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Trimlines (& brethren) in Color!

Started by compubit, May 01, 2015, 11:00:45 PM

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compubit

Some of the discussions mentioning that people "collect what they grew up with". I'm a kid of the 70s, so "Color is where it's at!"  I just received Color #17 (Lime Green)for my collection of desk-based Trimlines (with a couple of Slenderets & a trend line mixed in).

Here's the list from right to left:

Black WE Trimline Rotary
Chocolate Brown WE Trimline Rotary
Light Beige WE Trimline Rotary
Ivory WE Trimline Rotary
White WE Trimline Rotary
Rose Pink WE Trimline Rotary
Dark Teaberry Pink WE Trimline Touch Tone (Polane paint, but has the matching cord unpainted)
Cherry Red WE Trimline Rotary
Rust WE Trimline Rotary
Orange ITT Trendline Touch Tone
Harvest Gold SC Slenderet Touch Tone*
Pastel Yellow WE Trimline Rotary
Moss Green WE Trimline Rotary
Lime Green SC Slenderet Rotary
Turquoise WE Trimline Rotary
Aqua Blue WE Trimline Rotary
Teal Blue WE Trimline Touch Tone

Known Missing: Light Gray, Ash (SC/ITT), Transparent.
I've seen some Hunter Green & Bright Red late 80s/early 90s on eBay, but can tell that they've been painted, and haven't brought myself to pay what they're asking. Not quite ready to get the "electronic" models yet...

Jim
A phone phanatic since I was less than 2 (thanks to Fisher Price); collector since a teenager; now able to afford to play!
Favorite Phone: Western Electric Trimline - it just feels right holding it up to my face!

WEBellSystemChristian

#1
WOW!!! WHAT A COLOR PALLET!!

Well, it looks like I'll have to add more colors to my late-model WE wishlist! ;)

I like the radical colors like Lime Green and Orange, especially on a Trimline. Those colors look great for that decade, especially on Mopars in the early '70s!
Christian Petterson

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford

compubit

Well, the lime green and orange are not Western Electric, but would be pretty much indistinguishable to about 99.99% of the population...

When I start to mix my Styleline phones in there, you have nearly any color available (except the purple family... - though with a little paint...).  GTE/AE went with a "bold" line of colors (Candy Apple , Tangerine, Sunny Yellow, Tropic Green, Electric Blue, Camellia [Pink]), a "muted" line (Autumn Gold, Forget-Me-Not Blue, Avocado , Terra Cotta, Lemonade [Yellow], Porcelain Blue, Peach), and a set of "Neutrals" (Black, Brown, White, Ivory, Beige [2 different color codes], Desert Sand).

Jim
A phone phanatic since I was less than 2 (thanks to Fisher Price); collector since a teenager; now able to afford to play!
Favorite Phone: Western Electric Trimline - it just feels right holding it up to my face!

jsowers

Jim, that's a great lineup of colorful Trimlines and Trimline brethren. The AE Stylelines are nice too, but noticeably different in shape, so they ought to be a separate collection. I wouldn't mix them in a display. They might fight each other.  ;)

Here is one odd color I didn't see. It's -72 light yellow. I don't think mine is painted, but to be honest I've never opened it up. It's a late model square button Trimline and I've included regular -56 yellow and -111 harvest gold as a comparison. Light yellow is on the left, pastel yellow in the middle and then harvest gold on the right. I also included a handset-off shot to show the insides.

I got it at a thrift store and I remember picking it up and a woman near me making an "aww"  noise, like she was disappointed she didn't see it first. Finders keepers! I bought it. I also noticed my pastel yellow is a very late model AT&T Trimline, but essentially the same as its WE counterparts.

I assume you're including all the WE-made Trimlines. The "electronic" models you're excluding are the ones made in the late 1980s and beyond that have a similar shape on the outside, but are not at all the same on the inside and not made in the USA. I would exclude those too. They're cheap knockoffs when compared to the real thing.
Jonathan

WEBellSystemChristian

So, the set in the middle is -72? I figured so, but you noted the middle set as 'Pastel Yellow', which is the common name for -56.
Christian Petterson

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right" -Henry Ford

jsowers

Quote from: WEBellSystemChristian on May 02, 2015, 09:20:56 AM
So, the set in the middle is -72? I figured so, but you noted the middle set as 'Pastel Yellow', which is the common name for -56.

No, the left one is -72 light yellow, the middle one is -56 pastel yellow and the right one is -111 harvest gold. They go from light on the left to dark on the right. Pastel yellow is a confusing name, since light yellow is actually more pastel looking than "pastel yellow" is. Pastel yellow came first, about 1954, in 500 sets. Maybe this color chart will help? Trimlines didn't come in all these colors, but it does include many of them.
Jonathan

compubit

I also can swear that I've seen a Lemon Yellow Classic Trimline in my past...

It seems that toward the end, they may have been painting old stock in the newer ("electronic") colors for the rental market. Make sense?

Jim
A phone phanatic since I was less than 2 (thanks to Fisher Price); collector since a teenager; now able to afford to play!
Favorite Phone: Western Electric Trimline - it just feels right holding it up to my face!

poplar1

#7
Dash 72 (-72) Light Yellow was used for faceplates on yellow (-56) 2500s, but I've never seen a WE Trimline that color. On the other hand, Sun (not Sunny) Yellow ( -303) was one of the 1990s colors for remanufactured Trimlines using new plastics:

Added Trimline colors C. 1990
Bright Red (-114)   
Sun Yellow (-303)
Forrest Green (-302)
Country Blue  (-305)

The AT&T (WE) Service Center in later years closed down their paint shop and imported new plastics from China.
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

jsowers

Quote from: compubit on May 02, 2015, 10:07:00 AM
I also can swear that I've seen a Lemon Yellow Classic Trimline in my past...

Jim, maybe you were remembering one of these (below)? A Noteworthy used a Trimline handset, but the base was totally different.

Thanks, Dave, for clearing up the color names and numbers. It's funny what they called them. The name Sun Yellow to my eyes would be more like what they should have named -56 and Pastel Yellow would be more like -303, but they're the other way round. I think Country Blue may be what Jim has in his first post instead of Teal Blue. I've seen several of those color Trimlines and have one, but the Bright Red and Forest Green are somewhat elusive.
Jonathan

poplar1

The colors for Noteworthy are listed as

White (-58)
Brown (-104)
Yellow (-123)
Rust (-124)
"C'est pas une restauration, c'est une rénovation."--François Martin.

compubit

I knew about the Noteworthy - the yellow was the only color I haven't had across the years (have none of them now  :( ) - but do recall the bright yellow desktop.  Again, may have been a painted option, as this was the late 80s/early 90s...

As for the blue - I thought Country Blue had more of a lighter Blue-Gray tint, than a Blue-Green tint that I see.  I thought the Teal Blue was the 80s/90s version of Mediterranean Blue...

Again, every time you turn around, you'll find "another color" out there!

Jim
A phone phanatic since I was less than 2 (thanks to Fisher Price); collector since a teenager; now able to afford to play!
Favorite Phone: Western Electric Trimline - it just feels right holding it up to my face!

compubit

#11
Just added a (-302) Forest Green rotary desk Trimline to the collection! Time to retake the picture!

Slowly but surely! Slowly but surely!

Jim
(And quit calling me Shirley!)
A phone phanatic since I was less than 2 (thanks to Fisher Price); collector since a teenager; now able to afford to play!
Favorite Phone: Western Electric Trimline - it just feels right holding it up to my face!