The Black Prince by another name?

[@Clive]

Given that Edward the Black Prince didn't exactly redeem himself to the French public it isn't surprising that Intrepid slipped this little beauty into the market place under a different name. Many of us will remember fondly that 'Clang' as the bail wire clashed against the stem and the endeering groove in said bail wire that must have been forged from butter. This one is quite rare in that the antireverse switch is still connected to the mechanism. I swerved the BP and saved harder for a Mitchell 320. The only reel worse than the Intrepid Black Prince has to be the Galleon. Mitchell's darkest hour.

 

[seth49]

I remember the galleon,I bought one at the game fair when it was at tatton park in Cheshire years ago, probably the seventies from memory.

it lasted maybe three months of salmon spinning, before it ground to a halt, plastic rubbish.

 

[mikench]

I had a black Prince but had nothing to compare it to then around 1965. I wanted an Abu but it was just too expensive for me.

 

[Alan Whitty]

I had a black Prince,then a daiwa 7300(I think),before going for the ABU 505,then shortly after a Mitchell 308,saved like hell from my apprentice wages,lol...

 

[Keith M]

I have a Mitchell 308 ‘Prince’ reel (see pic below); is this referring to the same prince as the Intrepid?




Keith

 

[@Clive]

I have a Mitchell 308 ‘Prince’ reel (see pic below); is this referring to the same prince as the Intrepid?




Keith

I wouldn't have thought so Keith. He isn't likely to be honoured in France given that he played a major part in the Battle of Crecy and then went on to commit many atrocities throughout the country.

The 308 Prince was a reel I always wanted and never got. A few years ago a friend of my wife inherited a mint, boxed 308. She declined my offer preferring to keep it in memory of her late Father. It will probably be forgotten about in a cupboard under the stairs now

 

[Steve King]

The Intrepid Tru Spin was worse than the Black Prince!!! The Prince Regent was crap as well, but it did have a roller in the bale arm! The diecast body was very poorly designed and manufactured!

I think Mitchell's darkest hour was when they switched production to the far east - the first batches of 300s were very bad!!!

 

[@Clive]

Agreed! Same can be said about ABU.

I collect old reels and have had quite a few fixed spool reels from the 1940's and 50's. The Mitchells of that period were head and shoulders above their rivals. If you put the pre 300 reels against anything from Hardy, Morritts, Young and the the other French manufacturers the Mitchells are much, much better made. They lost ground to ABU when they brought out the second generation Cardinals and then the Japanese. But by then they had already started to cut back on quality. When you take the reels apart the gears on the 1950's models are far better made, from better materials, than the reels made after the mid sixties.

 

[Lord Paul of Sheffield]

I remember the black Prince reel
But not fondly