Help with Penn ID

[steveng]

Hello all, I confess that I know nothing about reels. I am, however, interested in old stuff. I have a Penn reel that I'm hoping someone here can help me ID. Thanks!

[thorhammer]

Ted, Mike and some others will be along directly but my limited knowledge says you have there a pre-WWII Long Beach- non-numbered , waffle clicker, spool and other tells. Maybe even a Gen 1 but those guys will say for sure.

[steveng]

Thanks! I've added an additional pic if that helps folks!

[Dominick]

According to Michael Cacioppo (2014) The Chronological History of Penn Reels 1932 - 1957 the Long beach 500 yard was introduced in 1939 (the year I was born) and was continued into 1957.  The telltale waffle clicker will be the key to the time the clicker was changed to come close to the year it was produced.  Wait for Mike or Broadway Dom to chime in.  Dominick

[JoseCuervo]

Thanks for posting that. I have never seen that pictured tailplate before. 

[Maxed Out]

This is the earliest of the large long beach reels. Back then the logo only said "long beach" and the model is determined by the yardage stamped under the seat. Your reel should be a 66 since this reel has a waffle clicker, I'm guessing the yardage stamp is 400YDS (aka lb66), as the 67 wasn't introduced until '39 and would have Hershey clicker, but this reel looks wider than a 66 ?? The 68 wasn't introduced until 1942.

[steveng]

Interesting. Wading through the internet, I found this image in the 1939 catalog. It looks like mine and the 67, No 9 has the 500 yard stamp like mine.

[Maxed Out]

Yes, yours is a 67. It's likely the reel was out to the public in late 1938, but not in catalog till 39.

You have a very unique 67 and one any collector would love to have in any condition. Not huge dollar value, just very uncommon !

[steveng]

Wow! Thanks for your help! I found it in a second hand shop, mounted to a bottom fishing rod. The nearest coast is 6 hours away. You never know where things will turn up. Also, a good reminder to tell the grandkids about my stuff, so maybe they won't chunk it with old magazines.

[Gfish]

Very cool. A LB 67 size, '39 with a waffle clicker. Penn probably used left over parts such as the waffel click buttons on newer models for economic reasons. I gotta L.B. Deluxe, waffle clicker, no yardage stamp on the stand, no part #'s and no picture plate---darn!, I like yours. Also, no model size marked on the head-plate.

[mo65]

Cool reel!

[steveng]

Hey guys, A collector that I contacted before finding this group is telling me that the reel could be 39 thru late 40's. Looking through the Penn catalogs, the 39 image for the long beech looks like mine (see above), the 40 and on show numbered face plates, Did Penn number the plates after 39 or did the no number faceplate continue?

Update: I sent him the link to the catalogs at Mystic, and he relented.

Thanks again everyone!

[Maxed Out]

 The waffle clicker button is 1938 or before. After that all clickers were Hershey kiss style. Your 500yd long beach is definitely waffle clicker. Of course there is no certain date when clicker changed to Hershey kiss, but it is during the 1938 time frame. Your reel also has drilled arbor instead of a line tie post. All pointing towards factory correct for what I'd say is from the first run of the 500yd long beach

The logo stayed generic thru 1940/41. That's when Penn stopped stamping yardage on the seat and they had to put model# in the headplate logo

[milne]

Nice Find there...
I'd call that a 67 first year 39, anything that early and first year, is well worth the shelf spot !!.
Again, nice find, well done.


Col

[Donnyboat]

Great find Steven, could you tell us what money you paid for it, cheers Don.