Man, was I surprised.  I finally got an old Mitchell 300, made in France, just like Dads.  I tried to put it on a house brand BPS spinning rod and the the foot is too big!  It simply won't seat because the foot is too wide to slip into the the seat area.

Is this going to be true for all rods?

Checkout a Tennessee handle

Take the reel with you to the store and try it on any rod you think you might want to buy. Once again It fits in an Eagle GT, by Fenwick they retail for 60 bucks