By the late 1950's, almost every single telephone maker was either out of business, or staying alive only by producing nearly identical copies of the Western Electric 500. The independent telephone companies wanted 500's, and as a result, makers like Leich and North were out of business, making Automatic Electric the last independent telephone maker to stick with original designs. Perhaps the only reason they survived was that they had a large assured market with the GTE phone companies (Baby Generals).
Although not really a true 500 set, the Automatic Electric AE-80 bears a striking resemblance to the 500. Automatic Electric introduced the AE-80 to compete with the 500, and although the AE-80 was designed in-house at GTE, and was NOT based on the 500 design, AE still took out a licensing agreement with WE, since their design shared many of the principles of WE design that were covered under various patents.
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