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9/52 WE 500 my oldest 500 find

Started by Pourme, March 25, 2016, 01:37:39 PM

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Pourme

I visited my local antique mall yesterday and located a 9/52 WE 500 deep in the basement.  9/52 is my birth date so I was interested. The asking price of $79.95 gave me pause. I have read in the archives of all the fabulous deals that have been found by forum members, I also wondered how "pure" the internal parts were to the date stamp. Today I returned with my screwdriver. After a brief peek inside followed by a brief consultation...(he said I shouldn't open it up without asking first, who knew?) He offered a 15% discount and I bought a 500 mostly mfd the same month I was born.

The set was serviced in 1966 when the handset caps, transmitter element and receiver cord and outside shell were replaced. It sports the origional G1 Bakelite hand set. No dial card or holder is a bummer. Transmitter element was renewed in 1959. Line cord is 3 miles long and was new in 1973. C-2-A ringer 9/52, 425B network 8/52, 7d dialer 6/53 (head scratcher) all mounted on a base plate dated 9/52.

As you can see in the pictures, the set is relativity clean with no rust. Dialer operates without issues, sounds kinda cool as it rotates. No doubt I will be on the phone with Mary from Phoneco in search of a few, more correct, replacement parts. Anybody have any spare '52 parts to sell? Is the shell going to be a biggie? This '66 shell is quite scratched up and probably not worth much effort.

I think I paid all the $$ it was worth at $68.00 but my 9/52 birth date made me want it! A project, no doubt I will enjoy, my oldest 500!
Benny

Panasonic 308/616 Magicjack service

WEBellSystemChristian

Nice find!!

I find that after polishing a Black phone with auto compound or Novus, apply some Black Shoe Polish (Walmart sells Kiwi brand), it will look really nice! ;)
Christian Petterson

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford

Pourme

It being a '66 body on a '52 phone....wouldn't you want to search for a more accurate aged body?...Or is that a impossible task?
Benny

Panasonic 308/616 Magicjack service

WEBellSystemChristian

Quote from: Pourme on March 25, 2016, 05:28:35 PM
It being a '66 body on a '52 phone....wouldn't you want to search for a more accurate aged body?...Or is that a impossible task?
No, but more than likely it will be attached to a date-matching phone. I have had that problem--I have a phone that needs a date-matching dial, and I buy a phone to use the dial, but the parts phone ended up being in better shape! I end up using the parts phone as the display item! ::)
Christian Petterson

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford

RotarDad

#4
Having a b-day phone is nice!  The '66 shell is ABS plastic with clear plungers - not correct on a '52.  Fortunately, there are plenty of pre '65 black Tenite (soft plastic) shells out there with the black Bakelite plungers. They all looks the same, so any one of those will be a nice replacement.  I'm with Christian that a '52 shell will be hard to  find, but they are out there.  I bought an Ebay '54 500 a while back that had a '51 shell on it.  I was pleased as I had '51 500 that needed the part.

One solution would be to find an inexpensive, decent 500 on Ebay with Bakelite plungers and a G-1 with nice Bakelite caps (Yours are ABS with the center hole.  All black 500 caps were Bakelite with no center hole until 1958 when they changed to plastic like the color 500s).  Buy it, swap the parts you need, and sell the parts phone to get your money back.
Paul

Pourme

Thanks guys...I am on the hunt for the parts. It's kinda our version of a scavenger hunt!
Benny

Panasonic 308/616 Magicjack service

RotarDad

One other thing I noticed is that your phone may not ring as it sits.  There is a grey wire next to the clapper that will allow the ringer to be silenced.  That wire can be adjusted to prevent the clapper from moving when the volume wheel is rolled to the least loud setting. Yours looks like it is bent way over to stop the clapper, even with the wheel in the loudest position.  Careful adjustment with needle-nosed pliers may be in order.....
Paul