New Craigslist Finds!

WEBellSystemChristian · July 03, 2015, 10:25:25 PM

Two weeks ago, while I was doing my regular Craigslist scouting, my heart skipped about 8 beats after opening a California listing. In the picture sat a '70s Green 500 and, wait for it, a Rose Beige 500! I immediately contacted the seller via email, who told me she couldn't ship it to Wisconsin. She had never done it before, and she wasn't comfortable with the idea. I explained that it wasn't a very common phone, and after some emails back and forth, she agreed to ship it. I gave a brief description on how to pack it properly, and she made sure to do it well.

A day later, she told me that she found two more phones at her Mother's house that I might be interested in. She described them as 'blue' and 'greenish'. I figured they would be more '70s 500s, but I couldn't believe it when I saw the picture she sent me! One was a January 1959 Aqua WE 500, appears to be all dates matching, and a Dark Blue AE80!

I paid $60 for the Rose Beige, which also covers shipping, and $38 each plus shipping for the 80 and blue 500.

The seller was a pleasure to work with; most Craigslist sellers don't even bother responding to me if I ask about shipping!

I got a great deal on two sought after WE 500 colors plus a rare AE80 to boot! I am a very, very happy guy!!!

WEBellSystemChristian · July 03, 2015, 10:35:36 PM

Base pictures of the 80 and 500:

19and41 · July 03, 2015, 11:37:56 PM

Nice catches! For the benefit of a new person at this, What is the function of the screw in the base of the AE with the numbers 0 through 4 around it?

jsowers · July 04, 2015, 10:19:14 AM

Quote from: 19and41 on July 03, 2015, 11:37:56 PM
Nice catches! For the benefit of a new person at this, What is the function of the screw in the base of the AE with the numbers 0 through 4 around it?

It's a manual loop compensator. You are not the first person to ask about it. I think I did too once. Kind of hard to find out about it if you don't know that name describing what it does. Here's a good explanation from Terry (AE Collector).

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=3653.msg48681#msg48681

I remember having one on the AE80 party line phone of my childhood and I changed the settings and it made no difference that I could tell. But then we were literally across the road from the junction box for the entire community, so the loop was small. Phone company vans pulled up to that box almost daily. Later, after party lines were gone, the box was eventually gone too. I guess they ran a new line from the CO that I call the REgent Building (all the numbers were REgent 1). It's a very tiny building for such a fancy name.

Christian, you have some really nice phones there. You're going to have fun working on them. You may have to get into AE80s since you now have that dark blue one. Be sure to post the "after" pictures here.

19and41 · July 04, 2015, 10:31:52 AM

Thanks for the info!

Dennis Markham · July 04, 2015, 11:04:46 AM

Nice job Christian on getting those phones. I look forward to seeing your "after photos", especially on the Blue AE80 and the Rose Beige 500.

~Dennis

WEBellSystemChristian · July 04, 2015, 11:43:33 AM

Thanks guys! The seller used 2-day Priority Mail to ship them, so they should be in my hands by Monday. I can't wait to start working on them, especially the Rose Beige! That's one more 500 color I can cross off my wish list! Now I just need Mahogany Brown..

Is the fingerwheel on the AE80 the earlier style with the chrome retaining ring? If so, who sells those rings? Are they the same as the ones used on AE40s?

Also, it looks like the line cord on the Rose Beige was replaced with a modular one. Would it be appropriate to install a Neutral Gray line cord?

DavePEI · July 04, 2015, 03:44:38 PM

Quote from: WEBellSystemChristian on July 04, 2015, 11:43:33 AM
Also, it looks like the line cord on the Rose Beige was replaced with a modular one. Would it be appropriate to install a Neutral Gray line cord?

Now that's scary. I hope he meant a half modular one. Now I know why that guy wanted to borrow my notching tool

WEBellSystemChristian · July 04, 2015, 06:07:59 PM

Quote from: DavePEI on July 04, 2015, 03:44:38 PM
Quote from: WEBellSystemChristian on July 04, 2015, 11:43:33 AM
Also, it looks like the line cord on the Rose Beige was replaced with a modular one. Would it be appropriate to install a Neutral Gray line cord?
Now that's scary. I hope he meant a half modular one. Now I know why that guy wanted to borrow my notching tool

I hope it's only half! If it isn't, at least I have de-modular fillers that I can paint with a matching spray paint color.

andre_janew · July 05, 2015, 11:17:45 AM

If it has spade terminals on one end and a modular plug on the other, I would leave it alone. Such a cord would make it easier to use. I have seen them on eBay and I have a phone with one right now. I like it because I was able to upgrade the phone without having to modify it.

WEBellSystemChristian · July 06, 2015, 02:06:15 PM

I have the phones in my possession now, with some good and some bad:

The Rose Beige is in excellent shape, with all dates matching to November 1956, except for the ringer (II-60) and transmitter cap (2-56). Fortunately, the housing wasn't notched for the line cord, so it should be easy to replace the cord! The only other problem is some stress cracking on the bezel. Does anybody know how to fix that? Should I just leave it alone?

The Light Blue came with a smashed transmitter cap, but it looks fixable. Other than that, the color is good, and cords look original (haven't opened it up yet).

The blue AE80 is in the best shape, with no damage at all and good color all over. The dial is a little slow, and will need some cleaning.

WEBellSystemChristian · July 06, 2015, 02:09:31 PM

Here is a close-up of the bezel cracks.

HarrySmith · July 06, 2015, 07:59:39 PM

Cool! Great find. I took me a while to find the correct color line cord for my Rose Beige phone. IIRC I think I finally got one from Cliff S.
Give him a shout or maybe Steve H.

WEBellSystemChristian · July 09, 2015, 08:50:44 PM

Of the three, the Rose Beige turned out the best IMHO. It was wetsanded and I added a '70s line cord painted Neutral Gray. I didn't bother re-dying the handset cord, it looks more like the Rose Beige cords I normally see anyway!

The blue AE80 came out well too! Again, everything was wetsanded and polished, and the cord was cleaned. The line cord is there, but not on the phone when I took the picture. I also still need a chrome dial card retainer for it, anybody have one?

The blue 500 made a good turnaround, despite its rough shape when it got here! The receiver cap that was smashed is now in one piece, and looks great! I chose to save the original cap rather than look for another one. The color is in great shape all over!

tptech302 · July 09, 2015, 10:04:30 PM

They look very nice! Do you have a certain range on sand paper grits you use? I have never done any wet sanding of parts before but have a few I would like to try, and was curious the method and what you used.

Thanks

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New Craigslist Finds!