Nothing to Envy, but, at Least It's Green!

[Jester]

My apologies to Jorge Amely-- this title is an overt parody on his  "Green with Envy" post.http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=1289.0  While I am sure that many here would gladly take the final result off my hands, this particular project didn't begin anywhere near where it ended up.

My moss green 501 has been part of my collection since 1993.  I found it at  a local antique mall and, against my better judgement, bought it for $35.00-- a princely sum for a 500 at that time.  The reason I hesitated-- it had been painted!!  I finally decided that green 500's of this vintage didn't show up very often ( which turned out to be true, since I haven't run across another since that time locally), and decided to buy it.  After an initial cleanup, it remained in my display pretty much as found.  Then , about a month ago, I read Jorge's thread on the wonders of EasyOff, and I thought I'd give it a try.  Well, it turned out to be a great idea-- that didn't work!  I discovered that my plastics must have been painted with Polane, because all I accomplished was dulling the finish.  After a little experimenting, with all of it ending in bad news, I decided to be wreckless!  Grabbing the can of lacquer thinner & an old gym sock, I set to work on the cover.  After soaking the toe of the sock in thinner, I made two full strokes back & forth across the right side of the painted case.  Then, after waiting for the thinner to soak into the top layer of the paint, I rubbed the sock across the same area and, I was actuallly removing paint!!  In a few minutes , I had 75 to 85% of the paint gone from the right side of the cover!!  I then sanded the rest of the paint off that side & finished it with Novus 2 to see what the results would be.  Bottom line, I decided this would work.  So , after a week of careful solvent use, sanding and polishing , here are the final results!!    

[jsowers]

I think it looks great. I like the number card and that you left the area code stick-on there. Those were from the very early days of area codes, so that's an old sticker and it helps locate where the phone originated from. Your being careful in using that solvent was a good thing. Solvent can melt soft plastic if you're not careful.

Ideally you would want a dark gray mounting cord, but light gray will do until you can find one. They're very hard to find, so good luck! The dark gray coil cord is in great shape. Why they painted this phone is anyone's guess. I've gotten paint off hard plastic with denatured alcohol and the plastic underneath was like NOS.

[Dennis Markham]

Nice job Jester.  The phone looks very nice.  I'm with Jonathan on the Area Code being left on there.  Sounds like you put a ton of work into that phone.

[foots]

Wow. That sure turned out really nice. That green sure is a good looking color and it looks great with that dark gray cord.

[Jester]

I have a theory on when & why this phone was painted and when the tube was removed from it.  Since all of the dates on the plastic parts fall within the same time frame as the rest of the phone, I think this set came with a painted cover when new.  What I think happened was something contaminated the raw product these plastic parts were made from, and the manufacturer painted the parts to salvage the run.  This would have to have affected only color, and my cover does show evidence of dark flow lines around the front, up by the right front cradle ear & at the back just behind the cradle.  I also think plant management would have ordered the whole tainted run painted & not wasted time visually inspecting parts, so removing paint from one of these would often reveal a flawless part with brilliant color & leave no clue as to why it was painted in the first place.

Now, for the tube.  This phone was built in late spring 1956, and that would be 18 to 24 months before Beaumont had single user service and 7 digit phone numbers.  Until 1958, our numbers were 5 digits, and all phone service for private homes was on either a two or four party line.  When service switched, I think Bell sent someone around to collect all the tubes & make any other changes that were needed.  So this 501 would have easily been "field modified" and left in service.  That's also when the number card would have been changed to what is currently with this phone.

[jsowers]

That's great detective work, Jester, and it sounds plausible to me. You don't often see painted housings on soft plastic, so they evidently didn't do it a lot. I have a couple painted ones, but they're obviously refurbs with no dates matching. I have one refurb with pink caps painted aqua blue along with a mahogany brown housing also painted aqua blue. It was kind of a shock when I opened it up.

Another indication is the dark gray coil cord is still on your phone, and it would have been replaced with a later matching green one had it been refurbished. Or at least that's what I've noticed in the green refurbs I've seen. The dates are all over the place and the cords match the phone and they're usually the newest thing on the phone. So yours sounds more like it's the way it came, minus the tube.

[Jester]

Jonathan,
I have a Beaumont phonebook dated December 1954 that's full of all those wonderful 5 digit numbers with no exchange names.  I put it away for safe keeping, but I remember every number being either 2-xxxx or 4-xxxx.  I even looked up my grandpa's number-- he was the only Jester in the book back then!  I also remember alot of listings that reminded me that Beaumont was part of the Jim Crow mentality, but I won't elaborate here.  It's a neat artifact.  I need to get it back out.

[Dennis Markham]

Jester, I did a reverse look-up on that number---713-835-6421 and got no responses.  According to the Area Code list that 713 A.C. has had two overlays---281 and 832.  That original number may be a part of those two now.  It would be interesting to see if the number were still in operation.

[Dan/Panther]

I have simply got to come up with a way to dye cords gray....
D/P

[Jester]

Dennis,
That number would be under Area Code 409 now.  Southwestern Bell switched 713 to cover just the Greater Houston area in the early 80's.  By the late 80's, the outlying areas were big enough they were placed under 281 & 713 covered only downtown Houston and its closest suburbs.  The 832 code is much more recent, but I can't recall the exact time it went into use.  I make a point to stay out of Houston.

[Jester]

Dan/Panther,
I have an 8 oz. bottle of black Dykem on order from Grainger's.  I don't think it's as potent as that Steel Red you used to dye your pink cord, but, since you mentioned it, I'll share the thought I had of trying to make this light gray wall cord dark gray using this stuff.  If it works, I need one for the Oxford Gray two tone, too.

[jsowers]

D/P, Do you think if we injected 1960s and 70s cords with Botox, they would plump up like the old cords?

Seriously, that dye thing, if it works as well as the pink, would be tremendous. It probably makes a big difference what color you start with. Light gray to dark gray sounds like a good place to start.

And Jester, it's great you have that old Beaumont phone book. I'm from NC and we had Jim Crow here too, but I'm too young to remember it. The laws were repealed in 1965 and I was in the first or second grade. The 1960s saw a whole lot of changes.

If you want some great stories comparing the North to the South, just get Dennis started on what it was like to move from Michigan to Alabama (in 1962). But that's OT, so please do it privately.

[Jester]

I think it would eat a vinyl cord, but neoprene brake parts dropped in a vat of Berryman's Chemtool will swell to up to 5 times their normal size.

Jonathan,
At 42, I am also too young to have memories of Jim Crow.  The only knowledge I have is from conversations with relatives and others, a few relics still left around, accounts that I've read and period examples like this phonebook.  I know there are those who disagree, but I truly think we've come a long way from the South depicted in this old phonebook.

[Dan/Panther]

I've only tried it on white cords, but I don't know why it wouldn't work, on beige, or other very light colors.
I would watch the length of time in solution very carefully. I didn't even know they made Black Dye-Kem.
I've been trying without success ti find clear colors that are sulable in Lacquer thinner, with luck whatsoever, I have another use for tinted clear lacquer thinner, but can't find any Clear color to tint it with.
D/P

[JorgeAmely]

Jester:

Those are really goods news! I have a 1957 Rose Beige desk set with gray cords that was painted with Polane. The finish is very tough and it essentially looks like part of the plastic. I have tried some acetone, but it quickly dissolves the plastic and paint all together. Sanding looks like an uphill battle because it will be almost impossible to get rid of the paint around the many corners of the cradle area.

I think I tried plain paint thinner but it didn't make a dent on the Polane.  Looks like lacquer thinner is just the right thing to use.

I am off to HomeDepot to buy some of that stuff.