This is how mint your Benjamin could look Tom!

Too right! Remember seeing some starterless versions of these very GEC fittings whilst urbexing the old army barracks here! Never thought they'd be worth saving back then. Whole place had been trashed and still remember seeing the broken remains of the Osram Liteguard 80w BC tubes hanging out of them!

I think I know where you mean... we never urbexed there together, did we?

Simply awesome

For me it's nice to see a BC fitting clean & fresh looking! There were still some in service in a few shops and council buildings near me in the 80s but they were always filthy and in a poor state after decades of hard work, and having never been cleaned. Sometimes they would have a coat of emulsion from some well meaning but misguided decorator. It wasn't uncommon to see them suspended on chains with a deep purple rubber braided flex running to a bayonet plug in a lamp holder suspended from a ceramic ceiling rose where they had replaced a filament installation.

TBH, my thoughts were the same Tom at the time these were in service, being in the poor state they always seemed to be in, and along side a sleek, modern looking pop pack, I didn't really appreciate them at the time!

Well put rob! One thing for sure they did their work well, not come across a BC fitting with a bad ballast yet? Despite some of them being in damp environments for best part of 30 years unlit!

This was bought as untested, but I just knew it would fire up with no problem, and the excellent condition of the electrical components after years in a damp environment is a testament to the build quality and materials used.