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Contempra in "red' (orange?)

Started by gpo706, January 09, 2011, 01:59:12 PM

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gpo706

BIN 23, 4.50 P&P.

Tried on these before over 40 quid, nice...

Be on my desk for the foreseeable future.

"now this should take five minutes, where's me screwdriver went now..?"

Craig T

Nice one GPO, I have one of these in red too, these have a fast dial to them, good if you are in a rush  :)

Yours looks in excellent shape too, congrats!

gpo706

#2
Craig, I already have a brown one, but nobody pays any attention to it, kinda merges into the desk top.

In fact the last time I looked someone had put the handset back upside down, - go figure...

I've never seen the so called "gold" colour though, anybody got any pics?

"now this should take five minutes, where's me screwdriver went now..?"

gpo706

It is "ORANGE" I unpacked it and plonked it on the living room table.

Mother was astonished, then I told her I had the brown one, which she admitted to putting the handset back backside-foremost.

It is incredibly striking colour, its just so so SEVENTIES looking.

Well its 1982 according to the base, line cord is filthy but will clean up fine, one thing about these sets is the handset cord is very thick/chunky and never seems to tangle on the brown or this one.

Substantial set, handset is heavy because the dial is in it, base has the bells.

Dial needs a little lubrication, as the 9 or 0 stop sticks a bit, wired it up to my sub Pana 616 and didn't work without an ADSL filter, so guess all the UK phones need a bloody ADSL filter on them to work through those pesky RJ11 sockets?
"now this should take five minutes, where's me screwdriver went now..?"

paul-f

Quote from: gpo706 on January 09, 2011, 03:42:33 PM

I've never seen the so called "gold" colour though, anybody got any pics?


The harvest gold color can be seen here:
   http://www.oldphoneworks.com/contempra-harvest-gold-touch-tone.html

Find a color code list for Contempras here:
   http://www.paul-f.com/Imagination.html#Contempra

There's also a more elusive metallic gold...

Visit: paul-f.com         WE  500  Design_Line

.

gpo706

#5
Thank you for the links Paul, smashing sites.

That "gold" one is incredible!

I'd like a trimphone done up the same way.

GPO/BT only offered these in Brown/Orange/Gold.

I have no idea why they even made the brown one, as I said it disappears into a desk, and doesn't show off the sharp lines of the design.

The blue specimen looks fantastic.

"now this should take five minutes, where's me screwdriver went now..?"

LarryInMichigan

These phones were made in the colors popular in the late 70s/early 80s, and brown was certainly a popular color back then (I remember it well).  It is interesting that the advert says "By GEC" while the phone shows the Northern Telecom (formerly Northern Electric) logo.  Were these phone all imported from Canada, or were some made in the UK?

Larry

gpo706

#7
Larry, probably sub-contracted to GEC from NT, the Contempras I have have the "contempra" (in lower case) legend on the base of the handset and the middle of the base.

Both mine have "GEN 82" underneath.

This is GEC-AEI Telecommunications, Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, year 1982.

My linesman's contempra No. 281 has I think Northern Telecom markings on the handset.

http://www.britishtelephones.com/t281.htm

Larry - just found the post about the brown one:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=1860.0



"now this should take five minutes, where's me screwdriver went now..?"