Fixing a Distorted coiled Handset Cord.

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I forgot to mention that I think the coiled cords were made by tightly winding a round cord around a metal rod.

The rod with the cord in place was electrically heated to a temperature that was just below the cords melting point, a temperature at which the cord touching the metal rod deformed  and when allowed to cool over time, the cord stayed coiled.

If you look at a coiled cord, the inside of the coil is totally flat (from the metal rod) and if you look between the coils, the side of coils is  flat near the inside of the coil, the side of the coil closest to the metal rod.

So, to create a coiled cord they heated the cord material from the inside to a point where the round cord "melted" and took on the shape of the hot, round rod - flat. The flat coil sides shows how much of the rounded cord was flattened.

They may not have heated the outside of the round cord and, in fact, heated the rod in a cold chamber to keep the outside of the soon to be coiled cord from deforming, to keep it round.

It would be fun to put a voltage across a metal rod having a resistance, say a NiChrom rod (I'd hate to see the price of 3 foot long 3/8" diameter nichrom rod), and using a Variac to heat such a rod with a distorted coiled cord wrapped around it to a specific temperature for a period of time to reform the distortion.

Then there's passing steam through a 3/8" pipe for a specific period of time to heat and thus reform a distorted coiled cord.

Might be other ways as well.

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If anyone here wins this 1955 WE Mediterranean Blue on eBay,

https://www.ebay.com/itm/326027537038

I would be willing to recoil the handset cord, if not physically damaged, for free if the new owner pays for shipping both ways.