Ok you 500 series nuts, looky what I got

[Dan]

That's a 10 in my book!

[BDM]

Well, I got a look at the phones here at work. The pink one is a numbers matching 58 model, minus the ringer. It looks like it never had a ringer. The line cord is also pink, and of the hard wired variety. Probably hard wired to an external ringer like those used with the early Princess phone. I took apart, and it's quite obvious a ringer has never been installed. Strange? Other than that, it's in really good shape. The dial needs to be gone through. And there are paint specs on it.

The yellow one is actually a 63 model, refurbed in 72. Complete and in good shape.

[BDM]

Here are a few pics
Strange, no bell assembly. As I've said, it looks like there was never one installed. No visual evidence.









Ok, the yellow one. I noticed the rear screw anchor pulled out from the shell. Now I know why. It's cracked. No biggie.


WHOOOOPS, oh where oh where did my little bells go? Oh where oh where could they be??

[Dennis Markham]

Dan, that pink phone looks to be in very nice condition.  I'm sure I have some extra ringers around.  If you're interested I'll look through them and see if I can find one close to April of 1958.  I'm sure I have a couple of gongs for the yellow one if you'd like.

[benhutcherson]

I agree that it doesn't look like there was ever a ringer installed.

The ringer mounting screws have rubber grommets around them. After 30+ years, these have usually gotten sticky, and it's generally impossible to remove a ringer without there being some imprint left from the grommets.

That pink one looks almost too good to be true.

[BDM]

Dennis, I may take you up on the ringer assembly. I'm going to go through my parts stash this weekend and see what I have. I know I have a set of bells for the yellow one.

Thing is, that pink one just never seems to have had a bell. Even the screw threads for the bell assembly hold down look unused. Strange! Either it was used as a silent phone/extension, or it was wired into an external bell box at the wall. Which again seems strange.

[McHeath]

Pink phone is pretty sweet.  If only it could talk and tell us why it never had a ringer eh? 

[Dennis Markham]

I'm sorry, I called you Dan.  Old age is creeping in.  I'll look through some ringers too.  I know I'll find one for you, if I have to pull one out of another phone. 

[Dan/Panther]

If you notice on the white phone right beneath the "0" the case has a mold distortion. I have this distortion on several cases, is this something that appears after years of exposure to heat etc. ?, or is it a mold flaw, and why did they allow it to continue ?
D/P

[BDM]

Dennis, don't sweat it. Remember, I kept calling you Mark Dan, that distortion is far more noticeable on camera than off. Interesting observation.

[Dennis Markham]

Dan, that mold distortion is fairly common.  It is one of the clues I use to determine if a case is hard or soft plastic.  It seems to be common in the later hard plastic cases.  I haven't paid much attention to the dates of those I've seen, but it seems to be with the later phones with the thinner cases.  It's in line with the screw bushing.

[bingster]

Did some phones have a key or light in that spot?  Because if you look inside the case you can see that the distortion is caused by a short "tube" molded into the underside of the case, and the straight distortion line coming down from the circle is from the interior brace for that tube.  That's what causes it, but what's it for?