Modular Western Electric

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Whoever said modular phones aren't collectible? Okay, a few of us can admit to it. Okay, fine, pretty much every single one of us can honestly state that we have at one point of another!

But, 20 years ago, collectors laughed at the idea of 1950s WE 500s ever being remotely popular, and, in the early '80s (after the Bell break-up) the 302 was part of that list. Now, we look at the modular Western Electric phones of the late-1970s and early 1980s as being a thing for the scrap heap, or, at best, the parts shelf. I'm looking at them in a different light now. I can see them with as much beauty (if not more) as any other phone we consider collectible today. In the case of durability, they are just about as well-built as those in the '50s (although some would argue with me on that point, which I don't blame them), and there were even more color offerings. There would be a bigger challenge finding all of the colors in the last years of Ma Bell, including a few that are exceptionally rare! I'm preparing myself for the day that modular Western Electric phones become sought after in the collector market (get 'em while they're cheap)!

I'm not suggesting paying anything above $10-15 for a decent modular phone at an antique store. In fact, all of mine came to me in the price range of free to $5, but I consider them collectible, nonetheless.

I'm including a couple pictures of my 1969 (refurbed with 1979 plastics and cord) WE 500 in Lemon Yellow; A.K.A Pastel Yellow in the earlier years. The modular cord really looks nice with a good cleaning and dowel treatment!
I'll add more of my WE modulars to this topic in the coming days.

[G-Man]

Refreshing that someone your age is thinking ahead to when these $5-$10 telephones will be worth much more down the road.

When that time arrives many will be left commenting about how back-in-the-day they could have had all that they  wanted but let them be scrapped instead; a refrain that sounds very familiar to the rest of us old-timers.

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Refreshing that someone your age is thinking ahead to when these $5-$10 telephones will be worth much more down the road.

When that time arrives many will be left commenting about how back-in-the-day they could have had all that they  wanted but let them be scrapped instead; a refrain that sounds very familiar to the rest of us old-timers.

I think a lot of what people collect is based on what they remember growing up. Phone guys that collect wood wall phones and candlesticks are usually in their 70s and 80s, and they remember seeing Grandma's Candlestick in the dining room when they were younger. Baby Boomers remember seeing 500s and 302s when they grew up, so they tend to collect that. I wasn't around long enough to see any of these eras of great phones, so I tend to collect whatever is popular now. In the future, collectors growing up in the '80s and '90s will probably go after the modular phones, and the market for these will probably rise.

Because of this, I think we see through a very narrow scope of what we see as collectible. To us, only a particular type of phone is worth buying. But over time, as we see others brag about another type of phone they found that's worth a good chunk of change, we decide we want to start collecting that phone, and also start regretting the hundreds of phones like that that we passed over. Certain colors will develop themselves as 'holy grail' colors, as with other variations and models. Who knows; an average yellow 500 just like mine may fetch $70-80 on ebay someday!

Sorry if I'm rambling; I do this when I'm tired!

[Phonesrfun]

I am a 'boomer who grew up with my earlier memories of phones are from the mid 1950's.  I even remember going to someone's farm once and they had a wood wall phone (for real).  We had a 302, and I definitely remember it.  We were the first on our block to have a Princess in 1959 because my mom just had to have one.

202's were not unusual to see in homes, but they were so, so old fashioned.  I really have no recollection of anyone having a candlestick, but who knows.  I was born at a very early age and don't remember things from the early '50's.

I do have sticks and wood phones, but I definitely have more specimens from my growing up years than anything else.  I know a guy in his early '80's who grew up on a farm in a rural area and had a wood magneto wall phone in his house when growing up.  Guess what he collects.  Yep, he has rooms and closets and a garage full of wood.

I have been watching some old Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock TV shows from the 1950's/1960's and it is not unusual for them to have 302's, 202's and even straight-cord 500's.  The props they used were pretty much a reflection of the times.  Usually, if the scene was depicting an old lady or old man, they had a 202.  If it was a run of the mill scene, they had a 302.  If it was intended to be a modern sort of a setting they had a colored 500 or even a Princess.

I have accumulated a few modulars over the years, but these haven't been my focus.  However, the modular phones that were built on the classic bases using the classic receiver and transmitter elements are still the same technology as the earliest 500's  Just different cordage.  That is a testament to the design of the basic 500 model telephone.  It lasted 30+ years as a design with hundreds of variations on the theme.

So, I would say, buy up all the modular phones you can get while they are cheap.  If you can stand to store them or haul them around as you move from place to place over the years, you might just make a killing some day.  When you have a collection, moving can be a pain.   

[jsowers]

Don't lose sight of the fact that modular WE phones will always be the most plentiful version. Sometimes I think it's by a factor of about ten to one, but that's just from observation. They refurbished so many phones from 1976 until 1986 or so and they were the last models available, so they're what was left at the end in many people's homes. There are still lots of them out there. Maybe some day that won't be the case, but it's going to take a long time.

One drawback to modular phones is the plastic gets brittle in the jacks and plugs. The clips in the plugs break off and the jacks in the phones can split, so you need to have replacements for those. When I first started collecting phones from thrift stores about 15 years ago, I bought plenty of modular sets and those mounting cord jacks were still available at the local electronics store, which is no longer the case.

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Don't lose sight of the fact that modular WE phones will always be the most plentiful version. Sometimes I think it's by a factor of about ten to one, but that's just from observation. They refurbished so many phones from 1976 until 1986 or so and they were the last models available, so they're what was left at the end in many people's homes. There are still lots of them out there. Maybe some day that won't be the case, but it's going to take a long time.

One drawback to modular phones is the plastic gets brittle in the jacks and plugs. The clips in the plugs break off and the jacks in the phones can split, so you need to have replacements for those. When I first started collecting phones from thrift stores about 15 years ago, I bought plenty of modular sets and those mounting cord jacks were still available at the local electronics store, which is no longer the case.

They still have the connectors at the local Menards (sort of like Home Depot crossed with a little bit of Walmart) and I have about 30 of them at home. Modern phones still use RJ11 jacks, so they are still plentiful online. The only thing is that the modern plugs don't have that small 'WE' on the tab. Not really an issue, but a small attention to detail nonetheless.

I have found the brittle part to be an issue when I recoil the cords. The connectors on the end develop stress cracks from the heat, but they are still usable after that. Does anyone know what temperature would be appropriate to bake the cords at?

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Do we have a list somewhere that shows WE's color offerings from about '75 to '84-'86? IIRC, Pink and Gray were eliminated in the late '70s, and several new colors were added around that time.

[Dan/Panther]

Christian;

You have a gift that I for one WISH I had back in the Day.
Let me give you an example of some of the cars I've owned in the past. Most which sold for a few hundred dollars
1942 Cadillac
1957 Cadillac Convertible
1957 Chevy Two door Hardtop
1965 Mustang
1968 Pontiac firebird
1956 Ford Crown Victoria
1958 Olds 88
Just a few off the top of my head.
Had I kept those cars I could buy just about anything I would want.
BUY THOSE PHONES AND STORE THEM.

D/P

[podor]

I grew up in the '80s, and most of my phones are modular. That's what I remember. I focus more on the 500s and up. The oldest I have is a 565 from '62 (most of my stuff is 1A2). I bought a 2565 ($15) for daily office use that came with a short cord. Found a NOS G6 handset to match ($6) and $7 and free shipping for an original NOS WE medium length cord

[Phonesrfun]

I had a '57 Chevy wagon after high school which was a junker.  After that, in 1969, I bought my dad's 1964 - 1/2 Mustang which I owned until about 1998 whn I sold it to one of my son's friends.  Did I mention that my dad bought the car brand new in June of 1964?  My son's friend still owns the Mustang and when I go to visit my son, every once in a while we will call his friend and I can still drive the car just for the price of a car wash.
Just to keep the topic back on that of telephones, I have a ham radio license and I had a 2-meter VHF radio in the trunk of that car once with a control head for the mic and speaker, etc.  I found (no suprise, really) that if I had my radio at home connected via a phone patch to the phone line, I could remotely dial the phone from my car using a touch tone pad that I wired into the mic circuit.  This was in the 1970's so it pre-dated the cell phone system we have now.  Hams have, for a long time, used DTMF to autopatch and control other functions remotely over VHF radio to repeaters and other applications.

(Was that somewhat on topic?)

[Weco355aman]

I generally don't spend my time making comments but this is one that i will.
I do some what agree that the modular phones have a small collectable value at this time.
One thing to keep in mind most of the phones were Refurbished bases 1960's and 70's . they were updated before returned to service. In Oregon the field installers carried bases and housings and would change out the parts that were needed. (party line service) From working in the interconnect business and replacing 1000's of phone's and 100's system's i found most phones and Equipment installed  after 1978 were mostly all new at that time. Phones  before 1978 was a mixed bag of new and referb. I have personally refurbish more that 3000+ phones (about 70% 1A2) and have found that the phones
with Light Gray plastic Inside and out (networks and jacks) is not aging well at all. There must of been a change in the
specifications in the late 70's. I was born  in the 60's  and  collect  phones from the 1950-1984. I do have phones and
Equipment that dates to 1899, I also have a tiny collection of ITT, Comdial, Northern Telecom that was made after 1983.
Telephones are only  a small part of my collections. Unlike most collectors i have 1000's of parts so ill be good for about 100 years or so. There is still a supplyer that has the 623 ,616, and other base  jacks. Formosa"s Comm co.  1-800-227-0911 They were a suppler to the small time operators. All of their jacks are NOS imported from China. They do not have any online ordering and do not take Paypal you must call to place a order and make payment arrangements.   The line cord jacks at the phone base are wired reverse from the wall jacks.  Wow That was painfull.

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Wow, I didn't think everyone would be so on-board with my ideas here! I don't want these phones to become my "Man, I wish I had saved..." story, so I'm saving the good and cheap ones now!

Here is another one of mine that I quick cleaned up for its picture; an all-1977 WE 2702BM in green. I haven't seen all too many of these in green, not that they're hard to find at all. This one came to me along with a 1500 that I got for $20 awhile ago. The cord isn't original; I still need to clean and recoil the old one, and the buttons aren't clean either. Still, a nice phone!

[WEBellSystemChristian]

Another one; a Consumer edition (CS) 1983 2500 in Green. This is considerably cheaper in quality than my other 2500s; short-travel TT keys (Poppel Pad, I think), wimpier ringer coil, cheaper ringer and network frame, noticeably lighter weight, and thinner plastics. This definitely marked the end of a great era of telephone quality, although it's a billion times better than today's phones. This one also cleaned up very, very well. No flaws at all, other than a chipped line cord outlet.

The next color I'd like to find in modular is a yellow 2500. I think the two-tone arrangement on those sets is brilliant, they look like bananas!!

Does this bore you guys at all? I would hate to keep posting things here if you guys have no interest.

[compubit]

Another one; a Consumer edition (CS) 1983 2500 in Green. This is considerably cheaper in quality than my other 2500s; short-travel TT keys (Poppel Pad, I think), wimpier ringer coil, cheaper ringer and network frame, noticeably lighter weight, and thinner plastics. This definitely marked the end of a great era of telephone quality, although it's a billion times better than today's phones. This one also cleaned up very, very well. No flaws at all, other than a chipped line cord outlet.

The next color I'd like to find in modular is a yellow 2500. I think the two-tone arrangement on those sets is brilliant, they look like bananas!!

Does this bore you guys at all? I would hate to keep posting things here if you guys have no interest.

I have a couple of CS-class phones - they work, and in worst case, provide some parts, if needed.

I do like the color scheme of the 2500 yellow - not a big fan of the 2554 yellow (too boring).  Of course, won't complain about a nice clean 500 in any color (well, maybe black ;-) )

Keep 'em coming - I'll throw up a pic tonight...

Jim

[compubit]

Here's a CS2500 series in Teal Blue.  I'm torn between the grey faceplate and wishing there was one closer in tone to the blue...

Jim