It may just be a function of advance age, but some items for me have surpassed being just classics, rather they have become iconic. At least in their day, they represented all that was good and right about the way things were done in our country. I'd maybe add Harley Davidson motorcycles and Martin guitars to my list.

I adore my Hardy reels, but my Pflueger Medalists and Heddon Imperials are very special to me as well, especially my round line guard Medalists.

The Medalist is a heckuva reel for the money ... I just won an auction for a lot of (3) 1494's for $60 shipped ... a "patent pending", a "made in Akron", and a DA. You certainly can't beat that.

Tom

And they lend themselves to hotrodding. .. (Full race factory Onepfoot conversion.)

Very nice 1498 ... not common to find one with the reinforced spool, in my experience. The tricked out 1494 is pretty sweet too!
Tom

The other plus is that there are a lot of functional medalists still out there. They hold up so well you can pick up a high quality, proven reel for next to nothing ... Cheaper than newer crappy reels

Was out fishing one today, which my dad gave me. He switched it to lhw probably 20-30 years ago, and after all of that, it took to today for me to notice that two screws were missing. Either they just fell out, or they were missing for all that time and catching fish.
So I want to actually replace them, sonde they go to the foot on the backside. I know I can order them online from onepfoot, but they are more than a buck a screw, and I don't mind mismatch. Is there something I can pick up at a hardware store?

Wow, what a great thread on the venerable ole Pflueger Medalist.

LUV that onePfoot hot rod!

And all the great posts... what a great site.

Thanks guys. ;-)

"Enduring design and construction. Dependable function. No need of a "pass."

And that's the truth.

I did end up finding black screws that were a match on either Amazon or Ebay. for a very reasonable price.

The New Medalists would look better if the badge was more similar to the metal original, price warrants it. I do like that they are click pawls.

We always go down this path, but just in case some of our newer members haven't been viewtopic.php?f=4&t=45371&start=25

Gosh I love the enduring interest in these reels. In another ongoing thread, we had a question about classic matches for a Fenwick 10 weight. I had my thoughts instantly, but I wanted to hear the west coast guys describe their experiences with both the rod and the Pfluegers so often used with them. It is a joy to read the responses there.

I don't think the current Medalist needs a pass either, a solid product at a modest price. Personally, I would pass on it because the clumsier I get, the more I notice details of ergonomics. I just don't like spool latches in any position other than 180 degrees opposite of the winding knob. Anywhere else, (90 degrees in the case of the new Medalist), it is more likely to be snagged or interefere with clumsy fingertips winding, cupping the spool, and so on. It should be in as distinctly separate/independent/out of the way position relative to the knob as possible so it is never operated inadevertently. For others, this ideal position will be different depending on your grip and winding technique, feathering the spool and so on.

My favorite Charley Waterman's article was about a typical junket photoshoot with slicks more interested in advertising than content. Well Charley was a smart guy so when they complained about his Pflueger and asked him to use some kind of a British reel they had with them, he put it on his rod and finished the shoot. Then he put his Pflueger on and went fishing. That is the part, as Charley would say, I remember.

Gosh John, you have some nice looking Pflueger going on there!

Thanks CR - one of these days I'll put up pics of them all (now minus one)