A couple years ago, this December 1951 500 was heavily modified. The handset and cords were '73, the housing was '63, and the dial was a 1955. Fortunately, though, the base, C2A ringer, terminal strip, and 425A network were all still original and in very good shape. I just had to do a little searching...
By the time I found this on ebay, I had already found an August '51 G1 handset and cord that appears to be almost NOS, so I installed them. Some time later, I stumbled across a '59 500 with a December '51 housing, a perfect match!!! I just swapped housings with the '59er (that phone ended up with the '63 housing, almost win-win)! It was almost a complete late '51 500, apart from the dial...
I found a complete 95A dial blank in rough shape on ebay for $19.99 BiN. Knowing how sought-after these blanks are, I jumped on it. I realized then that I could use it on my almost-complete '51!
It arrived today, and after a little elbow grease, it looks great!
I like these blanks a lot, they really set themselves apart from the later 95Bs and Cs, both aesthetically and functionally. I always figured they were perfectly flush with the opening in the housing, but the plastic actually sits on top of the opening. It serves as a clamp with the metal ring that sits on the underside of the opening, to hold itself to the housing.
EDIT: added better (and more detailed) pictures after wet sanding the bezel a bit more.
Quote from: WEBellSystemChristian on May 09, 2015, 10:04:51 PM
A couple years ago, this December 1951 500 was heavily modified. The handset and cords were '73, the housing was '63, and the dial was a 1955. Fortunately, though, the base, C2A ringer, terminal strip, and 425A network were all still original and in very good shape. I just had to do a little searching...
By the time I found this on ebay, I had already found an August '51 G1 handset and cord that appears to be almost NOS, so I installed them. Some time later, I stumbled across a '59 500 with a December '51 housing, a perfect match!!! I just swapped housings with the '59er (that phone ended up with the '63 housing, almost win-win)! It was almost a complete late '51 500, apart from the dial...
I found a complete 95A dial blank in rough shape on ebay for $19.99 BiN. Knowing how sought-after these blanks are, I jumped on it. I realized then that I could use it on my almost-complete '51!
It arrived today, and after a little elbow grease, it looks great!
I like these blanks a lot, they really set themselves apart from the later 95Bs and Cs, both aesthetically and functionally. I always figured they were perfectly flush with the opening in the housing, but the plastic actually sits on top of the opening. It serves as a clamp with the metal ring that sits on the underside of the opening, to hold itself to the housing.
EDIT: added better (and more detailed) pictures after wet sanding the bezel a bit more.
Very Nice ! ;)
I've always preferred that dial blank over the "stepped" newer version but have yet to see one, much less find one, in real life.
Nice find, nice work.
Looks great, Christian.
It's also a good example of a 500T that was given the "new" marking code of J/K -- making it a 500J.