Soft Plastic 302 Shell?

[liteamorn]

I won a bunch of phone from ebay and amoung them was a 302 that was listed as metal. When I  opened the phone not only wasn't the shell metal it was dated with WE stencils. On the back it says H1 and on the front it is stenciled 4 2 59 1. The shell sounds and has the aroma of the early 500 soft plastic shells.

I am aware of the meaning of the stencils but my query is this, did WE make soft plastic replacement shells in 1959 for 302 repairs/refurbs? I know the 302 was not made in 59 so this seems a little interesting at best.

Most of the rest of the phone is dated 1940 with the exception of the receiver and mic (41 and 47 respectively). Now I have two 302's this one and a slightly cracked shell 45. Which leads me to another question, which phone would you turn into a subset for my early Christmas present, a beautiful D1 202 with an E1 handset from my girlfriend!

[GG]

I'd turn the '45 with the cracked shell into a subset.  Of course save all the parts so you can convert it back later if there's any good reason to do that.

A 302 with a housing dated 1959, sounds like a rare item so it's worth keeping as it is.  

Chances are one of our local major experts on WE 302 will turn up here shortly to provide definitive information.  

[HarrySmith]

I agree, keep the later shell on the older base.
To the best of my knowledge WE never made the 302 in "soft" plastic. The all do make the dull thump, I just tried a few and the smell may be mold or mildew.

[liteamorn]

I'm curious as hell about the 59 date, everything I can find points to 58 as the last year the 302 was made. It is clear as day on the front of the shell 4 2 59 1 .

[Doug Rose]

I'm curious as hell about the 59 date, everything I can find points to 58 as the last year the 302 was made. It is clear as day on the front of the shell 4 2 59 1 .

How about some pictures. WE made color 302s in '55 in softplastic with painted handsets to match. The king was the Red as it matched the blood red color of the 500 sets and not the orange red of the thermoplastic color. Lets see some pics....Doug

[liteamorn]

I sure will Doug, it's going to take me a few days but I'll get em up.

[GG]

Doug and Paul F are major experts on WE 302, so it'll be very interesting to see what they say when they see your pictures. 

[Doug Rose]

Doug and Paul F are major experts on WE 302, so it'll be very interesting to see what they say when they see your pictures. 

Paul has forgot more than I will ever know, he is the true expert. I am just along for the ride. I am anxious to see this shell. The soft plastic 302s I have seen have been color with painted handsets to match as WE could not satisfy the demand for color sets. I have a Red, had a Green and a Ivory and have heard the rumors of a blue, although I have never seen one. I have never seen a black one, this could be very cool. My guess, a 302 this late in the game, if it was softplastic, came with a WE plastic handset....Doug

[Doug Rose]

Here is a Northern Electric that is dated Jun 22 1965. Yes 1965!!! Coil and ringer are dated 2 56. Talk about late in the game, 500s were out 15 years in 1965. This is in like new conditon....Doug

[GG]

Very interesting, Doug.  I take it that's a non-Bell example?  I'd guess that NE was still making those up from misc. parts because there was no good reason to chuck the parts they had, and 302s were less expensive to produce than 500s, and 302s could still be used in city center areas close to the CO.  So if there was still a reasonable application for them, plus the demand due to their lower price, why not keep making them as long as the parts supply held out?

[liteamorn]

Wow, 1965! That's interesting! The only place I can find any company name is on my handset which says Western Electric. Is there any place on the shell where I can find the manufacturer? Maybe I have a Northern Electric phone.

[teka-bb]

56 and 65 in the same phone  Could the numbers 5 & 6 in 1965 be reversed by mistake?

[Doug Rose]

56 and 65 in the same phone  Could the numbers 5 & 6 in 1965 be reversed by mistake?

Remco...could well be. I was amazed by 56 as I thought that was late for a 302. My eyes kept playing tricks on me thinking the shell was 56 as well. ....Doug

[MDK]

Wouldn't a mis-stamped 56 be worth more because of the stamping error, much like coins that have stamping errors have a huge collectible value?

[liteamorn]

Ok, here is the pics of my 302 with the 59 shell. I got this in a lot of phones on ebay, in it were this, an AE40 with a dial that needs work, 2 rotary princess phones, a couple of generic phones (tt) a 554 with a plastic cradle, and quite a few cords.

(The Photobucket link was invalid.  I had made it a tinyurl in order to repair a problem with the sizing of the post due to the extra long link.  Since the original link was a dead end, I just removed the link altogether. )

Dennis