CONOLON ROD

Question
I JUST GOT A ACQUIRED A 6'5" 2 PCS ROD THE LABEL SAYS CONOLON, LIVE FIBER, AIR-FLITE 412, SAYS BUILT BY NARMCO INC. COSTA MESA CA. IT HAS A CORK HANDLE WITH 2 BLUE SLIDING REEL MOUNTS. DO YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT IT THANKS, CHUCK

Answer
Hi Chuck,

The following was submitted by Wallace Carney as a follow-up to an answer I gave in 2008 to another question about NARMCO/Conolon.  Clearly, he knows more about this company than I do.

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Wallace Carney wrote at 2008-11-06 20:02:05
An American company named NARMCO invented the first hollow fiberglass fishing rod blanks in 1946. Dr. Glenn Havens, head of research for NARMCO, is credited for the invention. Though fibers made of glass can be traced back to the 1890s, Owens-Corning is credited for the invention of fiberglass in 1938.

NARMCO was a WW 2 weapons manufacturing plant that used fiberglass in some of their parts. Their name was an acronym for the National Armament Company.

NARMCO became the Narmco Conolon Company at their factory in Santa Ana, California and fishing rod production began in 1947. Armed and ready (pun intended) they quickly became the world抯 largest producer of fiberglass rods. Prior to this invention; all fishing rods were made of split bamboo, wood or steel.

Narmco Conolon maintained the lead by covering the full spectrum from ultra-light spinning, bait casting and fly rods to powerful heavy-duty sea rods.

In the early sixties; The Garcia Corporation became the new owner and changed the name to The Conolon Corporation with Howard Ashby as President. Mr. Ashby was also a Garcia Vice President.

Notes:
Early rod materials were just called 揻iberglass? then 揗issilite?(a chemical bonding finish they had used instead of rivets on their old products such as bombs and guess what, missiles!) to seal the fiberglass rods, then quickly changed due to the negative implications to 揅onolock?then to 揕ive Fiber?in the fifties.

All of these 搒urnames?were no longer used when bought by Garcia.

The Conolon Corporation closed in 1982
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Sounds like your rod was made some time after the switch to the "Live Fiber" name in the 1950s and before the Garcia takeover in the early 1960s.

I do not have any data as to value of this rod or its desirability as a collector item.  I have limited data on Garcia Conolon rods post-1965, but nothing on the earlier rods.

Sorry to not be more help,  Joe