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How many of you actually use your antique phones?

Started by BDM, September 21, 2008, 04:19:03 PM

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So, how many are actually using their phones?

I have no modern phones
several at any given moment
Maybe one hooked up, when I'm in the mood
Hardly ever. Besides, they scare the kids
Heck no! Are you kidding? Display only!!

McHeath

Nice pics of nice phones.  Turquoise is certainly a nice color in my opinion, with it's warm blue with a hint of green.  It would be interesting to see the inside shell of your turquoise phone to see how it has faded, if any.



Dennis Markham

Heath, I'll take a photo or two tomorrow and post them.  After I took those photos I "found" another turquoise Princess in my stash.  It may have better color than the one I listed.  As I mentioned, the 500 does have some yellowing. 

Dennis Markham

Rather continuing this thread---kind of drifting off topic, I have made a new posting to discuss the differences between Aqua Blue & Turquoise.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=530.0

AET

I have 4 phones, as of now, 1 554, and 3 500's, two of the 500's are hooked up in my room, since my folks aren't big fans of my rotary phones, they are banished to the one room (dad doesn't even approve of me having two hooked up).  I use them daily, and don't use any other phones in the house unless I have to.  I promise you that my house will have rotary phones with the exception of maybe one for an answering machine if I don't buy a seperate one.  But I probably will buy a seperate one and have a 2500 just for if I need a touch-tone. 
- Tom

rp2813

I just added another vintage phone to the crew of working 500's at my place.  Besides my 10/50 daily driver and the 4/53 in the basement, I needed a ringing phone out in the detached garage so I could hear an incoming call when I'm out in the back yard.  Enter the 1959 500 base with 1963 beige conversion.  It rang fine as soon as I plugged it in (it has a 10' beige line cord with 4-prong plug) and now that I have the correct clear fingerwheel on it, I have to admit that after thinking beige was boring and not caring much about this phone, it cleaned up really well and now I'm finding it a lot more attractive than I used to.  I may even move it into the house since beige isn't a very garage-y color for a phone.


Ralph
Ralph

HobieSport

Quote from: rp2813
...after thinking beige was boring and not caring much about this phone, it cleaned up really well and now I'm finding it a lot more attractive than I used to.  I may even move it into the house since beige isn't a very garage-y color for a phone.

Ralph

Ralph,

Is the color of W.E. beige at all attractive?  I ask in honesty as I've only seen the beige color on Ebay and as sort of a pale pink.

More importantly; what is a garage-y colored phone?  I've never heard of a garage-y colored telephone, but I like the idea.

I'm thinking of an old greasy black WE 354. 

BDM

Quote from: HobieSport on April 04, 2009, 12:37:28 PM


I'm thinking of an old greasy black WE 354. 


Like the one I picked up today? A nice clean 354 with a #5 dial. Perfect for the garage ;) ;D
--Brian--

St Clair Shores, MI

Dennis Markham

Nice looking phone Brian.  Too nice for the garage!

McHeath

Until last June my 354 was in the garage!  It's been hanging in there probably since time began, I walked by it daily and thought nothing of it until one day last summer when it finally caught my eye.

And the rest is fone crazed history.

HobieSport


rp2813

For the garage the perfect phone would be a model number I'm not sure of.  This would be the basic small box with (probably) 5H dial on top and a hanger for the handset.  Was that the Green Acres model up at the top of the pole?  I had one with no dial and let it go.  I don't think it was WE, it had a really thick mounting cord with lots of leads and had an F1  handset with extra buttons, like it was for a public address system of some kind.

I had a white 60's 554 out there but let that one go too--before I discovered this forum and that there were 554 fans out there.  Since there's an old wood desk where the beige phone is now, I'm going to probably stick with a desk set and switch out the beige phone with the 4/53 black one.  The black one has a couple of rather deep and noticeable scratches in the prominent area between the cradle ears and the top of the dial.  So it has a garage-y-ness about it already.

The beige phone had a very grimey garage-y look to it before I cleaned it up.  Now it's looking more like a bedroom phone.  Like I said, I never liked beige before, but it cleaned up so well that it looks kind of attractive and I think I'll hang onto it for a while.  There's a picture of it in a thread I started titled "Pix of a couple of my phones" in this same section.

Ralph
Ralph

AET

When I think garage phone, I immediately think a black 554.  That's just a classic for that kind of a thing.
- Tom

HobieSport

Quote from: BDM
Like the one I picked up today? A nice clean 354 with a #5 dial. Perfect for the garage ;) ;D

Yes, exactly, very nice, Brian, but it just needs a few more greasy hand prints.

Tonyrotary

I use my 554 in the kitchen. When I move after this deployment the wife and I plan on having a couple more hooked up an in use.

Brian that 354 is sweet!

HobieSport

Quote from: McHeath
Until last June my 354 was in the garage!  It's been hanging in there probably since time began, I walked by it daily and thought nothing of it until one day last summer when it finally caught my eye.

And the rest is fone crazed history.

Heath; I wanted to suggest that it ain't so, Joe.  But it's obviously a bit too late.

Tom; yes, a 554 is classic 1950s garage.  May I suggest yellow with lots of greasy hand prints?