Martin Kunz has a collection of early Lencos, all expertly restored by him.   He has kindly sent these excellent photos, with text, to tell the story of the first four Lenco single play turntables.  (The photos are all copyright M Kunz, and should not be copied for use on other web-sites/forums without permission.) 

Take it away Martin ..............

F 50-8, Mk1: (dates from July 20th,1956)

One piece tonearm, right click-on, auto endstop. Rubber tire on a bakelite idlerwheel body, at the side of the tonearm (and still running trouble free after 50 years). Ronette flip-over mono cartridge mounted on a bracket with just a single center screw on top of the arm. No half-inch mounting. Deckplate painted in creme.

F 50-8, Mk2:
 
Two piece tonearm w/detachable two-pin mono headshell, right click-on, auto endstop. PVC-tire on an acrylic wheel at the side of the tonearm. (has been changed by me to a later metalwheel). Ronette flip-over mono cartridge mounted on an aluminium baseplate with half-inch mounting options. Early versions of the Mk2 were still available with creme-coloured deckplates in "like-cloth"-covered suitcases as well as many other boxes, (depending on the local manufacturer), the model on the pics dates from ca 1958 and is the new light grey variant.

B 50-16: (dates Feb-1962)
 
Two piece tonearm w/detachable headshell, now pre-wired for stereo (new three-pin headshell) with the second channel accessible on the deckplate via a separate RCA-plug. Some deckplates featured a large "STEREO"-sticker. The model on the pics has been retro-fitted with a Ronette stereo ceramic cartridge. The original plastic idler, still on the side of the tonearm, has been changed by me to a metal one. Right-click-on mechanism gone and now changed to the new Off-On-Play switch with integrated tonearm-lift/lower features. Light grey deckplate.

B 51:
 
...is the first model to have the totally re-newed drive system with the motor back left side, but still with a plastic wheel (changed to metal). Once again the tonearm lift/lower-post was improved by a locking mechanism in standby position. (no extra restpost needed). Two piece tonearm w/detachable new four-pin stereo headshell, although the model in the picture still has a mono flip-over cartridge with the wires in parallel. The wires' colourcode is: WHITE for left ch, RED for right ch, and two blacks for ground.

Wow!  Thanks Martin.   To see more of Martin's excellent restoration work click here. 

Back down to earth with a bump now -

I've included some photos from my own collection to illustrate some variations on these early Lencos by Goldring (UK). 

Point Five ...........

Goldring's take on the B51, fitted with the Goldring G60 arm and named the GL55. 

The spindle to pivot on all these early models is 222mm.  If the original arm is lost, damaged, or not suitable for your chosen cartridge, then several modern arms will fit without surgery.   The ADC Alt1 with Ortofon VMS20e makes a great sounding combination with the GL55.  No changes to the deck plate were required, and the original arm with ceramic cartridge can be refitted easily.