AE 80 in Espresso Brown?

[AE_Collector]

Prior to the introduction of much newer and redesigned 80E in approximately 1975, AE 80's weren't available in Espresso Brown.....or were they?

I never saw one...anywhere. In about 1999 BC Tel was turning into TELUS and they were shutting down our repair shops that had been open near Vancouver since the early 1960's. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to make numerous of what I called "Reconnaissance Missions" into the buildings as they were being emptied out in preparation for demolition to build a new High School on the site.

No amazing finds came out of the Reconnaissance Missions, just numerous boxes of this and that. One of these items was a solid brown plastic AE 80 housing, AE's Espresso Brown. I knew that Espresso Brown AE Type 810 handsets and coil cords were readily available from the newer 80E sets made in this colour so I could build myself an older AE 80 in Espresso Brown....except for the dial number ring.

I have no idea what the story of the Espresso Brown housing for older 80's is. I can only guess that AE Canada May have tried to interest BC Tel in new Brown housings to modernize some of their older 80's being refurbished at our shops. This one solid coloured brown housing is the only one I have ever seen.

One day years ago I saw a listing for a Brown AE 80 on eBay. After asking lots of questions I determined that it was a refurbished phone, painted brown and the dial number plate was painted Brown with a clear overlay applied to it. And the seller had two of them. I managed to buy them both from the seller at a price low enough to justify the purchase for the Brown number rings and whatever else I could use the rest for to ultimately build my Brown AE 80.

Nothing happens very fast here until I ran into someone looking for a Brown AE 80 so I got to work building two of them, one for my collection and one for the other person and my net gain is a loss of one more phone using up space around here!

Pictures below including the two side by side, one to mimic an early AE 80 from the late 1950's with chrome plunger buttons and fingerwheel and the big odd shaped rubber feet. The other is more of a 1970's model. The last picture is two of the newer AE 80E models.

Terry

[compubit]

I purchased one several years ago, but found it was painted with the number sticker on it.  I can't remember of I returned it (I think I did), or it's buried here in my celler  (and I cut a deal with the seller).

I was disappointed that it was black base painted brown...

Jim

[AE_Collector]

The person who wants the Espresso Brown 80 used to have one that also was professionally painted brown with the number ring overlay. It looks to me as though some company converted a lot of these to Brown 80's. The paint job ultimately is quite nicely done. A subsequent owner put a sticker on the handset of one of them which removed a little spot of the brown paint. Fortunately it was a black handset previously so it doesn't show very much.

Both of the ones I bought had frequency ringers in them that have been modified to make them sort of ring which I intend on looking at more closely as they both do work.

Terry

[Russ Kirk]

Every week I post a phone from my collection on Facebook, Russ' Friday Phones.  I pulled my Espresso Brown AE 80 from the shelf, took a couple of photos and posted. I do not recall when or where i got it, I do know I got it cheap. I dusted it off and placed it on the shelf and did not look at it closer.

Thanks to Terry informing me that the Espresso Brown if a hard to find color.  I searched this forum and found this thread. So I looked closer and found out this is an example of a good repaint with a dial overlay. Oh well, not rare but makes for a good story.

[Pourme]

What color is inside the handset when you remove the caps? Or under the hood? If that's a repaint, it is a really good one!

[Russ Kirk]

What color is inside the handset when you remove the caps? Or under the hood? If that's a repaint, it is a really good one!

The original color was black.

[AE_Collector]

I had two of them that were painted. One was a black 80 originally and the other a Forget-Me-Not Blue (light Blue like Aqua) phone originally though I think at least one part of the handset was originally a different colour.

Some company must have refurbished a lot of these into Espresso Brown 80's!

Terry

[monophone_lover]

i saw one listed on ebay just today.... look like early model

Rob

[monophone_lover]

after i looked again it may be painted.. here couple screen grabs...