Why would Ambassadeur/Garcia sell these so cheap? It's like the 6601AB they recently sold at Bi-Mart and other stores for half price. I bought one and it was crapola! The Anti-backlash mechanism was a pain in the a$$ and it had no clicker.So I took it back and got the 6501 C3 instead.
Shimano really dropped the ball when they discontinued the old Bantam line. These were good...not great reels. Smooth casting and a good drag setup also easy to work on but too much plastic for the money. For my money if I'm going to buy a vintage reel it's going to be an ABU Ambassadeur. You like a LH retrieve? The 5001C with high speed gear and ball bearing is hard to beat. Yeah they are a little heavier and are backlash machines BUT they are all metal and you can still get parts for them and besides with a little practice backlashs should be no problem.
I'll take a Curado for a steelhead reel now.