THOSE CRAZY EARLY PENN REELS

m3040c · Post by **m3040c** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 10:51 pm

It is never easy to figure out Penn and what they were doing in their first 20 years. I collect Penn, not normal Penn reels but the early ones of what I find that I think does not exactly fit the style of what a particular model is supposed to be. In the 1950's Penn became very concerned about colors and wording. Lets see some of their reels and try to answer some questions about them. I want you Penn guys out of the closet. I know these are not Vom Hofe's or Zwargs but they deserve some study too.

First, lets look at how colorful Penn got in the mid 1950's and also wonder why they did not continue with all these fine changes in their product line. These reels were made in reduced numbers and by 1955 Penn had gone back to its basically boring black, red or maroon.

Also, in the mid 1950's some basic reels came out with color varitions that no one seems to know what was going on with the styling department. What is it with this white spool in a Penn 80 low priced production reel and those mottled side plates:?:

Now lets move on to the simple Penn Squidder 140. The reel with the Identity Crisis and how to label a control feature on the reel. These next pictures are from Penn Squidder 140's. What's with the word "Gear" on the free spool lever and the word "Drag" on the anti-reverse control lever

The first two pictures are from the same reel and the second two pictures are from another Squidder. Both are vintage Squidder 140's.

I think I am done. Now I hope some of the Penn people out there can speculate of some answers.

Thank you all for staying with me on this...

Post by **john elder** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 7:17 am

Mike: Really nice pictorial and hopefully, a great start for an interesting thread. I would guess that the colors went away simply due to cost savings with standardization...that, and the fact that some of the colors were probably considered pretty gurlyman for the '50s, expecially.

If you think about it, the labels on the levers make sense, since one disengages the crank "gear" and the other, if thrown, disengages the "drag" system...and it's a lot easier to fit on the reel plate than "anti-reverse".

Nice nucleus for that collection! I'm sure that you won't have more than that 30 reels in a year from now...yeah, right

m3040c · Post by **m3040c** » Fri Sep 08, 2006 8:59 am

Gurlyman, I guess you have a point there. In the 1940's and 50's men all dressed in the same suit and hat. Until Elvis that is.

I agree that the labeling on the Squidder makes sense. I just find it interesting that so many changes are incorporated into the same model and I also wonder if these changes could help with dating the reels. But that is most likely a long shot.

I will not speculate on where my collection will be a year from now. I have enough trouble planning next week.

Post by **Brian F.** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 12:44 am

Hmm, Gurlyman eh, I must have missed something here. But I'm assuming it was deleted by one of the other moderators.

Nice collection Mike. Look forward to seeing more as it grows!

m3040c · Post by **m3040c** » Sat Sep 09, 2006 10:49 am

No Brian, you did not miss anything. Gurlyman was used to sort of understand why Penn might have stopped using colors and went back to basic black. In the 1950's men were men, or so they say, and all those pretty colors were just gender incorrect. Of course that is all speculation. After all, the company was headed by a lady so why not pretty reels.