Vintage Ludwig shells from that era are all the same. They are 3-ply shells with maple reinforcement rings. The differences in the models are in the sizes of the drums. For example:

Officially-speaking, Downbeat kits are a 20/12/14 + either a Downbeat snare drum or a Supra.

A Super Classic kit is a 22/13/16 + a Supra snare drum....

...and so on.

Yes, Clubdates were a more economy-minded drum set in their day because they incorporated fewer lugs/less labor, but the shells are exactly the same quality as any other configuration of that era.

If you're really serious about getting to know your drums, then you should check out the Vintage Drum Guide. Just go to the top of the page and click on the pull-down menu under the "Partner Websites" heading. Then click on Vintage Drum Guide and then have a holiday looking at all the old catalog pages and ads!flowers2 And also try out the other pull-down menus for badges and serial numbers and all that stuff.

Thanks O-lugs.

In the catalog for 64 or 67, mine is definitely the Super Classic but mine has the Super Sensitive snare. I has the half gut and half snppy snares on it. My kit is in really good shape except for a small lift on the floor tom seam and the SS snare is pitted really bad and flaking. No extra holes and all original. My drums look to be BDP. It looks as though he may have ordered the SS snare or maybe it's all they had left in stock at that time. The woman I bought them from was the wife of a friend of my ex-father-in-law. When he passed away she called my ex-wife and asked if I wanted to buy Rick's old drumset. I went to look at it and told her I would love to buy them but that I couldn't afford what they were worth at probably 1500-2k. I had 200.00 cash and told her I'd like to make payments if she'd let me. She said we'll make it work so I got that entire kit for 200 hundred bucks. I am getting all warm and fuzzy at the memory of that fateful afternoon.

BTW, the kit also came with ludwig bags, a trap case with snare and hardware all intact, brushes/sticks/bass drum cymbal holder/ching ring/bass drum anchor, ludwig seat, plus 60's Zildjian thin 15" hats, and 2 twenty inch cymbals, one a ride with rivets and one I guess is a crash.

Sounds like you got an absolute bargain! Enjoy your drums and remember the memories and good feelings they'll bring.

will you show pics, the suspense is killing me

http://vintagedrumforum.com/showthread.php?t=21304

This is the kit from the first thread where I asked a Ludwig question... This was the day I brought the kit home. Since then I have put new heads and cleaned them up. I will try to set them up and take some recent pictures. They sound beautiful.