OOOOH (or AYE) CHIHUAHUA
I have a friend that was in an antque store in Chihuahua and sent me pictures of the old phones as she kept finding more and more. Most were models I had seen before however this one seems to stand out. It MIGHT be an Ericsson ????
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I just compared dial numbers font on a NT Alexander Graham and they appear to have the numbers in the same typeface although this could be that this is just a really bad clone of the Alexander Graham?
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of course this might just end up in the "hideous telephones" list.
Anyone ever seen anything like this?
Mark
I think it is Italian.
Quote from: rdelius on January 13, 2018, 10:57:16 PM
I think it is Italian.
It is. "BOBO" by Telcer.
These consistently seem to sell for good money on ebay.
Search the forum for BOBO to find more photos and discussion.
That name just makes me start to laugh! "Hey, have you seen my new BoBo"?
Obviously Cell phones hadn't been remotely thought about yet when the branded these the most mobile phone ever!
But, it is sort of a neat design...I'd grab it if not too outrageously priced!
Terry
"bobo" should make you laugh . In Spanish it means clown and probably the same in Italian.
Well, obviously a great design as it is working!
Are you going to get It?
Terry
worth the 20 USD or so they want for it. One on ebay for 590 USD from italy another 170 Euros also from Italy
Gonna see if my friend will pick it up for me!
AYE CHIHUAHUA!
Not to mention the shipping cost from Europe! Better grab that one while you can.
Terry
I would get it in a heartbeat.
That phone was posted in the Auction Talk topic "Hideous Phones" about 4 years ago and apparently made popular by ABBA in one of their album releases.
(http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=1351.0;attach=57664;image)
All that is at the link:
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=1351.msg107555#msg107555
As I said it would end up there in "hideous phones" . I guess I should have looked there FIRST.
Mark
Quote from: markosjal on January 14, 2018, 11:43:26 AM
As I said it would end up there in "hideous phones" . I guess I should have looked there FIRST.
Mark
That's a long and hard topic to search for phones. The Photobucket album of about 100 phone still works (link at the top of the first post in that topic
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=1351.0
but should migrate them back to a place on the forum before Photobucket makes their next "gimme money" move.
The Bobo phone was in memory because I posted it way back then.
My next project, I guess, moving photos to the forum. Did it with other phone collections so should problem make these "safe" as well.
BTW I HATE ABBA!
Well, everyone knew that there had to be ONE person somewhere who didn't like ABBA.
The "Bring back ABBA" coalition...
ok, so I got in touch with the guy from the antique store (really a junk store it seems) , and he confirmed rthe price of 380 pesos . He is getting me a shipping price.
Accordinfg to XE.com 380 pesos is $20.08 plus shipping will cost me another $7 or $8 USD I am guessing , maybe $10 at max.
I can see from the images some problems already like the nuts missing that hold the metal handle on it seems , also there appears to be no line cord. Not insurmountable problems but to be dealt with nonetheless. Not likely I will find an original line cord but think I may have something close in round cable.
Less than 30 USD and I have not found a single one that sold for less than 170 Euros ($207 USD at todays exchange rate), so I must be doing okay.
I almost thought this was a toy phone when I first waw it in the pics among others .
Too bad I am not an Abba fan!
Mark
Quote from: AE_Collector on January 14, 2018, 03:33:04 PM
Well, everyone knew that there had to be ONE person somewhere who didn't like ABBA.
The "Bring back ABBA" coalition...
from the dead?
They all performed together in June 2016.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/06/abba-sing-together-for-first-time-in-more-than-30-years/
Terry
I think that it's cute, not hideous, and the price was too good to be believed.
Larry
Quote from: LarryInMichigan on January 16, 2018, 03:30:36 PM
I think that it's cute, not hideous, and the price was too good to be believed.
Larry
even more hideous for the green/yellow colors
If anyone is really interested in one of these, I just posted thius of interest to you.
http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=19632.0
Mark
Okay , I got the Bobo Phone delivered today and imediately checked it out.
First as you can see it did suffer some from bad packaging in newspaper. The shell was separated. but luckily no breaks or cracks.
I discovered the unit has no hookswitch plungers I may have to fabricate some from dowelling, but should not be impossible. One part of a hoiokswitch plunger was found inside.
upon opening the unit I dee the hookswich is damaged but not beyond repair. The plastic that moves the contacts and connects to the plungers is cracked. I managed to get it to stay in place as-is but will have some plasti-loka work to do.
The handset cord is bad so I connected a WE handset .
I was a little stumped at first by the 4 wire line cord then started testing and viola I found the right 2 contacts of the four. Dialtone, sidetone seem normal. Called Echo Test and all is good. Dial seems a little iffy on Grandstream ATA but not the first
I wanted to show the size of the dial and some internal components. This is a weird beast. I can actually see a smaller dial ring behind the giant one. I need to know how to safely disassemble the dial. I am guessing there is a screw or nut under dial center but dial center does not want to release easily. I figure it has tabs on it and would prefer to not break one trying.
I realized that years ago I did see one of these and have a vague memory of it after seeing this. It was in the circus and a clown used it as a prop.
Is the phone heavy enough to simply put a finger in a dial finger hole and turn to the stop or do you have to hold the phone down with the other hand to dial out? It look really light.
It seems the phone is missing a baseplate or maybejust screw on feet? With that said it seems to slide easily but I amcertain it is missing something on bottom . On the two sides it is resting on screws a little crooked. There appear to be plastic feet in the center
Here is what I know so far been working on it since it arrived
Handset cord was shot. I have located and installed a suitable replacement, not round cable coled cord rather flat cable coiled cord. It is very dark gray like the original appeared to be.
needs a line cord I have shorter length round cords and flat cable , however it seems thios phone begs for a long cord so thinking abougt a long flat type cable wirth modular plug and call it good.
Receiver element is dead . tested with WE element and cabling to handset and handset is all good. As I heve no receiver element anything close to this I installed an asian receiver element .
Mic element produces static. Also noteworthy it has a date of 1972 on it. coinciodently looking at the mic element I found that it appeared similar to the Ericssons. In fact it is identical to some I saw on ebay months ago and thought about buying to keep on hand for Ericsson spares. Opening up an ericsson handset confirmed this , same diameter and same depth. It was plug n play. I nopw have clear sound on the handset but now both receiver and mic elements have been replaced.
The plastic is VERY DIRTY . In fact I was surprised how the color comes out just cleaning it. There are some tough stains that may never come out.
the metal handle is missing nuts as I originally suspected.
The gongs have green paint on them that is chipping off. I have a temptation to strip them as I see brass underneath.
the actuator for hookswitch is flaky and cracked. For me this is a plasti loka job but that will wait as I do not have anytyhing to use for plungers anyway. I need to come up with some strong solid cylyndrical material . Lickily I found part of a plunger inside the phone making it easier to match diameter.
Tonight I did my best to clean the handset even as far as using 0000 steel wool and getting some of the bad stains out. Then buffing by hand and turtle wax. Tomorrow I might try the buffer disk on the drill ,. Surpriingly the handset is looking good.
Base has some slight discolorations. I do not think they are severe enough to even try to work to get out.
My main concern with this phone is how to fabricate or acquire plungers.
Mark
I wanted to post an update to the Bobo phone . These are new pics that I took since I reassembled it today. Stil ilt is a work in progress.
It is currently cleaned, reassembled and working.
I did have the plastic somewhat cleaner however I think it got some dirt on it while reassembling it . It took me several attempts to reassemble as it is a seious PITA to get it all back together.
The plungers were broken and I fabricated this as a temporary solution . These are aluminum file clasps you get from Office Depot or Office Max. They resemple a long hollow aluminum nail however the end with no head is threaded inside and they come with a screw end (I bought several sizes of these one day and they have proven useful MANY times, not only in phones) . I will be putting a spring on each plunger between the aluminum clasp and white standoff. This will serve two purposes one to allow the plingers to come up more easily , not relying on the old hookswitch sring, and take up space between plunger and standoff so standoffs are not so wonky. The standoff I felt was necessary to keep the pluinger from going down too far. and damaging the hookswitch mechanism. The original translucent plungers had E rings on them inside the phone for the same purpose. I may be able to put a groove in the aluminum plungers to accomplish the same I am also going to investigate cutting down paint brush handles as these plungers are very thin, thinner than a pencil. The plungers are more like those on a WE 500 but about 2 inches long. no wonder they broke.
Bottom plate is in fact missing . I have concluded that fabricating a flat thin base plate may be the best solution. It can attach to screw holes on bottom. Aluminum plungers stain the handset quickly need to find a way to put a rubber or felt cap on them. White standoffs need to ground down a couple of milimeters to allow handset to rest on phone base and not on standoffs/plungers.
I am really considiring taking the green paint off the gongs and exposing brass. Paint is scratched up.
I had to guess on bell clapper as the clapper shaft was bent . I have seen several videos and images of the back side of these phones and there seems to be no consistency as to the bell clapper and hole cut-outs.
the gong and handle mounts seem to have some bad threads which I managed to avoid using a couple of washers.
All this and no modifications to phone that can not be undone should I find parts, which I really doubt.
Good innovation on the hook switch. Doesn't look bad or too out of place.
Terry
I went looking for some things. I did not think about looking for Springs in Auto zone butsprings seem to be my main problem right now
I did find some paint brushes , art type and have now cut one down . It looks a lot more normal and natural than the aluminum. just a problem finding the right springs.
I went to office Depot today and was actually looking for pens I could rip springs out of . No fat pens with fatter springs. Looked at some paint brushes and wanted to see if they were very strong and hollow wood broke in my hand before trying
Then I found those in the photo for kids. These have PLASTIC handles.
Upon my return I went to work taking apart, again, the bobophone . Luckily I did find a broken piece of the old plunger and e ring inside the phone . This told me how much should stand up above the top of the phone. Tnat combines with the aluminum plungers I fashined I had the measurements and the concept.
I used no springs as these plungers are very light and I can not find springs anyway!
Here it is, and if you ever need to fashion plungers, this can easily be modified for many other phones with cylindrical plungers
Pic 1 The victim
Pic 2 the first decapitated victim, note the notch for the E ring. I also had to sand the fat end down so it was thinner
Pic 3 Installed in Bobo with E ring and white cylindrical spacer as a stop. If it was not for the stop the plunger would force the hookswitch mechanism down too far and break it. The E ring causes the plunger to not exceed the up or down limits and keeps the plunger from falling out. hookswitch should not force the plunger to the E ring limit. I have no idea how this was on the oringinal hookswitch mechanism but there most have been a plunger stop.
Pic 4 Plunger in Hung up position with E ring resting on white cylindrical spacer. This mechanical limit will not be reached when on hook. It is a stop for when hookswitch is pressed with hand.
Oh and thatks guys I have had Abba in my head for days now.
Very creative. After this you will be on the lookout for another BoBo just to see how the hookswitch plunger mechanism was made.
Terry
Here are a few photos showing the plungers in both clear plastic and metal and the bottom cover. I haven't uncovered any internal photos and sold my last BOBOs several years ago.
The first has an advanced case of color fading.
Here is how it came out. As one plunger was slightly shorter than the other, so I made a plasti loka (love this stuff) plunger extension at the end of it .
The last two show plungers up then plungers down
Looks great!
Quote from: paul-f on January 28, 2018, 12:24:31 PM
Here are a few photos showing the plungers in both clear plastic and metal and the bottom cover. I haven't uncovered any internal photos and sold my last BOBOs several years ago.
The first has an advanced case of color fading.
No parts laying around?
Quote from: markosjal on January 28, 2018, 02:03:31 PM
No parts laying around?
I don't think there's anything left, but will keep you in mind if any BOBO-like parts catch my eye.
Paul, obviously the marketing person in you sold the discoloured BoBo as a Camo BoBo?
The discolouration matches the handset so it looks like it is in camouflage to me.
Terry
Quote from: AE_Collector on January 28, 2018, 04:13:29 PM
Paul, obviously the marketing person in you sold the discoloured BoBo as a Camo BoBo?
The discolouration matches the handset so it looks like it is in camouflage to me.
Terry
I (fortunately) never owned that one. The photos were on-line and I enjoyed seeing the pattern on someone else's phone. 8)
Perhaps we should start a topic on sun tanned phones.
Quote from: paul-f on January 28, 2018, 04:51:37 PM
Perhaps we should start a topic on sun tanned phones.
The story of (sort of) modern day phone collectors lives!
Terry
Although I have sent numerous emails I have not received a reply for any Bobo Phone parts.
Now moving on to the subject of the missing base and how I might make something work.
I found 2 lead weights that I think came out of NT Jazz handsets. The fit nicely on the screw holes and having the extra weight on bottom sure helps. I think the rubber base must have had lead weights in them somehow or somewhere.
In the photo you see the weights but I think the original base provides support to keep the two sides together as well so between phone plastic and the lead weights, I need a plate that is rigid enough to serve this purpose. For the feet of the lead weights I can use a thin sheet of rubber then match the height on the rear and front of the phone or plate with stick on rubber feet.
If anyone has a better idea, I would love to hear it.