A Couple of Norths

[LarryInMichigan]

I bought these: ebay link last week.  They should be here tomorrow.  I think that I got a good deal.  An ivory North 541 desk model sold a month ago for over $300 (.link).  These are going to need some work.  Perhaps they can make it into April's find of the month competition.

Larry

[Doug Rose]

Really Nice Larry. Two beautiful phones.....Doug

[AE_Collector]

Nice pair of North's Larry!

Are you putting them into the Find of the Month? $102.50 for the set seems a reasonable price for them!

Terry

[LarryInMichigan]

Nice pair of North's Larry!

Are you putting them into the Find of the Month? $102.50 for the set seems a reasonable price for them!

Terry

Thank you.  I am afraid to enter them before they arrive safely.  I don't want to take chances.

Larry

[AE_Collector]

Well you can always enter them next month!

Terry

[LarryInMichigan]

The Norths arrived just a little while ago.  They were very well packed.  The desk model has plenty of scratches and gouges in the plastic, especially in the handset (some genius attacked it with a screwdriver).  Some of the gouges are much too deep to sand out.  The plastic is all tenite.  I would appreciate any suggestions on how to fill in the damaged ares.  The actual color is darker than it looks in the ebay listing pictures.

The network on the desk phone is dated 6-55, though the base has a date of 11-60.  The base of the wall phone is also dated 11-60.  The phones both stink from tobacco.

Larry

[LarryInMichigan]

I just discovered that the desk phone is completely missing its dial spring.  Does anyone have a spare?

Larry

[kleenax]

I just discovered that the desk phone is completely missing its dial spring.  Does anyone have a spare?

Larry

I'm jealous that I didn't see these on eBay!  I think that I have an NOS dial assembly from one of these phones.

[rdelius]

Are those telephones pink or ivory?.I cannot tell.

[LarryInMichigan]

They are slightly discolored ivory (a bit darkened).  The ebay listing pictures do not show the color accurately.  I will hopefully be able to restore them to presentable condition and then post some better pictures.

Larry

[AE_Collector]

The plastic is all tenite.  The phones both stink from tobacco.
Larry

If they are tennite, are you certain it is tobacco that they stink from?

Terry

[Gilas]

Larry I had the same problem with a couple North dials and sent them down to the dial guru Steve and he was able to get them back in service and even had some springs for them.  Might shoot him an email.

Mike

[G-Man]

Nice Find Larry!

If you need documentation the North Electric Practices for these telephones is in the TCI Library.

[LarryInMichigan]

The smell is definitely tobacco.  There is also a tenite smell, but I have lots of other phones with that smell.  The tobacco smell should hopefully wear away with cleaning, sanding, and polishing.  I have already done quite a bit of sanding of the desk phone shell with 220 grit sandpaper.  It was full of deep scratches and gouges.  Someone really mistreated this phone.  I hope that it won't need counseling as well

I plan to contact Steve Hilsz for the dial parts.  I have a gradually growing list of parts that I have been needing, including a dial center ring for a Kellogg dial.

Larry

[LarryInMichigan]

As I am disassembling and cleaning these phones, I am noting some interesting items.  The network in the desk phone is a 425B, but the other phone's network looks different, though the terminals on the top are the same.  Below is a picture of one side of the network.

Larry