When Charles Pons died in 1965, Mitchell and the other divisions became independent companies. One of Mitchell’s most outstanding design reels, the "510" made its debut in 1969. Mitchell’s automatic fly reel "710", was born in 1967 and the first conventional fly reel "752" in 1971. The first "low budget" model, the "320", was marketed in 1965. The first conventional reel, the "600", was released in 1964. The first model with a skirted spool, the "316", was welcomed in 1963. This same year, on December 24, the 5,000,000th reel was produced. The first "luxury" model "300DL" dates from approximately 1961. The "308 Prince" -first ultra-light- model came in 1960 and his "speedy" brother "358" one-year later in 1961. The "Intermediate" model "306" joined the family in 1958. At the request of Garcia, Mitchell incorporated the shipping number that was assigned to different models, for ordering purposes, to be used as the model number for the respective reel. The "Rapid" changed into "Mitchell 350 5/1". The "Otomatic" was changed to "Otomatic 330" and later to "Mitchell 330". The first born "Mitchell" became "Mitchell 300", the "Salt Water" received number "302" engraved on its side-plate, and the "Cap" will be for ever known as the "304". In April 1957 a decision was reached to add a number to the name of each existing model. The "fast retrieve" version (ratio 5/1) of the "300" was baptised "Rapid" in 1956. It was also in 1955 that the 10.000th packing case of reels ready for export to the U.S. The family was steadily growing: the "Otomatic", first reel ever with fully automatic bail release, was born in 1955. It was known as the "Mitchell Cap", also called "Cap 54" which also represented the year Free-Trade status was granted in the US. The CAP-reel, already in existence for a number of years, made by Carpano & Pons, became part of the Mitchell family. The "Mitchell" and "Mitchell Salt Water" was fitted with a full bail and an optional manual pick up system. Things changed a lot in 1954 when the Hardy-patent for the full bail arm expired. The Salt Water model was originally designed with a half bail arm, similar to its smaller brother, the 300. The name "Salt Water" chosen for this heavy-duty model was rather obvious. This was followed by a lot a larger reel developed for sea angling. Léon Carpano and Charles Pons, astonished as they were by the success of their first models, soon decided to design and to market a left-hand version of this reel (approximately 1953). We hope you enjoyed the reading of the Mitchell prehistory and that you are curious to know what happened in the more recent past. The OTOMATIC (Leopard 1A2 Hull) at the OTO museum in La Spezia.Mitchell Reel Collectors International - History of Mitchell It is to be displayed in a museum in La Spezia near the company headquarters of OTO. It was thought that the second prototype had been scrapped at some point, but it reappeared in 2019 in restored and fully working order. It remained on the export market until 1997, when the OF-40-based OTOMATIC was scrapped and the Leopard 1A2-based OTOMATIC was placed in a warehouse. Unfortunately, in 1991 with the end of the Cold War the OTOMATIC was no longer needed. The Leopard-based OTOMATIC was proposed to the German Army as a replacement for the Flakpanzer Gepard, but it was not purchased. The turret mounted on the Leopard 1A2 hull was a slightly modified HEFAS 76-L1 turret, with few differences from that on the OF-40 chassis. When mounted on the Leopard 1A2 hull, the OTOMATIC had a maximum speed of 60 kph - 5 kph slower than the OF-40 hull variant. The second prototype, the one based on the Leopard 1A2 hull, was completed the same year and was tested until 1989. The OF-40 hull prototype was built from 1981 to 1985, and it was displayed at the 1987 Paris Air Show. The OTOMATIC turret could be mounted on the OF-40 chassis or Leopard 1A2 chassis. The OTOMATIC was built as a prototype self-propelled anti-aircraft gun (SPAAG) for the Italian Army and export market by OTO-Melara, with OTO-Breda contributing.
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