Shakespeare Free Spool - Red, White, and Blue

[Wayne B.]

I just picked up a nice red, white, and blue Shakespeare Free Spool at an antique mall. This reel appears not to fit the Shakespeare system because it has no name and no date code. The box only says 1975 Free Spool casting reel. When was this reel made? I'd have to assume around 1976, but don't know.

[wrong99]

Wayne,
I was surprised to find in my catalogs that the red, white and blue No.1975 was first introduced in 1973 (with blue handle grips). In 1974, your red handled variety appeared. Odd that, for a reel that collectors referred to as the "Bicentennial" model, they would be gone from catalogs by 1976, the Bicentennial year. Another odd thing about the No.1975, is that they were never equipped with a clicker. There was also a No.1976, that was the narrow spool version of yours. Nice find.
Mark

[Wayne B.]

Hi Mark! This reel will clean up nicely...haven't got there yet. It was a pretty good find. We travel by car quite a bit and we try to hit antique shops, antique malls, etc. so we can move our weary legs on our way to the final destination. We hit an antique mall in Florence NC last week that had three booths devoted to fishing, and one just older fishing reels. I had three good hits there. Tommy would have been in heaven because 90% of the decent collectible reels there were spinning reels. Back to my reel...I guess I will call mine a "Bicentennial" 1975 on my website, although Shakespeare didn't advertise the name. I guess I am on the lookout for a 1976 now. I already have a President Tru-Axis 1976. Oh well, so much for model numbers!

[wrong99]

I've never seen a No.1976. Good luck on that one!
Mark

[colby sorrells]

Here's the narrow spool 1976



Having all of the stickers is the hard thing. Most didn't last long.
Reel shows:
Shakespeare
No. 1976
Model DG

which would be 1974

Colby

[jimbofish]

I have an 'almost'-NIB 1975 that I bought new in '77 on clearance. I built a 7' S-glass rod for walleye with fancy red, white, and blue wraps to go with it. Took me several weeks to build it. Put line on it, then proceeded to slam it in the tailgate at the St. Claire River boat launch before it even got it's line wet. Put it back in its box, where it remains to this day. I've never leaned a rod against a vehicle since then.

[g,h. block]

those reels are date stamped on the edge of the inner plate under the level wind, hold it up in good lite to see it.

[Wayne B.]

those reels are date stamped on the edge of the inner plate under the level wind, hold it up in good lite to see it.

Sure is! Thanks.

[Midway Tommy D]

those reels are date stamped on the edge of the inner plate under the level wind, hold it up in good lite to see it.

Sure is! Thanks.

Well come on Wayne, fill us in!

[Wayne B.]

Well Tom, if you need to know, the date code was DH, 1973, as predicted above. Once I knew where to look I still needed to get my power reader glasses to see it! And, by the way, the antique mall was Palmetto Peddlers in Florence, NC, if you need a rest stop traveling on I-95 someday. 35,000 sq ft and great owners.

[Reel Geezer]

I bought several of those when they first came out. They were a pretty good fishing reel. The Japanese drove the price up on eBay and most NIB examples seem to have disappeared. There were a lot of them around in the '70s and early 80's.

[Wayne B.]

Phil:

Mine is EITB...excellent in tattered box. NIB would be a real find!

[Kevin McJunkin]

I just picked up a really clean 1975 model at a local auction, except that it was missing the 5:1 emblem on the tail plate. I managed to find a parts reel on ebay for the sticker. There is a hole underneath through the sticker which looks like it was for a click button but when I took the plate off the parts reel there was nothing inside for a click to attach to nor a ratchet on the spindle. So, I went through all the current and completed auctions on ebay, looking for any information about a click button. I could find none. Then I came to this site and did a search in the archives, and quickly found a schematic that jimbofish posted (on another thread) which clearly shows no click on the tail plate, and then Mark's posts confirming that there is no click, and with interesting information about the production history and the difference between the 1975 model and the 1976 (narrow spool).

These archives are a tremendous resource. Thanks to those who have posted. Next time I'm coming here first!

Kevin