Garcia Mitchell 496 white spool

[milne]

Just a question, friend of mine has an old 496 with a white spool, He's never going to use it again...
Now, I know nothing of older/vintage spinning reels ( just in awe of seeing Guru's at work ie Fred)
I'm tinkering and getting interested in a variety of older spinners, As per Penn conventional reels when you see them with a white spool, you grab them !!
Was this the norm for Garcia/Mitchell ?
Is it worth saving this reel from a neglectful owner ??

Cheers
Col

Oops, I may have posted this in the wrong place, sorry

[foakes]

To me, it would be worth getting, Col —

I might have 500 complete Mitchell reels and possibly 600 loose spools.  Only a couple are kind of an off white (grayish white) —- and those are for the 300/400 sized reels —- not the large ones.  The rest of them are black aluminum or plastic, or the more rare bare shiny aluminum.

Mitchell 496 is a real powerhouse of a reel.

Best, Fred

[Gfish]

I think the Mitchell's are fun to rebuild. IMO, good design, and relatively close tolerances in a light-weight metals package. The thing to watch when disassembling are the copper shim washers—-placement and number in each location.

[milne]

I'll post a photo up when I get it.
It's not what I would call show room condition, but not to bad. The spool is a greyish white Fred yes.
I can't even find any specifications on the 496, would anyone have any idea's ??..
Of course this one will get the complete strip down treatment, didn't like the idea it would have probably ended up in the skip bin !!

Col

[thorhammer]

Grab it. i have a load of 486 / 488's, which are basically the non-skirted spool design. Worth a save whether white spool or not, they cast far and retrieve a lot of line. I think the 488 pulls 39 inches per turn.


John

[foakes]

John is right, Col —-

The 396, 397, 496, 497 are the Skirted Spool versions of the of the 386, 387, 486, 487 large Mitchell spinners.

Since it belonged to your friend —- it is likely in pretty good shape.

The risk on these large Mitchells (and other large spinners) is that they have likely been used hard in the salt.  Parts could be needed, or not.  You won't know until you get into the reel.

I have about 5 or 6 large metal drawers full of parts for the larger Mitchells.  And I found (1) new spool out in the upstairs excess storage.  It is a kind of hammer-painted salt resistant light grey.  Very substantial spool.

So if you get stuck —- we might have some parts, if needed.

Best, Fred

[milne]

Oh My Gosh Fred !!!
That's all I can really say, you have an absolute treasure trove of parts and pieces !!.
I only had a brief look at this reel a while back, can't honestly remember it's true condition.
It needed to be saved that's for sure LOL..
Thankyou again for your kind offer on parts, the Dam reel I have already pulled down, does indeed need some parts to revive it, So once I get and pull the Mitchel apart, there may well be a few parts needed.
A couple of winter type projects for me anyhow's.
Thanks Guys..

Col

[milne]

Well, it's an interesting reel..
Quite a bit larger than I remember, there is paint loss to parts of the body and marks on the end of the white spool, but it's in what I would call reasonable condition.
I quickly took the side plate and spool off to check potentially if it had been abused in salt water, but surprisingly, it's quite clean.
I know not what sort of drag this reel would produce, or in fact, what it is designed for, presumably as a surf reel ?..  I like it  [attach id=111088]   

[Donnyboat]

Hi Col, that reel looks like it is working okay & in quite good condition, lucky man, cheers Don.

[milne]

Hi Don, Yes, it does look like I could spool it up and fish with it now.
 I've put it on my work bench in the shed, I will do a full strip down,,, That's half the fun,, I'll try and get on with that in the next few days. But yes, better condition than I remembered..

Col