I recently upgraded a 1494 Medalist with all of the One Pfoot parts and I have one sweet reel! I can’t believe how nice these classics become with his parts.
But the good news for all the Medalist fans is that Bill Franke now is offering a stainless steel replacement drag knob. The install isn’t hard and it really dresses up the reel.
He doesn’t have it on the website yet but you can contact him or his dealers about availability:
I’ll have to concur with you on the Medalists. Just picked up my second one off of Ebay. The first one is a minty 1973 vintage 1494 DA. US made, barely used. The second one is a slightly older model 1496 and a half with more wear from fishing to the spool face paint. The really nice thing about this one is that it has the large arbor conversion parts installed! I was thrilled to get it for just a few bucks. Works perfectly and will likely outlast me. Both of mine have the Diamolite line guards in rectangluar form and the tapered reel foot on them so I can use them right a way without getting the Pfoot. I’m now scouting to get one of the really older models with the round guard which will need the Pfoot installed to use on modern rod seats. Those babies are HOT items on ebay and go for upwards of a hundred bucks and more. I paid 8 for one and 12 for the other. I used to think Medalists were cheesy reels…NOT ANYMOE!!!
I have looked at the OnePfoot products, they sure would make a Medalist look nice. As I recall each item is about $20 each (foot, metal spool latch cover or drag plate).
My “best” Medalist is a 1494, Akron made with 99% paint. I gave $35 for it on ebay. I can’t see myself putting another $40-60 in to it. That just doesn’t make good sense to me.
I have bought the die cast feet (Chinese, painted black) from Shakespeare (about $2) for some other USA Medalists I have so I can use the reels on slide band reel seats.
I got two 1959 version 1494’s on eBay both in boxes, both with directions and in mint condition.
I’m keeping one as is for a display and the other I jazzed up with the One Pfoot stuff. For what I paid for them; even with ALL of the One Pfoot parts; their value is still below what I would have paid for a most half decent reels and it is way cooler!
The replacement drag washer is a BIG improvement over the original.
