My parents were cleaning out the house of my step-grandfather who passed away 12 years ago (my grandmother is now in a senior living home) and noticed a bunch of old fishing gear stored away in the corner of the garage. After asking around, nobody wanted it and so they brought it back and gave it to me. The equipment consisted of a multiple, older, broken rods and reels, mostly zebco reels with un-named rods. However, there were 3 Abu Garcia reels that came with the rods and so I took them aside and started assessing the damage to them.

1. Red Ambassadeur 5000 (from 1989)
First Impression:
Dang thing is tore up. Might use it for spare parts. Handle doesn't turn freely, clacking noise occurs inside when the handle is turned, and anti-reverse sorda works.

Exterior:
Some wear and tear to the exterior from lots of use, but no dents to the side plates, and no damaged or broken screw heads.

Internals:
No grease left, oil has turned to sludge, main and pinion gears look good though, spool shaft and drive gear shaft have massive sludge build up, which explains why the handle had a lot of resistance when trying to turn. The internals aren't in bad shape, but just filthy from never being cleaned, which would explain why the side plate screws looked brand new. Anti-reverse is shot, and is coming out, will need to be replaced.

I tore the reel down, de-greased and cleaned everything, oiled the shafts and worm gear, greased the clutch assembly, removed the anti-reverse, and re-assembled the reel. Now, much to my surprise, its slicker than a greased pig. There is no anti-reverse, so the reel turns clockwise and counterclockwise freely, but I don't mind that much. It turns smoothly and easily, and thats what matters to me. Mildly surprised that it is actually a workable/useable reel now.

2. Silver Ambassadeur 5500 C3 Ultra-Cast from 1995

First Thoughts:
Decent looking reel. The handle turns freely, but a small amount of roughness can be felt. Looks hardly used

Exterior:
No dents or scrapes of any kind, looks almost brand new other than the dust and a few spots where mud and sand have collected in some tight places

Internals:
Everything looks spotless!. The components are well lubricated and grease is where it should be. There was some presence of sand, but I cleaned the gears, greased, and re-assembled. Reel is like new and the handle spins smoothly now. Great reel and is already mounted on a new Falcon rod.

3. Gun-Metal Blue(?) Ambassadeur 6500 Something or Other

The third reel is at the house and I cant remember which version it is. I want to say its a 6500 in gun metal blue, but I hate to guess so I will update when I get home tonight. Anyways, its a very neat color, and there doesn't appear to be much wrong with it, just a little resistance when turning the handle. However, I won't know until I break it down and have a look at the insides.

Overall, it was a nice surprise to all of a sudden have three nice reels land in my lap, and to know that at least 2 of them are now useable. I believe the third will be as well, but I wont know until late tonight after I get back from school. I prefer round bait casters because my hands are large, and these three round bait casters were a nice surprise.