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Who Amongst Us Has The Oldest 500?

Started by HobieSport, November 26, 2008, 09:53:35 PM

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What's your oldest mostly original 500?

I have a '49, but don't tell anyone.
1 (0.9%)
1950
12 (10.3%)
1951
20 (17.1%)
1952
25 (21.4%)
1953-1957
72 (61.5%)

Total Members Voted: 117

Doug Rose

Those are outstanding. You be hearing from me soon!....Doug
Kidphone

rp2813

Bill, I think the plastic dial is appropriate for elmwood's phone, since it's a colored model.

Meanwhile that 3/53 base is very nice.  My 3/53 doesn't have the early C2-A ringer, and got round neoprene feet at some point.
Even though your 3/53 has adapter plates for a later dial, the feet are still original so I'm guessing the dial was replaced in the field.  That will be an easy phone to put back to its original look.
Ralph

Jim King

Mine apparently is too young to make the pole list, a pink 500, made on March 8, 1963. All original, except for someone cut off the last foot of the line cord, and a missing center cap on the dial. And someone cracked it when they pried it out, so I'll have to replace that someday.  Seems the dialer is a little off-kilter. I use this one when I call my mom because she can hear me better on this phone than any of the others in the house.
I got this one for free, at the end of an estate sale when they said on the last day anything in the house and shed was free. It was buried under a pile of trash in the corner of the shed, black then, covered in grease and dirt. A scrubbing with some soft-scrub and a squirt of WD-40 in the dialer that barely moved, was all it took for it to work great and look presentable.
I brought home a few bags of free stuff from the 50's and 60's that day.

Some of my favorite TV shows back then were: 
The Beverly Hillbillies
Candid Camera
The Dick Van Dyke Show
What's My Line
The Ed Sullivan Show
Lassie
Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color
--
Top ten hits in 63:
Sugar Shack
- Jimmy Gilmore & the Fireballs
He's So Fine
- The Chiffons
Dominique
- The Singing Nun
Hey Paula
- Paul & Paula
My Boyfriend's back
- The Angels
Blue Velvet
- Bobby Vinton
Sukiyaki
- Kyu Sakamoto
I Will Follow Him
- Little Peggy March
Fingertips - Pt. 2
- Little Stevie Wonder
Walk Like A Man
--
A great movie that came out that year was: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
I get insomnia, and can't afford cable, so it's either this kind of stuff or infomercials

rp2813

The 5302 could also be a "Carrie Bradshaw Phone," as I caught a glimpse of it in the
"Sex and the City 2" film recently.  I guess during the series I never got a good enough look at it and had presumed it was a 500.
Ralph

Crichton

I don't have one as old as some of you guys, but I recently acquired my first WE 500. It's from 1960. Check it out:

JorgeAmely

The first one? Please run away from the forum. This is a disease for which there is no cure.  ;) ;) ;)
Jorge

HarrySmith

Welcome to the forum ;D
Please heed Jorges advice before it is too late ;) These things muliply like rabbitts ;)
Harry Smith
ATCA 4434
TCI

"There is no try,
there is only
do or do not"

Greg G.

#187
Welcome!  Is that the way you got it, or did you get it nice and shiny like that?  I need to spend some time getting my black phones nice and shiny.  I always get "shiny phone envy" when I see what can be done with them, besides collecting patine/dust.
The idea that a four-year degree is the only path to worthwhile knowledge is insane.
- Mike Row
e

Crichton

Thanks guys. I won it on eBay and it wasn't like that at all. This is my first time with a telephone like that. I have no real idea what to, but I looked on this forum and others on how to clean it. I polished up the outside with mostly car products. I haven't cleaned the inside because I'm afraid I'll mess something up. It was missing the dial card retainer ring, so I got one on eBay also. These are the pics on the eBay listing:


Jim Stettler

You did a great job shining it up.
Jim
You live, You learn,
You die, you forget it all.

Dan/Panther

Crichton;
Save yourself while you have the time, and send your phones to me....
D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson

GG



I have a '52 that's all date-matched original except for the housing which is ITT as the original was damaged.  For some reason the dial on that one has a somewhat shrill sound compared to other #7 dials I've got around, that no amount of tweaking has managed to solve. 

BTW, I see all these folks posting their *birthdays* here.  Y'all need to know: when you post your birthday, you are giving away the farm to identity thieves.  It is trivially easy for a badguy to play Mr. Friendly and find out your name.   Name + birthdate = easy access to enough other things to make your life a living H---.

Seriously.  Don't post your B-day, directly or indirectly.  See also any common instructions for online safety and you'll see the same advice.   Sorry to be a party-pooper about this but it needs to be said.

xhausted110

#192
I have one with all parts from 1954. my first phone too! got it a year ago for 5 dollars

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http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/69/dsc00692jc.jpg/ (dead link 11/8/22)

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/805/dsc00702rd.jpg/ (dead link 11/8/22)
- Evan

McHeath

Good deal xhausted!

Hey who voted that they have a 49er?  Did I miss something?  Is that you D/P and your 48er?

Dan/Panther

McHeath;
Nope, as much as I wish it were mine.  I was born in 1949. I will stay with the older date, but would gladly swap, for a complete 1949.
D/P

The More People I meet, The More I Love, and MISS My Dog.  Dan Robinson