mitchell reels

i have been trying for ages to find out some info on a mitchell 4410 reel i own....when it was produced etc...and was it made for the brit,usa or mainland europe market???
i have trawled the net and looked on various sites both home and abroad and even looked on an official mitchell reel site but as of yet,no luck.
does anyone out there know of a mitchell collector who knows his onions or perhaps one of you chaps has a copy of the book that details everything about the history of mitchell reels etc... and you might be able to help me???

do you mean the Mitchell 410 Nick?

I believe the 4410 was a spinning model which was aimed at the US market. I have certainly never seen one 'in the flesh'.

you've got the 410 (carp reel)
and you've got the 440 (match reel) and then you've (obviously!!) got the left handed versions of both, the 411 and the 441.
They were all 3 digit, until the later ones came along.

the 4410 (and 4420/30/40/50) were of the new breed of Mitchells with the plastic spools and the word Mitchell in some kind of digital type face.
Didn't the 4410 have the body with an upward kink in it?

Definitely European market.
Would suggest circa 1980 to 1985.

all i know is its the one with the squire body and they where around in the mid 80's often used for feeder work.but you could check out these mitchell (collector's) based sites.


http://perso.wanadoo.fr/mitchell-moulinet/index.html


http://www.networkdimension.com/garciamitchell.html

http://users.skynet.be/bk292282/sitemap.html

http://www5c.biglobe.ne.jp/~take300/sub2.htm

http://www.geocities.com/fisherdude2_99/

some of the above are foreign

Yes the 4410 was one of the "bannana" Mitchells came in a two tone livery (grey and black?)First deveation in style/shape for years.Never owned one myself but I remember Mick Bowles of the BEAC used them or similar model.

Have got them in my Mitchell servicing manual so if you need any info on spares or repairs feel free to contact me.

I fished with Mick when I was in the BEAC, bloody hell, probably 20 years ago now.

Don't time fly.

hello there....yes its got the square/rectangular body with a bit of a kink in it.the side panels on it are black and the reel foot plus the bit the panels attatch to are grey.
the spools do have the word mitchell on them in a dotty/digital type writing but my spools are alloy/aluminium???
my one is in perfect condition except for the mitchell name on the side being a bit well thumbed and was serviced by reel care last year.

i`ve just received a message from a chap who purchased one from ebay this weekend...he seems to think they were imported from france for a very short period after garcia took over mitchell.
he also says that they are quite rare to find but because they are a french type model the mitchell collectors dont value them that much.

I've got 2 Mitchell 4430s somewhere (in the loft I think)
They have square bodies and are black and grey too

I have some spare spools for these reels if anyone wants them, for the 4410 4420 4430 models, contact me for info

The 4410 and that series of reels introduced in 1980 was really the point when Mitchell lost its way and its soul in the face of new Japanese competition.

Up until then Mitchell reels had been the ones to be copied by other manufacturers. The 4400 series is when Mitchell copied Ryobi....

Ryobi started out as a bicycle gear and transmission manufacturer like its subsequent successor, Shimano. Equally similarly the quality of the gearing, machining, materials and manufacture knocked spots off the by now rather tired Mitchell stable. Mitchell panicked and the unlovely 4400 range was the result. The angular banana body shape and configuration was / is a knock off copy of the Ryobi shape which was taking America apart. I seem to remember that Abu also did a line of reels with a similar shape body style at that time as well.

Mitchell then just staggered along a bit until, in the last gasp for breath before expiry, they produced the genuinely revolutionary Quartz range - for just 18 months.

Unfortunately too revolutionary to be appreciated for the amazing advance in compact reel design that they were (and still are !). Especially by Mitchell afficionados, who still just wanted the classic 1950's and 1960's oval bodied models forever re-warmed over and over. Details tweaked here and there, over and over again, but never properly redesigned or updated.

And so the opportunity represented by the Quartz was lost and the world passed Mitchell by into insolvency. Finally bought out by the Yanks (Johnson's wax, would you believe ?!?) who abandoned the Quartz range forthwith, together with all its innovations, and moved manufacture to Mexico. Where the gearing was made out of vastly inferior materials and machined with a knife and fork.... 60 years of reputation for quality wiped out in ten minutes flat. *sigh*

So I'm afraid the 4410 isn't a valuable collectors item for the Mitchellistas, more a shameful secret to keep hidden.... along with the Quartz range which equally was never really accepted as a 'proper' Mitchell. Which suits me just fine, as I continue to collect Quartz Pro's for next to nowt as they come up on Fleabay.... /forum/smilies/wink_smiley.gif

Link to Take's Reel room.... a Japanese collector and authority on Mitchells and other reels, especially interesting in relation to early origins of Shimano and where Mitchell lost its way.....

http://www5c.biglobe.ne.jp/%7Etake300/

Mind you, his comments are not always easy to follow, such as in relation to the early 1980's Shimano

'ML20
It was cut its penis (sic) because it become " internal-tripping ".


He and I will have to agree to disagree about the virtues of the Quartz range (which he doesn't appear to have actually handled or used in anger), the innovations of which he admits he just doesn't get

'Quartz was not sold well. But I can say that Quartz was the reel which only Mitchell could make.
Quartz may be to have been the most progressive reel in the 90s.
We should admit this point.
Therefore, I regret that Mitchell can not have utilized the chance which Mitchell make "new 300" .

The constant cry of the Mitchellistas, make us a new 300.... As Ryobi, Daiwa and then Shimano forged into new more innovative areas of design, in particular the hypoid main gearing which has since now become ubiquitous in modern reels. While Mitchell was in fact going backwards, abandoning the superlative but expensive to machine spiral bevelled gearing of the original 60's and 70's for cheap to produce but weak and rough wearing face gearing.

Sadly for the 4400 range and your possible hopes of retirement on the proceeds of sale

'Mitchell bankrupted in the next year of 4400's release'.

Definitely not a prized collectors model I'm afraid, just an interesting footnote to a formerly glorious manufacturer's career.

put mitchell museum in to google and email them they have helped me loads