Ivory 305 Desktop Rotary Phone

[John S]

Thank you guys for the information and tips.  Hopefully I get to it soon.  I will upload more pictures of the inside, dates.  This is my first ivory phone.  Never had one.  I will try to post more pictures of it.

John

[unbeldi]

Thank you guys for the information and tips.  Hopefully I get to it soon.  I will upload more pictures of the inside, dates.  This is my first ivory phone.  Never had one.  I will try to post more pictures of it.

John

It may look dirty and ugly now, but when you spend the time of cleaning it and bleaching it you will find some amazing beauty in this ivory color. I think I have at least four of them (302/304, not 305) and have hard time in deciding to part with them, but did manage to sell two  last year.

Here is a selection of ivory:

[Mr. Bones]

Very nice selection, thanks for sharing.

Best regards!

[John S]

Very Nice Collection!  Stunning!


John

[Dave F]

I have very few 300-style phones, but one of them is an ivory 305.

See it here:

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=2318302490964d95d64e6e22a20decd5&topic=3452.msg45798#msg45798

DF

[John S]

Here are a few more pictures of the inside.  Its really dusty.  I think it will clean up nice.  The cord will need some tough work. 


John S.

[Russ Kirk]

How does the housing fit? Is it tight or loose?

[John S]

It fits tight.  I don't want to put it back together cause I will have a hard time removing it....any ideas?

John

[LarryInMichigan]

It fits tight.  I don't want to put it back together cause I will have a hard time removing it....any ideas?

John

I have had alot of success with these bending the edges by the corners inward a bit by tapping them with a plastic tip hammer.  Remove the feet first.

Larry

[unbeldi]

I think the cords can be salvaged. I feel, the original cords are the best on these phone if anything can be done to repair them. I have even used wire heat shrink painted ivory later to keep the cord together when torn.  These cords have a fine herringbone weave, unlike anything later, or earlier on brown cords.

The line cord looks pretty good.  The handset cord is so-so. You might be able to regain some of the coil by winding the cord wet onto a wood dowel of proper diameter.

I would soak the cords in warm Woollite solution. Be careful with mechanical stress on them while wet.  Woollite is supposed to be gentle enough on silk, and some of these cords are silk, I believe.

For recoiling the handset cord, warm up the cord in really hot water for a minute or two and wind onto the dowel immediately winding next to winding and let dry for a week in warm air.  I use cable ties to tie the ends down onto the dowel to prevent unwinding.

[Jon Kolger]

305s were made in all the standard WE colors, both in plastic and in painted metal.  410s probably were as well, though I haven't seen as many colored 410s as I have 305s. 

[Jon Kolger]

Here is a photo of my colored WE 305s.

[TelePlay]

Here is a photo of my colored WE 305s.

Very nice, and the jealousy meter is pegging here!

[unbeldi]

No wonder we can't find any these days, lol.

[Doug Rose]

Here is a photo of my colored WE 305s.

The King of Colors!