$2.00 GTE AE...something -> 80E

[Pourme]

I bought this today for $2.00 at a flea market. For that price I didn't think twice. The appearance looks like it should be a 12 button, modular cord unit but, as you see it isn't either. I have seen pics of one before but, it makes me wonder is this phone a bit rare?
It is very scratched up, plastic rules here. Extremely light weight.  Every thing about it works. I'm in the process of cleaning it now. There is a hole exactally where the year date is, it's either '70 or '78.

I'd like a new face plate (this one is scratched really bad), number sticker...etc.

I don't assume it's is a valuable piece but what is it?

[Pourme]

Could that be a payphone dial mounted into a home new plexiglass plate?

Here is a picture of the dial...for what it's worth, to me it looks factory original to me.

[unbeldi]

It is an AE 80e, the more modern version of the 80.

I have found them to be hard to sell for anything more than $10, even clean looking in beige.


PS: here is a beige one:

[Kenton K]

Thats a AE 80E. In my opinion, a really cheaply made phone. The switchook mounted on the pcb board, a one screw mount case, and paper bezel numbers. But at that price, you can't loose! Good find.
Ken

[Pourme]

Yeah, I figured it wasn't worth much...Although with my limited knowledge, you don't know till you ask. It is VERY cheaply made for sure! Glad to know what model number it is.

I'll finish cleaning it and put it on the shelf as a example of a cheap phone...ha!

Thanks!

[unbeldi]

The only real problem I see with these is that some of them used finger stops made from plastic which at least after 3 decades had a tendency to break.  I am not sure which ones use the plastic version, some still had chromed metal finger stops like yours.  They made these in a variety of colors until ca. the mid 1980s, but beige seems to be the most common.

I don't see anything wrong with using the PCB.  By the mid-1970s components were getting smaller and the potted network design had not been used by AE anymore in a long time.  The plastic base is very sturdy, and plastic manufacturing was the trend of the time. At least they don't corrode as easily as the metal ones. I think you can find early versions of these that still used metal base plates.

[AE_Collector]

WoW, that one had a tough life! The date will be March 1978. Made from about 1975 through 1986 or so.

They are a good source of a Straight Line a Ringer which is probably worth $10 to someone who needs one. That would be a good use of yours Pourme rather than doing all that cleaning. For $10 or so I would send you a much better one but unfortunately with shipping it would be $25.

The one thing that was always metal on 80e sets from AE Canada at least was the finger stop. Yours has been refurbed by someone Unbeldi, I have never seen a clear plastic finger stop like that before and it has a flat hard wired handset Cord with built in grommet that I have never seen on a factory AE set.

Terry

[poplar1]

They made these in a variety of colors until ca. the mid 1980s, but beige seems to be the most common.

The 1975 Automatic Electric catalog shows only the following colors for 80Es:

00  Basic Black
10  Beige
19  Basic White
21  Antique White
22  Espresso Brown 

All were equipped with clear faceplates and matching facemats.
Additional color facemats could be ordered in packs of 5:

A  Basic Black
B  Espresso Brown
C  Antique White
D  Apple Green
E  Tan
F  Burnt Orange
G  Gold
H  Red
J   Yellow
K  Blue
M  Basic White
N  Avocado
Q  Beige

If I recall the ads in Telephony and Telephone Engineering and Management correctly, the reduction in number of colors for housings and handsets, with the availability of additional colors for facemats, allowed savings in stocking costs.

[compubit]

When our family moved into our new house in GTE territory in Texas, I got a phone in my room, and it was the black TT 80E (I wanted the ITT model - local GTE offered both, same cost - but dad got the AE 80E).  The phone came with a set of all of the colors of facemats.  Of course, I ended up cutting my own mat...

Inside, I was unimpressed with the design - it was designed to be opened and changed much - I broke several of the clips that wires connected to during the exploration process, and ended up having to shim the main board for the switch hook to work properly.  The phone wasn't design to "take a beating", unlike my old Stromberg 1543 which, even in pieces, worked.

Jim

[Pourme]

Thanks for the offer, Terry. You are correct, this one isn't worth the time to clean it, except for the fact that i'm learning about the phone during the hands on experience. I am just cleaning and a bit of polishing, no sanding time spent on this one. As always...I'm learning a lot, here!

I'll post "after" pics soon.

[jsowers]

When I was a kid just out of high school, my best friend's dad had an AE80e rotary, in antique white in the bedroom, and I proceeded to show my friend how to remove the fingerwheel, just like on our AE80 at home. Well, live and learn, I pushed that fingerwheel in reverse and instead of coming off, the dial broke and would no longer spin. Yikes!

So since it was modular, I proceeded to unhook it and instead of incurring the wrath of his dad, I took the phone to the local phone company for repair. This was around 1978 or so and it was rented like all our phones were then. I'll never forget bringing it in. They acted like nobody had ever done that before and I'm sure they must've called his dad for confirmation, to make sure I hadn't stolen it or something. They did replace it with a new phone and re-used the stick-on number card and all was well and I was happy it was over.

I learned several lessons with that experience, especially not to force fingerwheels on plastic phones.

[AE_Collector]

Funny story Jonathan! As I read I thought Uh-Oh...

As mentioned, these phones were basically *Junk*. They were nice looking when new though and a modern looking improvement over the older style rotary 80's.

I have seen and have both the packs of 5 identical paper face mats as well as the big pack of all colors that came with many of the consumer sets.

Due to the small plastic catch that holds the face plate onto the phone AND the single screw at the back and plastic tab at the front that held the shell into the base of these phones.....drop the phone and it would literally explode into pieces all over the room. We had many such repair calls on rental sets. Sometimes even the plastic hookswitch lever inside the phone flew off under the couch and its spring vanished never to be seen again.

The 5 colors mentioned are the 5 that I saw regularly though we didn't rent the Espresso Brown 80E's (just the other 4) but some PBX customers had them. Other colors did exist though. I think that as production went along a few more colors were added. The colors added seemed to be done if the AE Styleline colors. I have an 80E in Tangerine (bright oronge). I have seen Candy Apple Red, Avocado Green & Sunlight Yellow.

Metal based versions exist BUT, they aren't 80E's even though they look like an 80E. Refurb kits were available for the old rotary 80's making them look like a 80E Ritary with the faceplate. Also a metal based 80 Touch Call was available from about 1969 or 1970 that looked like an 80E TC prior to the introduction of the 80E TC in 1975 or so. They are fairly rare to find and originally came with the attractive looking back painted ribbed two tone type faceplates that early AE 186 & 187 sets came with. The introduction of the 80E's soon brought the introduction of clear face plates and paper mats for many other AE models.

Terry

[Pourme]

Ok I spent a little time polishing, all I need is a new faceplate...One of the best working phones I own!

[AE_Collector]

Yes, that looks more than a little bit better. Fortunately your handset cord was good do you didn't have to find a new one.

Do you need just the paper mat or a replacement clear plastic faceplate as well? I am pretty sure I can find you the proper paper mat but don't know if I have and spare good plates. I will have to look. Even if there are a few bruises on the clear plate once you have a good mat behind it the plate probably won't look too bad.

Terry

[Pourme]

Yes, that looks more than a little bit better. Fortunately your handset cord was good do you didn't have to find a new one.

Do you need just the paper mat or a replacement clear plastic faceplate as well? I am pretty sure I can find you the proper paper mat but don't know if I have and spare good plates. I will have to look. Even if there are a few bruises on the clear plate once you have a good mat behind it the plate probably won't look too bad.

Terry

Someone took something sharp and did a zig zag across the top of the plastic and it looks kinda rough. If you have both I'd be glad to compensate you for them. If you have just the paper, that would be great, as well!

Thanks!