AE 50 FREE!

[Dave Beck]

Had an older gentleman give me this phone a few days ago. It was in pretty sad shape, so I decided to paint it. It is painted ivory with 2 coats of primer, 3 coats of color and 2 coats of clear.

Not to bad for a FREE phone. I have an ivory handset cord on the way.

Dave Beck

[WesternElectricBen]

Very nice, that looks great! I take it, it was originally black?

Ben

[Dave Beck]

Yep it was a black one.
Dave

[Contempra]

Not bad and with cigarette announce .. smoking is............cough.. cough.. cough !! lol.

[Dennis Markham]

The phone looks great Dave.  Nice job.  With my OCD I would make the slots of the screws the same, either both horizontal or vertical. 

[Mr. Bones]

Wow, Dave!!!

     What a great phone, and how kind of the gentleman who gifted you with it. It looks like you've been very busy, to accomplish such beautiful results in just a mere few days!

     I have two gorgeous AE50's, but yours certainly makes me drool! Thanks for posting this.

     I'd love to see before pics, as well as any tips / techniques for achieving such a beautiful paint job, ie.:paint type, surface prep, etc. It obviously took considerable time and love to achieve these results.

     Enjoy your new toy!

Best regards!

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Nice find! The paint is so good, I believed that it was a through and through ivory phone, until I read that you painted it!

[paul-f]

Looks great, Dave!

I also like the display cabinets in the background - especially the one on the left with glass on the sides.

[Doug Rose]

beautiful..........outstanding job!!!

[AE_Collector]

I would make the slots of the screws the same, either both horizontal or vertical. 

I live in AE territory where I have encountered many of these installed over the years. And as Dennis says, you could tell the ones that hadn't been opened for years because the screws were nicely aligned, virtually always verticals where as anyone who had opened one in the last 40 years or so had o idea that things like that mattered.

A friend had a 50 with the bottom vents busted out so he took another smashed 50 cover that had good bottom vents and cut out that section. He grafted it into the 50 with the broken bottom vents and then painted the whole thing Jade Green. It looks great and painting it was a way to do a repair like this and cover up the evidence.

Terry

[AE_Collector]

I nominated your Find for the March Find of the Month Dave. The price was right and while not found the way it is now, you have done a nice job with it.

Terry

[Dave Beck]

Thanks so much!
Dave Beck

[MissCora]

Beautiful. Hey, that would match the color of the beadboard walls in my kitchen.

[twocvbloke]

Looking at the design of the AE50, I can see where the GPO got the idea for the wall version of the GPO 706 (referred to officially as the "1/706"), with the dial up top and the handset held horizontally in a cradle at the bottom...