Most favorite (and least favorite) WE colors

[Dan]

Is the pastel yellow similar to the "regular" yellow we see on all the later phones? I can't find a soft  tenite yellow phone anywhere on Ebay , and if it is a different color, it would be neat to see the difference.

[HobieSport]

Is the pastel yellow similar to the "regular" yellow we see on all the later phones? I can't find a soft  tenite yellow phone anywhere on Ebay , and if it is a different color, it would be neat to see the difference.

I was just about to ask the same thing.  There were several yellows. So far I've just been going by Bingster's chart of when the earlier colors were introduced, and it would be nice to also know when all the colors were introduced, and what were their lifespans.  There is this chart from Paul's site, but it doesn't have the dates of each color:  http://www.paul-f.com/wecolors.htm

I've been looking for good photos of 500s/554s that show lots of colors to compare together, all in the same photo so that the photography/lighting is consistent. I'd like to post them on the color thread:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=987.0

[bingster]

I'm inferring from Paul Fassbender's color lists that the next big color change after 1964 took place in 1978 when three colors are shown as having been discontinued (-59 Rose Pink, -61 Light Gray, and -64 Turquoise).  A boatload of colors are shown as being "late production" '80s & '90s colors, and I'm assuming some of those came in with the revamped color range of 1978.  I didn't take the chart that far because anything from 1978 and beyond would have been strictly modular, and beyond the interests of most collectors.

The yellow colors have always confused me.  The color list shows that the only yellow available until the late 1970s was -56 Pastel Yellow, which is actually anything but pastel on the color charts.  Add to that confusion the fact that I've seen several 1960s yellow phones that ARE actually a very pale yellow, as opposed to the dark golden yellow that we've all seen from the same time frame.  I don't know if the pale yellow examples started out life as darker yellows and then faded or if there were two yellows in the 1960s that aren't reflected in the color lists.  It's a conundrum.

I forgot to mention my least favorite 500 color, which would have to be light beige.  Blech.

[Sargeguy]

Oops I meant to put light beige as my least favorite.  My favorite, besides black, is Pekin Red.

[contraste]

I'd love to get my hands on an Oxford Grey model.
There's something purposeful and yet understated about that colour.

[HobieSport]

I'd love to get my hands on an Oxford Grey model.
There's something purposeful and yet understated about that colour.

Do you mean a similar color to Cambridge Gray?

I thought I saw a good gray 500 on Ebay yesterday but it was only a picture of a faded white 500 with low lighting. Darn.

[contraste]

Perhaps I mean Oxbridge grey!

[bingster]

http://picasaweb.google.com/Amelyenator/OxfordGray# ( dead link 03-11-21 )

[Bill Cahill]

My most favorite color is baby blue.
My LEAST favorite color is PINK!!!!
Bill Cahill

[AET]

So, you're packing up that GEORGOUS Oxford Gray one and sending that to me, right?

[HobieSport]

I'd never seen a good photo of an Oxford Gray 500 until now and I'm beginning to understand the appeal. Notice how it reflects light and color.  It's like a chameleon. 

[contraste]

Jorge is THE MAN!

That's a beautiful Oxford Gray and I want one even more now.

[rp2813]

I think it will always be basic black for me.  It's the only 500 color that comes with the original  metal finger wheel design that dates back to the first dialable candlesticks.

I do like the Oxford Grey and would snag one of those in an instant if I ever found a sleeper out there.  Med Blue is nice too, but I don't have the decorating scheme for one of those and likely never will, unless I strike it rich and end up with a poolside cabana someday.

Ralph

[HobieSport]

Yup.  Good old basic black with the metal finger wheels. I've been making a personal foray into colored phones for the past couple of weeks, and forced myself to vote for anything but black here, but I keep gravitating back to black. They just seem the most classic to me. I also prefer black and white photography, black and white movies, and have you ever looked at as cluttered bulletin board of color graphics and noticed how the one photo in black and white just visually stands out in a league of it's own? Or maybe it's just me...

[rp2813]

Also, the only way you're going to have a bakelite handset on a 500 is with a black one.  Another throwback to the earlier days of telephone manufacturing that you don't get with colored sets.  I like the weight, substance and old timey sound of bakelite.  While I don't condone dropping handsets, I did used to get a kick out of the overly dramatic sound produced when somebody on the other end dropped theirs.  You don't get that same effect when the distant party loses their grip on a plastic handset.

Ralph