Beogram 4002 (5503): A New Arrival From New Jersey

I recently purchased a Beogram 4002 (Type 5503) from a collector in New Jersey who decided to reduce his 'inventory'. Once this unit has been restored, it will go to a customer who wanted an AC motor Beogram 4002.

The Beogram arrived well packaged. I extracted it from the packaging materials and put it on the bench:

The unit is in a nice cosmetic condition, but the hood is pretty scratched up. But it could be polished back into a decent state. Alternatively it could be replaced with a reproduction hood, which have become available recently. I removed the hood:

The aluminum surfaces are in pretty good condition, but the keypad has delaminated. No problem, since the keypad itself shows the usual finger traces, i.e. needs to be restored anyway. The plinth of the unit is also in almost pristine condition with nice corners:

I removed the aluminum panels and found no obvious traces of 'human creativity', the best starting point for an uneventful restoration without too many surprises...;-)

I plugged the unit in for a brief test. After pressing start, the carriage started moving, but it continued past the LP setdown point and swept its entire travel range, after which it returned to the home position. This behavior was quickly explained by the fact that the sensor arm light bulb was dead.

In summary, this unit is a pretty good starting point for a full restoration. Stay tuned!