My motorcycle-ride find

[Phonesrfun]

OK, yesterday I was out and about in the Blue mountains in Oregon.  I passed through the town of Wallowa, OR - (you can find it on the map) and there were a bunch of yard sales in town.  Nothing phone-wise.  So, I wnt to an antique store and they had a few phones, but nothing that really excited me.  They just had a few AE 80's and a WE 554 that looked like it had been through the war.  Actually, they all had that "through the war" look to them.

So, I went on my way, but started to think about one AE80 in terms of it being an early AE80, so I went back and got it. 

Looks like it sat out in someone's barn or garage for all its working life.  The printing on the bottom is very faded, and I cannot, under any light, make out a date.  None of the individual components inside are dated.  Darn those AE guys, anyway.

Some features:

• Heavier than He**
• Bakelite handset
• Older style manually compensated network
• Schematic lodged to the inside of the cover
• Metal cradle buttons
• Someone tried to mute the ringer gongs by stuffing them with Kleenex and taping them with duct tape. (AE had no provision for adjusting ringer volume on these older sets)
• Dirty!!

This will make a nice project phone for a clean/polish job.

So without further adieu, here are the pictures:

[HobieSport]

I like the AE 80s, Bill, and have a few of them, both the older and newer models. I like their kind of curvy "pleasantly plump" look compared to the 500s. But yes, it's  very frustrating about the lack of dates on them, making it impossible for me to offer them up as "birthday phones" for example. Argh! Why couldn't they just have simply date-stamped them? Wouldn't the AE company itself have wanted to have dates on each phone and it's component for their own repair technicians to refer to? That is, unless there are some secret date codes on them that I don't know about...

Anyways, congrats on your find, and the fact that although your AE 80 is about 50 or more years old and very grungy as found, yet is still working, is a testament to their quality and reliability.

-Hobie

[JorgeAmely]

Bill:

That is a good find. A bakelite handset will place it as being built in the mid fifties. They even came with smooth cords and for some time, just like the WE500's, were available in two tone combinations. This one must be early fifties. I have never seen one with yellow markings on the network terminals.

You need a direct lightning strike to kill these things. With the 20 Hz ringer, I am sure it will work fine.

PS: They also came with numbers only (rural) wheels.

PPS: Bill, on close inspection of one of the photos, the ringer is 33 Hz, but the card in the housing says 20. By the way, I was looking at one I am cleaning up now, and at the bottom of the ringing capacitor (side that faces the back of the phone) you will find a date code (month-year). In mine, the capacitor code and the date stamp on the base match.

[HobieSport]

By the way, I was looking at one I am cleaning up now, and at the bottom of the ringing capacitor (side that faces the back of the phone) you will find a date code (month-year). In mine, the capacitor code and the date stamp on the base match.

Jorge, this makes me very happy to hear!

So is this pictured AE 80 a February 1960?

And where please does one find the capacitor code?

Just so you know I'm looking inside this (and any) AE 80 pretty much for the first time, so it's all new to me. First thing I notice: Well designed and built!)

Thanks,

-Hobie

[JorgeAmely]

Hobie:

If looks like if the manufacturer of the capacitor is EUC, the date code is the 2-60 you see in the picture. That means that Automatic Electric bought these capacitors from a number of suppliers, those supplied by this company in particular happen to have a data code stamped. I checked another AE80 I have, with a capacitor manufacturing code CN; and that one does not have a date code (bummer).

To confirm this theory, can you check the bottom of your phone to see if the date code matches 2-60? A picture will be worth a thousand words. 

[Phonesrfun]

Neither the .4 or the .2 MF caps in my AE 80 have dates.  The handset cord has a paper label on it that says 60.  That's all I have, and I suspect the handset cord was a replacement because it is in the more recent AE colors of red, yellow, and green (no black)  Green was the common R&T conductor, with spade tips crimped on for each.  The diagram called for red, black, and white, so I suspect it had been replaced in 1960 and that the phone dates to sometime before that by, say 5 or 6 years.

I just tore the phone down to nuts and bolts and cleaned it up and took the dial apart and cleaned and lightly point-lubed it.  Took the handset completely apart.  No other dates.  Nada.

But, now it is a lot cleaner than before.  The bakelite handset cleaned right up, and the dial is great!  The cover to the whole thing is soft thermoplastic, so I did not hit it with the buffer.  Instead, I polished it by hand, after running the whole thing through the dishwasher.  The cords cleaned right up too.  The whole thing is starting to look pretty good.

-Bill

[foots]

Good find Phonesrfun! I could kick myself in the arse for passing on several of similar early AE 80s because I had not yet decided if I liked them. After getting a couple of later model AE phones, I'm a fan. Both of my later models (wall and desk Starlites) seem to be good quality, stylish and a real pleasure to use.

[mienaichizu]

Bill:


PS: They also came with numbers only (rural) wheels.

all my AE comes with numbers only faceplate

[HobieSport]

Hobie:

If looks like if the manufacturer of the capacitor is EUC, the date code is the 2-60 you see in the picture. That means that Automatic Electric bought these capacitors from a number of suppliers, those supplied by this company in particular happen to have a data code stamped. I checked another AE80 I have, with a capacitor manufacturing code CN; and that one does not have a date code (bummer).

To confirm this theory, can you check the bottom of your phone to see if the date code matches 2-60? A picture will be worth a thousand words.

Thanks Jorge, I posted some pics of the AE 80/Leich Feb 1960 phone on the "How to Date an AE 80" thread here:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=1280.0

Anything that you or anyone can tell me about the phone from the pictures would be appreciated.

-Hobie

[Phonesrfun]

Some after shots of the early AE 80.  All I did was clean and give the soft thermoplastic case a bit of elbow grease.  I also did a little cord re-coiling and cleaning and armor-all on the cords.  New dial center.  Took everything apart and ran the base through the dishwasher with the handset and case. 

It could use a lot more, but some other time.....

-Bill

[JorgeAmely]

Bill:

This is indeed a very early model. This is the first one I have seen with the talking capacitor under the hook switch.

Also, it looks like the dial is held in place with side screws, like WE models do. In fact, the dial assembly seems to use the same construction technique used in the WE5302, meaning that the dial is inserted inside a plastic ring and the dial edge can be seen in the picture. Could you add some comments about that?

The ringer looks like a late model. The older ringers did not have any white plastic like yours has.

[HobieSport]

It looks great Bill, and congrats again on getting an early model AE 80 for a good price.

If it's not too much trouble, could you post a picture of the bottom/base? I'd like to compare your phone base to my '62 AE 80/Leich phone.

-Hobie

[Phonesrfun]

Yours looks identical to mine.  I will post a pic later tonight when I get home.

-Bill

[Phonesrfun]

Hobie:

Here is mine while striking the same pose as yours:

-Bill

[HobieSport]

Thanks for the pic, Bill. They sure do look similar, just that yours doesn't say "Leich" on it. What date is your phone again?