Rare 1959 GPO 706 (with Grebe Cords)

[Hotline]

About 18 months ago I spotted a GPO 706 telephone on eBay, upon closer inspection it was a 1959 first year production model. The seller did not know they had a rare phone, I agreed a very good buy it now price with the seller and took delivery.

The phone is black with original Diakon plastics and original 1959 microphone and speaker.

It had a later non-heavy type black curly cord fitted.

The dial had been changed at some point for a 1968 dial with a 746 backing plate and transparent finger wheel, but I managed to source a correct type 12 dial with metal finger wheel and numbered dial plate.

Once I had the type 12 dial fitted, what I really wanted to do was to source the rare Grebe grey cloth cords that would have likely been fitted to the telephone when new.  Last week I was able to source on eBay a batch of 12 original new old-stock Grebe grey cords that were still sealed in their GPO paper bags!  The cords have 420 type plugs fitted to the ends, but I removed the plug, fitted a black grommet and now I have my very own Grebe handset cord!  7 of the 12 cords have the correct grey moulding to fit 706 handsets. The other cords are useful to make into line cords, which I have done on my telephone.

The photos below show my 706 fitted with the Grebe grey cords and I am very pleased with both the end result and having returned my phone to original 1959 condition.

I would be interested to hear other members thoughts.

I have attached the photos over 3 posts.

[Hotline]

Continuation from previous post.

[Hotline]

Continuation from previous post

[HarrySmith]

Very Nice! There is nothing like getting a first year model phone and returning it to it's original state. There is a thread here about a 1949 Western Electric 500 that was a group effort, check it out.
I just recently restored a first year, 1937, WE 302 back to original, great feeling when they are done! Congrats!

[twocvbloke]

Very nice find, and nicely kitted out as it was originally intended, worth holding onto for sure...

[Pourme]

I am not familiar with the GPO line, but that phone turned out very nice, and a first year too!. It looks so clean and shinny. Did you have to do a lot of restoration work on the case? What material is the case made of?  It resembles  AE80.

Benny

[twocvbloke]

What material is the case made of?

It's made from Diakon, which was another name for Perspex (aka Plexiglas), they were liable to chip and crack due to being relatively brittle, but they don't lose their shine or turn yellow like ABS versions, as my ivory 706 has shown...

[AE_Collector]

So I wonder what type of plastic "Plexiglass" is as compared to pvc? While I am wondering about things, can you explain Grebe....a term I am not familiar with.

Terry

[Hotline]

So I wonder what type of plastic "Plexiglass" is as compared to pvc? While I am wondering about things, can you explain Grebe....a term I am not familiar with.

Terry

Hi Terry, the "Grebe" cords are the type of grey cloth cords that are fitted to my phone, however I am not sure if "Grebe" refers to the colour of the cords or is just the type of material.

[Pourme]

To be a '59 it has a tremendous amount of shine! It looks new.

[Owain]

Grebe is the colour:

"Similar cords in grebe grey, or nylon braided all straight cords in grebe grey can be supplied."
http://www.britishtelephones.com/ericsson/gptel.htm

The material was polymethyl methacrylate, manufactured in this country by Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., under the trade name of Diakon, offered the best compromise between the sometimes conflicting requirements of cost, strength and finish. It is of interest that polymethyl methacrylate has been used by the Post Office in small quantities for coloured telephones since 1937 and has been found an excellent material. It has a translucency which gives it a very attractive appearance, and it has a hard surface, for a thermoplastic, which is not susceptible to staining.

[andy1702]

That looks like a good restoration to me. I'm particularly liking the original domed rubber feet. It looks like you also managed to find the correct back-painted clear dial bezel? Ffor anyone who doesn't know, there are a lot of these parts for sale which are reproductions with the letters and numbers screen printed onto the surface of coloured plastic, which is totally wrong.

The only thing I'd advise about the dial is that there is some debate as to if the dial 12s fitted to early 706s had the numeric dial (as you have in the photos), an alpha numeric dial (as on some 300 series) or the '3d' arrows which were also fitted to 706 clones made by Ericsson for use on private systems. I've seen vintage publicity material about the 'modern telephone' with all three versions, but can't be sure which was first or if some were just mock ups or indeed Ericsson N1900s that they had somehow got mixed up.

I've also got a 1959 706 in Ivory, but mine is a bit different because although it's a 706 on the base and GPO is marked on various internal components, the dial bezel is marked with numbers only. There was a discussion about it a while ago and we now think it was pinched off a GPO production run before it left the factory to go onto a private system. They changed the obvious part (the dial bezel) but left everything else. That one has a numeric dial 12 like yours. I've also got an early black one similar to yours, but the private version again with the numeric only dial bezel. Strangely it's not marked on the base, so I can't be sure of the date, although the domed feet (identical to yours) point to a late 50s or very early 60s date. This one also has a numbers only type 12 dial.

Here's the ivory 59 nicked from the GPO production and the black private 706 clone. Bothe have the domed feet.

[Hotline]

I am not familiar with the GPO line, but that phone turned out very nice, and a first year too!. It looks so clean and shinny. Did you have to do a lot of restoration work on the case? What material is the case made of?  It resembles  AE80.

Benny

I just cleaned and hand polished the case, it is made from Diakon.

That looks like a good restoration to me. I'm particularly liking the original domed rubber feet. It looks like you also managed to find the correct back-painted clear dial bezel? Ffor anyone who doesn't know, there are a lot of these parts for sale which are reproductions with the letters and numbers screen printed onto the surface of coloured plastic, which is totally wrong.

The only thing I'd advise about the dial is that there is some debate as to if the dial 12s fitted to early 706s had the numeric dial (as you have in the photos), an alpha numeric dial (as on some 300 series) or the '3d' arrows which were also fitted to 706 clones made by Ericsson for use on private systems. I've seen vintage publicity material about the 'modern telephone' with all three versions, but can't be sure which was first or if some were just mock ups or indeed Ericsson N1900s that they had somehow got mixed up.

I've also got a 1959 706 in Ivory, but mine is a bit different because although it's a 706 on the base and GPO is marked on various internal components, the dial bezel is marked with numbers only. There was a discussion about it a while ago and we now think it was pinched off a GPO production run before it left the factory to go onto a private system. They changed the obvious part (the dial bezel) but left everything else. That one has a numeric dial 12 like yours. I've also got an early black one similar to yours, but the private version again with the numeric only dial bezel. Strangely it's not marked on the base, so I can't be sure of the date, although the domed feet (identical to yours) point to a late 50s or very early 60s date. This one also has a numbers only type 12 dial.

Here's the ivory 59 nicked from the GPO production and the black private 706 clone. Bothe have the domed feet.

Thanks Andy, the domed feet are original and were on the phone when I got it, the phone is all original except for the cords and dial.

The dial that I have fitted is from another 1959 706 donor phone that had damage to it's case, so it has the correct back-painted clear dial bezel.

The early GPO issue 706 telephones officially had the numeric dial 12 like mine - as illustrated on the attached photos of the original 1959 GPO 706 brochure, I believe that the the '3d' arrows which were only fitted to 706 clones for private systems like you mention in your post.

I like your phones and I reckon you are right about your ivory one being taken from the GPO production line then turned into a 706 clone.

[andy1702]

That colour brochure does seem to show the phones with the numeric dials. However there is another leaflet (why can I never find the scans when i want them?) that seems to show the 3d arrows. I'll keep looking for it.

I did notice one small think with your restoration that I think may be wrong, but would be an easy fix. On the junction box you appear to have a rubber strain relief gromet on the line into the box, but the grebe cord from the box to the phone doesn't have one. I think that's probably the wrong way round. The boxes were normally screwed to the skirting board or a window sill where the line entered the building. So the external line cable and box would both have been fixed and wouldn't have needed strain relief. However the grebe line cord would have needed a gromit just in case the phone got moved around. It might be a bit awkward getting the gromit onto the grebe cord, although you seem to have made a good job of it at the phone end.

It's a shame you had a damaged '59. I've been experimenting with repairing plastic cases. I now have a method to invisibly repair  broken ABS, but I've not yet found a way to do a similar repair on Diakon. I need to find a chemical that will melt it then evaporate. Acetone, which works on ABS, doesn't seem to touch Diakon.

[Hotline]

Very good point about the line cable and grommet Andy, I will swap the grommet onto the Grebe cable!

The damaged '59 Diakon case is Ivory and only has a very small amount chipped out of the top, it is really very small and being Ivory I was thinking about trying to fill it with a small amount of melted white candle wax just to fill the chipped area. I attach a photo of the damage.

I also have another original Ivory '59 that I have posted on here before and attach a couple of photos below, it has it's original brown cloth line cord fitted.

Recently I bought an undamaged Black Diakon case & handset on Ebay, they need a machine polish, so when done I may end up fitting these to my other '59 base if I cannot repair the damaged Ivory case.