How to know if your AE80 is old or late production?

[mienaichizu]

How will I know if an AE80 is old or late production? there are lots of AE80's in the thrift shops I frequently visits and I want to own a decent old one. Currently I have 3 but I don't know if it is old or late production

[Dennis Markham]

I am no expert on the AE's but I know that early ones had white letters/numbers and later ones had black (except on black phones).  Also the handset cord on the older phones attaches at the back of the phone, not the left side.  The feet on older sets have large triangular feet.  Just picking one up is often a clue too as they older ones are very heavy.

[BDM]

Ad to the fact early sets used a large potted network.

[mienaichizu]

so I have to look into that aspect, thanks a lot

[phoneguy06]

Hi there,

Later AE 80s (or those that have been refurbished with later cases) have their handset cords coming out the side of the case and not the back, only have two baseplate screws instead of three, have plastic instead of chrome plungers, have fingerwheels with an integrated number card holder instead of a chrome ring that fits into slots on the plastic fingerwheel, and six holes in the receiver cap as opposed to five. Basically, they became more and more similar to the 500 set in tiny ways. I hope this is helpful.

[mienaichizu]

thanks phoneguy, I will certainly look into that aspect