Bob,
Does it have "Ambassadeur" & "5000C" above the tail plate spool cap? A photo angle from the front showing better and more detail of the button and its hole would be nice. From your photo angle it doesn't look like any stock ABU part I have ever seen on one of their bait casters so I'm leaning toward the probability of an owner or repair tech mod. Seeing how it is mechanically set up would also answer a lot of questions but I personally have never seen or heard of an optional on/off direct drive on a 5000C, or any other ABU model from that era. It would/should have been made somewhere between late '68 & early '70.
I discussed your specific reel with Fred Ribb, who is a noted authority on Ambassadeurs. Here is his ABU informational page:
http://www.lurelore.com/freds/abu.html
These are some of his comments: "I actually own two models with this feature. One is a red 5000 and the other is a red 6000 model. I have seen around 3-4 ABU models with this feature on ebay and have talked to a few people who have owned some as well. The one thing that ALL of these reels had in common was their origin. Everyone I talked to that owned one said it came from Tulsa, Oklahoma or was found in the immediate area around Tulsa. I have found the shape of the switch to be different on some reels but the internal mechanism was the same. It’s a brilliant design and whoever was doing it must have had a machinist’s background. Many years ago, this feature was brought to Simon Shimomura’s attention and he brought the subject up to Lennart Borgstrom who once owned ABU. According to Len’s recollection, he vaguely remembered a small order of reel’s with this feature but Len thought the order came from a small reel shop somewhere in North Texas. I guess we’ll never know.
The reason Simon brought this to the attention of Len Borgstrom was because of the slot cut in the side plate for the switch to protrude – it was anodized in the same color as the reel. This meant the work must have been done at the ABU factory. Both of my reels do not have anodizing in the cut and none of the others I’ve seen had anodizing either. There must have been someone living in or near Tulsa that had connections or ties to someone in the fishing reel industry and somehow they got ABU got involved. Anyway, it seems that ABU did indeed make a few but Len’s memory wasn’t able to remember any more information.
Question.......does the slot cut in that side plate show black anodizing?
Regards Fred"
It looks like there may be a slight possibility that it was factory produced if the slot/hole in the side plate is anodized. If it isn't and is bare metal it was probably a mod which more than likely came from the Tulsa area.
Interestingly enough, Tulsa happens to be Zebco's corporate headquarters and ABU shipped an awful lot of Cardinal reels and parts from Svangsta to Tulsa throughout the '60s and '70s.
I hope that helps answer some of your questions and you update us on whether or not the slot is anodized.
Tom
