Zebco 33's

[Fatman]

I know ebay has gone to heck - but don't overlook it for the old 33's!!!!!!! My wifes school has a fishing club and she asked me about an auction for 15 of the older ones - the guy said some of them didn't work but I didn't care they are still good for parts!!! 8 of them looked like they had never been used and I got 3 more working by switching out parts. I cleaned them all up and the kids love em!!

[olduckhunter]

rr mentioned finding them at yard and garage sales and also you can run into them at estate sales and antique malls. a lot of venders there go to estate sales and a lot of them have fishing items in their booths.

[Dongotto]

If they have metal real seat are they ok?

[Bricks]

I find it amazing from some how good the old metal Zebco 33`s were. Growing up in the late 60`s I never had one 33 that would last a summer I personally thought they were junk back then. The gears would wear out or start binding up know matter how much I cleaned or lubed. But being only 12-13 years old I could not afford any thing else.

[LOZ Targa]

A few years ago I bought two brand new 70's vintage 33's in their original boxes for $25 each at a flea market. I haven't used them yet still have several old ones I'm using including one I bought when I was about 10 years old 38 years ago. A good alternative is the 20/20. They have ball bearings and steel gears and are pretty smooth winding and cast really good.

[bayoumonster]

I personally like to buy the old garcia ambassador 5500c baitcast reels. You can still buy parts and with new bearings, worm gear, and pawl, they will work like new. One can even get a ceramic pawl and good worm gear through the aftermarket. Those old ambassadors will last 5 times longer than the "new improved" ones. Then again, if you're willing to spend the money, you can get a shimano calcutta or core and have a really nice reel. I have found that you can buy a pretty decent spinning reel for $20 made in china today. I hate to do it but there is no manufacturing much here in the USA anymore. Heck, even Winchester guns are made in Belgium and elsewhere and are Winchester only in name---Herstal group that owns Browning bought the rights to the name.
I agree that the older pencil sharpeners were of such better quality that they're not even comparable. I never liked the zebco 33's much, but were surely better than the plastic junk of today.

[SeaRay]

I was trying to think in terms of todays money vs the 60s. The old 33s are probably comparable to the current Z02 or Z03 which cost around maybe $50-$60 right?? Minimum wage then was about $1.25 so it took about 8 hours or a day's pay to come up with 9 or 10 dollars to buy a Zebco 33, maybe half a day if they were less than that.
Minimum wage today is around $7.25 so an 8 hour day would net you around $55 or $60 right??
My point is the base cost vs wages has not changed that much if you look at it that way. I had an old 33 and an old 44, which was the 33 underspin. It was by far the best underspin closed face reel I ever used.
SeaRay