1966 NE 500 L/M

[DavePEI]

I was given a nasty looking old 500 set yesterday with all the dial markings rubbed off, and new markings scrawled on it using typewrite white-out. I was about to scrap it for parts, when I discovered after noting some major differences that it was a 500 L/M.

I replaced the dial surround with the surround from a scrapped 67 500 C/D, also a metal dialed set, cleaned it up a bit, but still have some cleaning and major buffing to do.

These are fairly rare. A Description of the 500 L/M comes from Paul F.'s page:

Single line w/ A-lead control for 1A2. 4-conductor mounting cord and terminal strip installed below dial. Originally used in applications where the ringer circuit had to be brought out through the mounting cord.

It is an interesting phone, and one which you seldom see. This one will definitely see display in the museum once it is cleaned up.

Dave

[paul-f]

Congratulations Dave!

I'm in the habit of looking at the bottom of any 500 set when touring the yard sales and flea markets.  You never know when a strange variation will turn up.

[DavePEI]

I'm in the habit of looking at the bottom of any 500 set when touring the yard sales and flea markets.  You never know when a strange variation will turn up.

You know I was just about to begin scrapping it for parts, when I took the top off, and noticed the differences. Once I did, I immediately decided to commute its sentence and replaced the dial surround. Lots of cleaning, scratch removal yet, but it is worth it.

About all we see here are the ubiquitous 500 A/Bs or C/Ds,and very rarely the occasional 510 two line set. So this was an unexpected discovery!

See Paul's page at http://www.paul-f.com/we500typ.htm
for other interesting 500 set variations.

Dave

[paul-f]

Thanks, Dave.

Sometimes I forget that in one respect I'm lucky to be in a relatively high population density area that was in Bell System territory.  We see a lot of 300- and 500-series variants at yard sales and flea markets.

OTOH, it's a challenge to find interesting Kellogg, SC, North and AE sets unless we drive north to VT, NH and ME.

If anyone wants to add to your collection of variations, please email or PM me.  I have accumulated some duplicates that I'd love to help find spots in collections where they will be suitably appreciated.

[DavePEI]

I spent a little while on this phone this evening, cleaning it, and rotating the dial plate to the correct position...[I actually had it flipped over to the back side, so the finger holes didn't match properly - I didn't notice that until tonight.] It will take a little buffing in the morning, but far less than I originally thought to bring it back to its original condition.