them.  After many struggles and lifelines, and mergers —- they finally declared bankruptcy a few years later.

The Mitchell name and lines of reels was acquired by Pure Fishing, in 2000.

Best, Fred

[sandbar]

Good information, Fred.
I don't see any mention or tutorials for the Rapid 350 on this site. Was the reel not well received?
Just wondering if the higher speed was not a big deal for the type fishing folks use 300's for.
-Steve

[Gfish]

No 300 spool poping-off, but I can see it happening. One of the over-looked maintenance spots on spinners seems to the inside of the push-button spools. Solvent, soak, flush, q-tip and then some grease.

Do the Ladies do better on assembly lines, or was it maybe a 2nd household income back in the day?

[foakes]

Good information, Fred.
I don't see any mention or tutorials for the Rapid 350 on this site. Was the reel not well received?
Just wondering if the higher speed was not a big deal for the type fishing folks use 300's for.
-Steve

Actually, a few years later, Mitchell manufactured all of their high-speed reels with a model number, as well as a dark blue paint scheme, instead of black.

These would include the 400, 410, 408, 402, 406, 440, 488, etc.  And others.  Plus the left hand "1" versions of each of these.

High speed Mitchells are always in demand.

There are guys who have written detailed books on the Mitchell reels.  And I could get easily lost in the tiny differences in some of the versions.

So I just stay in my little corner —- and install whatever parts are needed when doing repairs and restorations.

Best, Fred

[foakes]

Do the Ladies do better on assembly lines, or was it maybe a 2nd household income back in the day?

I think that it was a combination of the women doing a great job on the details of assembling reels —- along with the fact that the manufacturers could also pay them less than a man doing the same job.

Unfortunately, that is how the world was back in those days.

Best, Fred

[happyhooker]

Reel shows an old-style AR switch, and there is no mention of "Garcia" on the reel, so it would likely be an older model.  I have an old owners manual for the 300, 301, 350 & 351 and it only shows "Garcia" on a sticker that goes on the top part of the gear case cover. These stickers were often lost after a few uses of the reel. I say "old" manual because none of the addresses state Zip Codes (which started in '63).

The 400 was supposed to supersede the 350, I believe, but there were years of joint production of both, so....  Production figures claim almost twice as many 350s made as 400s.  I would have guessed the other way around, as I seem to see more references to the 400 than the 350.  The same reel, except for the numbers?  I would not put it out of the realm of possibility.

Smaller fingers, generally, on women, probably made for better assembly practices.

Frank

[jtwill98]

Do the Ladies do better on assembly lines, or was it maybe a 2nd household income back in the day?

From personal experience working a summer job between high school and college, I can attest the one day that I worked on a assembly line machine, drilling two holes for hardware handles, was the longest day that I ever encountered at the factory.

At day's end, the foreman told me the women were able to produce twice as many parts on average, than I had completed that day. What mind-numbing work that was. I immediately requested a transfer back to the foundry from where I was on loan.

I guess from my experience, YES, women are better on the assembly line. 

[jtwill98]

Production figures claim almost twice as many 350s made as 400s.

You are correct. According to the spreadsheet published by George Saul in his book: "The Mitchell Century - A Reel REVOLUTION (2022)" production numbers are:

350 (1956-1986) 594,626
351 (1958-1961) 18,775 (1971) 1
Total 612,402

400 (1963-1975) 299,921 (1977) 20,512 (1985-1986) 7,808
400S (1985) 4,034
401 (1963-1977) 41,908
Total 370,149

[ExcessiveAngler]

Very interesting information here indeed.
Up until my brother-in-law yanked the Boat a few years ago, watched him regularly land some very nice sized saltwater fish with his father's Mitchell 300.
Watched him land fat 6'sharks, at least a 15 pound bluefish, that chewed right through the net, and some pretty big cow nose rays too.
I laughed at him and said, it won't be long.
Thought for sure the reel foot would snap right off, but unbelievably it never did.
I thought the 300's were basically for freshwater, not that that matters to him.
I know it went for 3 seasons problem free, and was still going strong.
But, I would love to know what that 300 looks like inside now though.