British GPO 232 in Ivory

[LarryInMichigan]

I just received this phone: ebay link.  The seller charged alot for shipping but went to town packing the phone.  The phone is in fairly good condition, but there are some cracks in the handset caps and some significant chips in the cradle ears.  For some reason, all of the outer plastic surfaces of the phone and handset have been painted a slightly darker shade than the actual plastic, and the paint looks bad.  I seriously doubt that the phone left the factory with the paint, so why someone painted it, I cannot imagine.  I am going to have to try to strip it somehow though.  I do not know what type of paint was used or what type of plastic the phone is.  I will have to carefully experiment with different chemicals to find one which will remove the paint without damaging the plastic.  I will also need to get new ivory braided cloth cords and a dial center card.  The "card" in the dial center now is actually a sticker which will be destroyed when I remove the finger wheel.

As far as I have seen, ivory 232s are rather rare and sell for high prices, so I think that I got a reasonable deal.  Once this phone has been restored, it should look nice next to my black 232.

Larry

[LarryInMichigan]

I am assuming that the "37"s on the handset and induction coil indicate a 1937 manufacture date.  The back of the dial has "W/38" printed on it, so I am assuming that it was made by STC in 1938.

Larry

[twocvbloke]

Looks nice, and a far better price than here in it's home country too...

As for the painting, it's probably because of this snippet from BritishTelepones:

The ivory models are hard to find in perfect condition as the moulding material (which is not Bakelite but Urea Formaldehyde) often deteriorates badly.  Either the manufacturers had difficulty mixing the ingredients or else the material was unstable from the outset.  It often cracks and goes like toffee ripple ice cream, with swirls of yellow-brown in the ivory.

http://www.britishtelephones.com/t232.htm

So they probably painted it to hide the manufacturing defects with the plastics...

Just add a Bellset No. 26 and it'll be perfect, if you wanted to have the ringer there of course...

[LarryInMichigan]

The paint is ugly and has alot of scratches, so I really would like to get rid of it.

The green and red models are on my shopping list

Larry

[Owain]

if the 3-digit Knightsbridge number is authentic then the phone was issued before Knightsbridge was added to the London Director system, which might give a later date.

[LarryInMichigan]

I was able to remove bits of the paint by rubbing with Brasso and Micromesh pads.  The plastic does has surface cracks and discoloration in places, but I think that  it should still look better than the paint.  The paint is much darker and yellower than the plastic and also looks much more flat than the plastic.  I have plenty of other projects, including a GPO 706 which needs some bleaching and sanding, to do at the moment, so I should probably try to finish them first.  I did briefly plug in the phone.  I was able to dial out and hear through the receiver, but the transmitter did not work.  After a quick glance at the wires, I could see that the phone has been wired incorrectly.  I should probably wait to get proper cords before rewiring it.

Larry

[twocvbloke]

I only just noticed the 700-type handset cable, the wiring for those is usually Red & Green for the receiver and Blue & White for the transmitter, but I believe those 164 handsets used a common ground between the transmitter & receiver (in the same way as say an F1 uses 3 wires), looking at the diagram though the blue is superfluous, as the wiring should be Red, Green and White to the handset's terminals, though I've never seen one of these in the flesh so couldn't be certain of how it's wired up...

[LarryInMichigan]

The green wire is snipped in the handset.  I would like to get a proper cloth plaited cord anyway.  I have my black 232 which works well to use as an example if I have a question about wiring.

Larry

[twocvbloke]

I guess some past owner just wired it to their own standard, assuming it wasn't the GPO, though I don't think they would have wired up with different colours...

Still, so long as it works, well, assuming the transmitter works of course!!! 

[david@london]

larry -

i find that gpo dial interesting.

as there is no letter Q above the zero, i'm thinking it was made for the american market.

the numberplate would not be an overlay by any chance ?

for general reference, canadian and british versions here

[twocvbloke]

There were GPO-issue dials which lacked a Q over the Zero, the Letters & Figures image on British Telephones depicts the No. 10LA dial as having O and Operator over the Zero, quite confusing but I'd guess it was down to the exchanges of the period not having placenames with Q in the first three letters...

http://www.britishtelephones.com/dial1.htm#TABLE%202

[LarryInMichigan]

The dial plate is not North American.  it would have "MNO" over the 6 if it were.  It does not have an overlay.  There is an "L" on it near the finger stop. 

The dial on my black 232 also lacks a 'Q'.

Larry

[LarryInMichigan]

Another one of these, in better condition than mine, just sold for $540 (ebay link), which is more than seven times as much as I paid for mine.

Larry

[LarryInMichigan]

I finally finished reassembling this phone today after alot of hard work depainting, sanding, and polishing.  The plastic definitely shows discoloration and aging, so I can understand why someone painted it.  I still prefer it without the paint.

I used the braided cord for the handset and an ivory vinyl modular cord for the line cord.  Perhaps some day I will order proper cords for the phone.  In the mean time, the phone does work.

Larry

[unbeldi]

Very nice work.  You said "repainting", are there still parts that are painted?

Line cord:  Often I have seen on eBay ivory Western Electric D8W-50 modular 8P8C cords. These are round vinyl cords that go very nicely with older phones for which the flat cords would be out of style.  Right now, I don't see anyone selling them cheaply enough (IMHO), but I have bought like a dozen of them for less then $20.