Technology from the 1960's to the 1990's

[Del Boy]

I thought you would have a 30s phone from new Saint. 
Teeheehee

[Villain]

Jan 28, 2018 20:27:53 GMT D.C. Burtonshaw said:

Jan 27, 2018 13:28:25 GMT The Saint said:

Likewise Bojan Scores, I also buy my 706 and 746 telephones from eBay - there are some real bargains to be had if you know what you are looking for! 

I enjoy taking them apart, cleaning, converting and then polishing them to look (almost) as good as new!

They are an iconic British design and I always have one plugged into my home phone line!

Here are some photos of my collection of 16 telephones....

The Saint


Red, White & Blue!



The red one is a very rare 746L, the others are 706 phones (the mustard coloured one is a genuine GPO colour called Topaz)



A collection of 706 and 746 phones



These two 706 phones are from 1959 - the first year of production and hence quite rare, especially with the chrome dials

Nice one Saint! Great to see all these, we in our family had one identical to the one on the bottom right in the picture on the shelves, cream coloured. From 1979 till about the 90's.

What a fantastic collection you have there Saint, nice one! We didn't get our first telephone until 1976, it was a creamy white one, but most of our relatives had them back in the '60s and the different colours of your collection bring the memories of them flooding back. I've seen a few good ones for sale at the NEC Classic Car Show and keep meaning to blag a couple. Can you still get the round paper labels to go in the dials or do you just print some off yourself..? The colours of your phones put me in mind of the brilliant Peter Cook and Dudley Moore sketch called 'Lengths'.... ''It's Barbara coming through on green, Reg...'' 

Being of a certain age I love all kinds of tech stuff from the '60s and '70s and once my house is finished I'm going to put a few nick-nacks around the place. I've got a couple of '70s lava lamps and fancy one of those round shaped orange plastic '60s portable TV sets. I also have a bit of a thing for the kitsch 'green skinned Chinese lady' paintings by Tretchikoff which you can still buy copies of. We had a few in our house back in the day and I'd like to get a couple at some point. My perfect 'man cave' would be a full on '70s-tastic lounge done up in orange, brown and turquoise, filled with the best '60s and '70s goodies I could find. I've already got some decent high resolution images of the four psychedelic Beatles posters done by Richard Avedon in 1967 which I'll have blown up and framed to go on the walls.

Villain 

[Del Boy]

Jan 27, 2018 22:29:30 GMT Arthur Pringle said:

Jan 27, 2018 17:35:57 GMT Del Boy said:

Don't think I've ever had a microwave stop working. I've chucked a couple because of signs of rust. Not good in a microwave.
They seem to be very durable machines.

I saw an article yesterday about a guy who's got a Panasonic microwave from 1969
That is still working.

We had one that was rusting, my cheapskate dad just painted it over  

Found that article and its dated from 2009 (I remember the article, can't believe its that long ago. )

Wonder if the Panasonic is still going now ?
Next year would be its half century 

Britain's Oldest Microwave

[The Saint]

Jan 29, 2018 11:51:32 GMT Villain said:

What a fantastic collection you have there Saint, nice one! We didn't get our first telephone until 1976, it was a creamy white one, but most of our relatives had them back in the '60s and the different colours of your collection bring the memories of them flooding back. I've seen a few good ones for sale at the NEC Classic Car Show and keep meaning to blag a couple. Can you still get the round paper labels to go in the dials or do you just print some off yourself..? The colours of your phones put me in mind of the brilliant Peter Cook and Dudley Moore sketch called 'Lengths'.... ''It's Barbara coming through on green, Reg...'' 

Being of a certain age I love all kinds of tech stuff from the '60s and '70s and once my house is finished I'm going to put a few nick-nacks around the place. I've got a couple of '70s lava lamps and fancy one of those round shaped orange plastic '60s portable TV sets. I also have a bit of a thing for the kitsch 'green skinned Chinese lady' paintings by Tretchikoff which you can still buy copies of. We had a few in our house back in the day and I'd like to get a couple at some point. My perfect 'man cave' would be a full on '70s-tastic lounge done up in orange, brown and turquoise, filled with the best '60s and '70s goodies I could find. I've already got some decent high resolution images of the four psychedelic Beatles posters done by Richard Avedon in 1967 which I'll have blown up and framed to go on the walls.

Villain 

Like yourself Villain, I have some vintage stuff around my place, my parents recently sold the family home and moved so I got a couple of 1960s coffee tables. They are also changing their dining table & chairs soon, so I will be getting their classic Marcel Breuer Cesca style dining chairs too 

Regarding the phone labels, you can buy repros, but I tend to leave the originals in place as long as they are in good condition as the originals look best. The repros can't quite replicate the printing and paper feel of the 1960s/1970s originals.

I do recommend buying one, personally I would go for a 706 as they have the 1960s feel with their coloured finger wheels and ABC dial surrounds. I have just taken delivery today of another eBay bargain, a 1966 Concord Blue 706, totally unfaded plastics and it has polished up beautifully, I already have two other Concord Blue examples so will probably put it back on eBay at some point - hopefully for a nice profit! 

The Saint

[Villain]

Good stuff Saint - what kind of polish do you use on the old 'phones..?

Villain 

[The Saint]

Jan 30, 2018 16:49:02 GMT Villain said:

Good stuff Saint - what kind of polish do you use on the old 'phones..?

Villain 

T-Cut followed by Auto Glym works wonders!

The Saint

[DI Alex Drake]

The phones are amazing! I've never had the pleasure of actually using one that looked like that (other than in early foreign language lessons and funnily enough it wasn't a functioning phone). 

We don't even have a functioning landline at the moment . I particularly like the red and green ones. What can you tell me about the bit in the middle which says - for instance - Darlington (this one caught my eye as my Mum is from the North East). Would you fill that in yourself or would it come with the phone when new?



Cartman - it's spooky that your railway is set in the exact same location as my dad's! The rafters etc look exactly the same - his is in a 60s bungalow. Anyway, I think we might be working on different gauges - dad's is OO, but these look bigger unless I'm not mistaken. I love the locos. Dad's switches between steam and diesel every few months and various other details (cars etc) get switched between the two for added authenticity. He's actually got my LOM car up there!   But I do like the fact that it's parked at an angle in front of the station - hopefully he's rounding up some armed b*stards! 

Dad really goes in for detail, though, it's crazy - hours and hours and layer upon layer of paint, foliage etc. I must show you some pictures if you'd like, but obviously it's not technically 60s-90s because it's modern day! But it is set in the 60s if that helps ... ?

[Cartman]

Cheers, it is a 60s bungalow! and my railway is OO scale. The two in the picture are both from the late 50s or early 60s

[DI Alex Drake]

How bizarre! But hey, I can apparently recognise a house from its loft beams! :p 

Oh, OK it's just the photo then - they looked larger. Impressive that you've still got vintage ones running! Dad's can't be any older than the 90s and most will be from the 2000s onwards. Almost identical set up though - in the same place on a - well, it started life on a wallpaper pasting table! But it's on a much more sturdy construction now. I'll source some pictures!

[The Saint]

Feb 22, 2018 10:20:02 GMT DI Alex Drake said:

What can you tell me about the bit in the middle which says - for instance - Darlington (this one caught my eye as my Mum is from the North East). Would you fill that in yourself or would it come with the phone when new?

The bit in the middle of the dial is known as the dial card, it contained the phone number. It would come with the phone when the GPO (later BT) supplied the phone to the customer. 

The Saint