My WE500DM...

[twocvbloke]

I know to a lot of you guys it's old hat, and being a Modular conversion, it's probably not worth much, but, I love it, have done since I bought it back in the beginning of November (that was a fun auction, I was all set to bid, and the stupid computer crashed in the last minute!!! Luckily it didn't sell so I asked the seller if they would relist with a BIN, and they did, and I got it!!!), and since I joined this forum, I realised I hadn't actually got any pictures of my own of the phone, just the ebay ones!!!

So, I've got two of 'em now, one in it's usual place (well, since we moved at least), and one while testing out custom made dial labels based on a correct-ish label, cos I like it, even though there's no landline number at present...

Some details I've gleaned from the phone's insides, the Network & Bellset are date-matched as "6-56", the base of the phone has been painted over, but I can make out either "657" or "857" under the paint, and of course, under the refurbishment label that says "500DM 9-75", it has "500 C/D" stamped...

Oldest part I have found is the earpiece, stamped "12 11 54" (I guess that's US date format, so 11th December '54?), so a fair few original parts are fitted it would seem...

Anyway, time for pictures, cos they're fun to oggle at...

[Dennis Markham]

The dial card looks great.  Nice job.  Those lamps make a very nice photo.

[McHeath]

That's a nice phone.  I really like those early 500s in black, and even with the modular cord it still is a good looking phone.  You can add hardwired cords if you wanted to, just run them into the handset and shell and remove the modular connectors. 

[twocvbloke]

Thanks, I really like that phone, I have had people come up with comments that are less than pleasing about it, like, why would I want one of those "stupid american phones", or why buy something that old when I can get a "much better digital cordless phone", but when you can see the phone's internals are around 50-something years old and still working perfectly, AND they don't use batteries that die mid-conversation, I think I know why...

I think the plastic shell is a later ABS replacement, it has one of them mould-wheels which says "C 75", so I'd guess it's part of it's 1975 refurb, but it looks good, aside from where someone has tried to "polish" it and left fine scratches everywhere, the worst being at the top of the dial opening, but I just need some plastic polish to fix that...

Actually, speaking of polish, I just noticed some white powdery stuff in the carrying handle finger space, which I'm now cleaning off, that looks like dried-on Autosol, not a polish I'd use (I usually use Peek, it's finer, and works great on Kirbys!!), or leave to dry onto plastic...  

And the handset's a G15, the little stamp thing in the middle of the handle just says "Bell system property - not for sale - Western Electric"...