I am new to this forum. I have bought, used and resold mostly spinning reels. I have lost count of the number of reels that I've bought, used and re-sold since mid 1990's. However, these ones are keepers kept in a locked display cabinet. I have stopped fishing to concentrate on work and family.
I consider myself lucky to find several new old stock Cardinals recently.
Hi, and welcome to the forum! Those are certainly gorgeous reels and deserve a pedestal in the man cave. But i would suggest re-ordering those life priorities....switch the "work" and "fishing" around! To paraphrase Erna Bombeck: " no one ever laid on their death bed regretting the time not spent at work!"
john elder wrote:Hi, and welcome to the forum! Those are certainly gorgeous reels and deserve a pedestal in the man cave. But i would suggest re-ordering those life priorities....switch the "work" and "fishing" around! To paraphrase Erna Bombeck: " no one ever laid on their death bed regretting the time not spent at work!"
How I wish I could live that lifestyle John! A bit about myself: I've had a couple of rare reels in the past including the DAM Quick Royal MDS (bought in the 1990s from the dealer) and Daiwa Exist 50th Anniversary (fleeting interest in the Daiwa, I only had it briefly) and have used the ABU Cardinal 33 (reproduction 760301), had sourced a few dozen C3, C4, C4X and C5 Japanese ABUs for collectors and dealers etc. (the Japanese ABUs weren't particularly rare at one time and I knew distributors who had a lot in their inventory).
As it stands. I noticed some additional differences between the 4th and 5th versions of the Zebco Cardinal 4: 1) anodization is inferior in the 4th which is obvious inside the rotor cup; 2) Metal to the reel foot is thinner for the 4th version; 3) digits are thinner on the drag knob for the 4th version; and, 4) inferior tuning to the 4th version with noticeable vibration. The 5th version is noticeably smoother.
So the improvements are not just cosmetic. Although sharing the same body and components, the 5th version is a better more refined reel with real improvements to the manufacturing process.
