Significant ABU Friends
Fred Ribb
Discoverer of the Phantom Ambassadeur 5500C
My name is Fred Ribb and I started collecting in late 1994. I grew up on the
Coast only thirty minutes away from Galveston Texas, a city rich in history and
fishing. My Father was an avid fisherman and showed me the ropes as I grew up.
Years later while visiting my Parents, my Father and I were walking down a
sidewalk in Fredericksburg, Tx. and he saw a book on collecting fishing tackle
through a store window. Well, the hook was set and I've collected ever since. I
started with lures and Ambassadeur reels, but I soon realized my love was for
the Ambassadeur baitcaster. Almost every reel in my collection of fifty plus,
have been found in the field. They are in Excellent condition or better, with
some new in the box. I met Simon Shimomura in 1995 at the Houston Tx. NFLCC show
and that's when I started getting serious about Ambassadeurs. Recently, I
contacted Simon in regards to the 5000C serial numbers. Sharing each others
numbers through record keeping, we have closed the gap to within 5,370 units
away when the change occured from four screw to three screw. If anyone has Amb.
5000C with a five digit number between 39355 and 33985, I would like to hear
about it so we can close the gap further.
As of March 31 2009, I discovered the phantom 5500C reel with smooth foot and lot number of 067200! In fact, Simon dedicated chapter 14 of his "Final Chapter" book to this unknown reel. It's owner is a close friend of mine. I contacted Simon Shimomura, and after looking at pictures of the reel, has agreed it looks to be authentic. He is hoping my friend will attend the NFLCC Nationals where he can confirm the one of two known to exist!
Postscript...
Hi Wayne, This
news of two phantom 5500C Ambassadeur reels, has come as a surprise to me, but
Simon has sent me an email today stating that he has seen one other 5500C in the
version that I discovered on March 31, 2009. He said that he saw it 5 years
ago at a show in Tokyo when a gentleman brought in the 5500C along with the
6500C of the same version. Regards, Fred R.
2 reels of the same type era and batch.... phew! wish I had one, your complete honesty and sharing appreciated. Hope the Japanese owner of the other contacts me!
Research on Numbering Ambassadeur 5000 Delux (to date)
This may help determine if your reel is 1962
vintage without having shipping records. The "Vintage Fishing Reels of Sweden"
book gives us the code for year of production on page 76. The silver name plate
that came packaged with each reel will have this code engraved on it. As it
states in the book, this is not always fool proof, but can help. The buyer must
question the owner and inspect all other parts of a complete unit in order to
make a decision of authenticity. Also, keeping records of other reels with "like
kind" features and serial numbers will help you as well. I have only a few 5000
De Luxe reels on record, but they do show a pattern of the four digit reel being
1962 vintage. I have listed these for reference.
5000 De Luxe with "black star drag
wheels" (earliest models)
# 2
# 1133
# 2706
# 4257
# 4372
# 56xx....Couldn't read last two digits, but had
silver plate bearing M9
# 6663
# 8097......my reel, complete unit with silver
plate bearing M9
# 9442
To view the mark (M9) on the silver name plate,
you really need a high powered magnifying glass to see it. There is also the
code (L9) which is for 1961 vintage, which most likely is for very early serial
numbers. I doubt anybody trying to fool someone, would think to replace
the silver plate with an earlier one. Again, what I'm saying here, is
my opinion of what I've seen in the past concerning four digit numbers, but it
does show a pattern.
Some collectors believe that 1963 was the first
year of introduction. I believe the book shows that it was "cataloged in 1963."
You must mfg. the reel before you advertise it in a catalog. Year of
"production" and "introduction" are entirely two different things. Many times,
catalogs didn't reflect changes until years later. Case in point: Skupien book
page 72. Catalog listing didn't include the clicker on 5000B for two years. I
hope this might shed some light on this subject.
Regards, Fred R.
Hi Wayne, I wanted to share this info. with you as I'm hoping Amb. collectors
would find it interesting. If you find anything that you feel is inaccurate,
please withhold it. As I stated about production output, It is my opinion of
monthly totals. Can you help with that area? Thanks.
I have tracked serial
numbers for the Amb.5000C for over a year through ebay listings and reels in
hand. Those found on ebay, were verified with clear pics. of the frames reel
foot numbers. I finally contacted Simon Shimomura after serial numbers for the
three and four screw frames were getting very close together and finding new
numbers had all but come to a halt. Simon has said that, sometime between
1967-1968 Amb.5000C changed to the three screw frame. Exchanging numbers between
us, we have closed the gap when the serial numbers changed from four screw, to
three screw. My three screw number of 39355 and Simon's four screw number of
33985, are only 5,370 units apart.
Simon also gave me one of his known shipping records for 5000C # 40000 which is
already a three screw. It was shipped to New York on 4-10-1968. It's easy to see
that # 39355 (3 screw) was made just a few days before 4-10-1968. On page 28,
paragraph 9 of "The Ambassadeur and I" Simon shows serial number 200000 sold on
Feb. 1961. Serial number 300000 sold on Sept. 13, 1962. This is about nineteen
months. If this is an indication of production numbers, simple math puts monthly
output (22 business working days) at 5,258 frames. This also works out to 29
frames an hour, which is not unrealistic. If my calculations are correct that
Abu made approximately 5,300 frames a month, that would take in the 5,370 reels
that separates the four screw from the three screw. This would put the
change sometime in Febuary or March of 1968. This is my personal opinion of
monthly productions. If anyone has verifiable proof of monthly outputs, I would
like to know about them. Like Simon, I am still looking for the two serial
numbers where one is a four screw, and the other is three screw.
Regards, Fred Ribb
As many of you know, I've been chasing numbers to the Ambassadeur 5000C to find the consecutive serial numbers when the reel changed from a four screw to three screw frame. The last number I had for a three screw reel was (39355) and Simon's four screw reel number of (33985)
This was 5,370 units apart from where the 5000C was changed over. I just received confirmation on 5-19-09 from Mike Burlew, a gentleman who owns an Ambassadeur 5000C three screw reel with serial number 36428.
This serial number has cut by more than half, the existing count of 5,370 down to only 2,443 units until the change was made from four screw frame, to three screw! It's getting down to the wire now, so if you have an Ambassadeur 5000C with a serial number that's between 33985 and 36428, I would love to hear from you! You just might have one of the numbers I'm looking for :) You can reach me at fribb@centex.net Many thanks to Wayne for a place to share our information.
If you are a person that has significantly had an effect on design/development/testing of ABU equipment over the years please contact me wayne@realsreels.com if you wish your contribution documented for posterity and the immediate interest of the ABU fans worldwide!