I was You-tubing and an older gentleman was going "retro" and using an old Zebco Cardinal 4.  At first I though he misspoke because I remembered Abu Garcia as having the Cardinal line but no, it was a Zebco.  Which came first and was one company eventually (thinking perhaps Zebco) required to discontinue their use of the name?

   Try this:   https://www.jhnewsandguide.com/opinion/columnists/outdoors_paul_bruun/abu-cardinals-still-thrill-spinning-addicts/article_581f61ba-1923-537e-835b-237b30149701.html

    jj

Manufactured by Abu, sold in the US by Zebco.  Pretty much bullet proof.

Looking over the history - there was a short time when Garcia had an issue in re-distributing the Cardinal reels because of a contract with Mitchell of France. So for a time, Zebco was the distributor of Cardinal reels...first batch of reels were labeled "Zebco by Abu", but Tom Lenk (President of Garcia at the time) objected to the Abu link as they had the Ambassaduer line, so the label changed to "Zebco Cardinal" until Garcia was able to distribute Abu spinning reels.

 

http://www.realsreels.com/IntroductionZebco.html

I've got 4 Cardinal 4's that I use everytime i'm out.

I still use a green ABU Cardinal 4. 

I've had Shimano, Diawa, and Phlueger spinning reels. They've all been good, but I don't think any are as tough and sturdy as my old ABU Zebco Cardinal. I picked mine up several.years ago for a few dollars at an estate sale. The bail was bent, so I cut it off and use it as a bailess spinning reel. Otherwise it's in great shape, and probably one of the best reels ever made. I doubt if I'll ever wear this one out

On 10/30/2019 at 7:13 PM, Mobasser said:

I've had Shimano, Diawa, and Phlueger spinning reels. They've all been good, but I don't think any are as tough and sturdy as my old ABU Zebco Cardinal. I picked mine up several.years ago for a few dollars at an estate sale. The bail was bent, so I cut it off and use it as a bailess spinning reel. Otherwise it's in great shape, and probably one of the best reels ever made. I doubt if I'll ever wear this one out

i've been trying to wear zebco cardinal 4's out for about 45 years now. still trying. have not had the first problem with any of mine. none. nada. i've got stradics that sit lonely, unused every year. i also have shimano, ryobi, penn, pflueger, quantum, etc. just going with what works.