Probably the oldest piece of flyfishing gear I occasionally use is a Perrine auto flyreel I've had since I was about 13 (now 71). With a 3 wt line on a 6' Eagle Claw flyrod it's my 'Redneck Tenkara' setup for brushy 'Thin Blue Line' skinny water. No room on reel for backing, which is completely unnecessary for skinny water anyway....the advantage of the auto flyreel in such an environment is that one can keep constant control over flyline as it's stripped on retrieves...rather than having it swept into logjams and bankside root balls. Good casting don't mean shit on such water...lots of 'slingshotting', dapping, and roll-casting.
That Perrine auto flyreel has outlived several 'yeller' Eagle Claw flyrods, including the very first one who met its end when my trusty fishing dog Bubbles bit the butt section in half in frustration because we left her tied up in camp whilst hunting bullfrogs one evening. Taste like chicken fried up in lard...the bullfrog legs, not Bubbles, in case you were wondering.