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Post by admin on Sept 11, 2005 16:41:00 GMT -8
Hey Karl; Thanks for the offer to ship me your regs but after I finally found mine (too many regs- too little space), it shouldn't be necessary. I have 4 Stream Airs and two have Mistral decals and 2 don't. The ones with the Mistral decals have the long Mistral nozzles and the ones without the decal have the short Stream Air nozzle. So, I think we can safely say that the added Mistral decal denoted the addition of a Mistral nozzle. Now the question is whether this was done at the factory or if US Divers dealers were factory authorized to do it. Another question has to do with serial numbers because mine have numbers from 64062 to 70553 and those two didn't have the Mistral decals. The middle ones, in the 66000 to 68000 range had the decals. So once again, its hard to say if they were modified only at the factory or at the dealers as well. Dan
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Post by kgehring on Sept 11, 2005 17:50:34 GMT -8
I will get the serial numbers of mine for you. Maybe others that have Stream Air regs could do the same. This would be nice info for a serial # timeline.
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Post by SeaRat on Sept 11, 2005 22:24:34 GMT -8
I just did a bit of research from my files. I have an old paper file marked "Regulators and Valves," which I put together many years ago. In it I have kept articles on various regulators. One is on the aqua-lung MISTRAL, by U.S. DIVERS COMPANY, 11201 West Pico Blvd., Los Angeles,4, California. It appeared as a single page article on page 50 of the February 1959 SKIN DIVER magazine. The regulator it shows as an example is a regulator with a "MISTRAL" label, and a nameplate that states, Here, in part, is what the article says: This article appears to have been written by US Divers Company for SKIN DIVER. It does show the DW Stream Air nameplate with the "Mistral" label above it, as a new regulator. Again, this was February 1959. So it appears that I may have been wrong to think that it was only for upgrades that this label was applied. The parts diagram shown with the article does show the Mistral orifice. Curiously, it also shows a clamp ring as an option for the Mistral, instead of the clips for connecting the two boxes. Now, what we need to determine is whether the label was also included as an upgrade kit for dive shops to make the modification. I still think this is a possibility. John PS--I just found that Dan has a photo of a catelog which shows what I am talking about here about the label (note the address change from the 1959 article though):
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Post by admin on Sept 15, 2005 19:51:41 GMT -8
Hi John; The "Mistral" in the ad above is probably a DW Mistral with the yellow label. As far as I've seen, the Stream Air never came with yellow hoses and I don't think it was still available in 1959. And since I've never seen a yellow labeled Mistral with the Mistral decal, it's possible that the drawing in the ad was just drawn incorrectly, which is nothing new in catalog photos. Dan
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