Reviving this old thread.
I have been fishing since I could walk. My family and relatives in the archipelago always looked down on tourists strutting around with their sport fishing gear (real fishermen use nets supposedly...) but I always found the ABU reels fascinating and I have used them a lot thru the years. As I mentioned in my original post above there is a connection to the watch hobby. Aktiebolaget Urfabriken translates to "The watchfactory company".
They started out making pocketwatches of high quality under the name of Halda. Long story short - they eventually diversed into other directions and today Haldex is one of them. Making high tech solutions for the vehicle industry - some of you might have recognize Haldex in connection to high performance all wheel drive?
Another direction was fishing equipment. ABU Record was an early reel.
The piece de resistance however was presented in the early 50ies in the form of the Record Ambassadeur 5000 - later namned the ABU Ambassadeur 5000. All thru the 50ies and up until the 80ies an Ambassadeur was the reel to have.
I started out more humble (I was 6 or 7) with an ABU-matic. Easy to use and bulletproof. I still have some... and I am not ashamed to use them!
Back to the Ambassadeur:
The classic Ambassadur 5000 is red. They started out with a test run of three batches (nerds debate how many in each batch) - a red, a green and a black. The thought was to ask the public what they preferred. They preferred the green. And of course ABU then started to manufacture them in red... And red they were until the De Luxe version came to market.
The Ambassadeur De Luxe version - gold plated and black anodized and most of them were bought and gifted to guys (I have not heard of a single female that has got one for their 50th birthday...). It appeared in around 1962 and has quite a cult following.
I have got two - one from 1964 and one almost 50 years younger. This is the old one (with a 1967 5000C by its side).
This one is from 2013:
And together:
The 5000C started selling in 1967 and the only difference from a 5000 was ball bearings at the spool ends and the colour. Ball bearings were not a real advantage, actually, in my opinion. But black and chrome sure is nice.
ABU has another similarity with watches - with Omega in particular. They make "limited editions". A lot. And I mean a lot.
Some are nice - some are just awful (again as with Omega). This is a nice one - it is a "sleeper" - as it has all the modern parts inside but look like it is from the early days. Of course they could not do it properly (Philips screws) hence I have modified it a bit - with mushroom "nuts" and slotted screws (still some to substitute). It is a good user reel.
I use period rods to my vintage reels. A lot of colour and fiber glass instead of carbon. For the user "sleeper" I also got fiber glass - from the 80ies. Pike looking at its bane.
My "modern" reels are not that modern anymore I have come to realize...The Ambassadeur 5500CS Pro Rocket in the original post on a Berkley carbon rod and a small "UL" 2500C - likewise on a Berkley carbon.
Pro Rocket
2500C
Any other retro-fishermen out there?
@STANDY
Still longing for summer!
PS - the titanium Seamonster is still with me and it is as popular as ever!
Just counted... I have got nine (9) seamonsters. But the most Seamonstrous (!) must be this one:
