Ambassadeur 5000

[d9dozerman]

I have an ambassaduer 5000 with the number458129 on the reel seat and I am curious about how old it might be. I bought it used in the mid 80’s I believe . I still fish with it some and it cast pretty good for an old reel.

[Midway Tommy D]

It was most likely made in the mid 1960s. It's difficult to pin down the exact time frame without pics of the reel and/or the original box it came in. The foot # year became more specific in 1970 when ABU changed the configuration to include it.

[d9dozerman]

Thank you very much for the reply

[Bill Sonnett]

I went to Fred Ribb (the most knowledgeable person I know on ABU) Here is his answer.


400089......Shipped from the factory on January 19, 1965

#458129........November/December 1965 is my best guess.
#500275.......Shipped from the factory on July 05, 1966


458129 minus 400089 = 58,040 units apart on the assembly line.

500275 minus 458129 = 42,146 units apart on the assembly line.


There's roughly 18 months worth of production between #400089 and #500275. The reel in question is slightly closer to #500275 by a count of 15,894 units. So.....I split production in half (18 months) to 9 months and added 2 more months of production to account for the fact that #458129 is closer to #500275 by 15, 894 unit

[d9dozerman]

Thank you for the information this is the first bait caster I ever owned. I have several newer rod and reels but I still enjoy fishing with this one. I thought about trying to find spool bearings to replace the brass bushings but it cast pretty good like it is so I will probably leave it original.