Bitten by the phone bug. Plagued by feverish enthusiasm. Wallet wasting away!

[metdial]

Hello everyone, my name is Tom, and I've been recently diagnosed as an obsessive compulsive with Western Electric tendencies.  Its literally only been about 2 weeks, and I've already purchased 4 phones!  Thus far, only one of them has been delivered, and I'm quite pleased with it.  Its a WE 500 dated 4/61 and appears to be all original with matching dates.  Thanks to Dennis Markham's excellent series entitled "Is it really from 1957?", I knew what to look for in the photos & what questions to ask the seller.  It appears to have a lot of features from the previous decade, (G1 handset, bakelite hook plungers, triangular neoprene feet, and (I was hoping) a late 1950's soft plastic case).  I knew from questioning the seller that the handset caps were not going to be bakelite, and would be the later plastic 7 hole & center hole variety.  I was pleased to discover however, that these caps unscrewed from the handset with minimal effort (I had read about how difficult these can sometimes be to remove from G1's).   The caps are marked "c3 61" inside, and I assume that means they were made in 1961 and are therefore original to this phone.  If so, I see no need to replace them.  I was disappointed to discover upon opening up the case,  that it had the later molded date near the cradle (P/61 in a circle).  I was confident initially that it was a soft case because of the way it sounded when I tapped the sides with my finger.  Oh well, at least it is date matched to the rest of the phone.  I've read that some early to mid sixties phones can be found with soft plastic cases.  Is this true ?  Has anyone ever encountered or heard of a soft plastic case with the later molded date marking?  Sorry to be so long winded, but as I mentioned earlier, my enthusiasm runneth over.
I have a million questions to ask (particularly about cleaning & polishing, and how to disassemble the dial for cleaning & lubrication without damaging it), but I will save those for later.  This is a teriffic site with many friendly and extremely knowledgeable people.  I  am grateful to have finally gained membership (I initially overlooked some important steps in the registration process).  Oh, did I remember to tell you how enthusiastic I am about all of this

[Dan/Panther]

Tom;

Welcome to the forum. The bug is not curable.

D/P

[Dan]

Hi Tom. The mid sixties "soft  tenite plastic" phones are black. The colored ones were usually harder plastic by 1960. The SMELL is the key. Open up the housing and smell. If it is like sour cheese, it is the old plastic. I have never seen a soft plastic with the molded date marking.
I have a 1959 green WE500 that I am not sure is soft or hard plastic. It sounds like one with the fingernail, but doesn't have the stinky smell.

You are right about this forum. It is a nice place to hang out. Welcome!

[Sargeguy]

Welcome!  Does your 500 have an original cord or is it a modular "downgrade"?

[McHeath]

Welcome Tom.  Alas, I must concur with my compadre D/P and not that the old phone bug is incurable.  Luckily the itch can be scratched for reasonable sums of cash, unlike say the itch for a muscle car or a WW2 warbird or golf clubs. 

I have a 61' dated model 500 in black that is soft plastic, so they were still being made here and there by that date.  Yes you can smell the difference, it's a rather sharp smell and very interesting, for a time I kept a early soft plastic dial bezel in my desk to occasionally refresh my senses. 

[metdial]

Welcome!  Does your 500 have an original cord or is it a modular "downgrade"?

Thank you  Sargeguy and everyone else for the warm welcome!

The cord is original and is fairly clean & tight.   The metal "crimp" (is this the correct term?)  on the end of the handset cord has the numbers 6 & 1 stamped on it.  The metal piece that secures the line cord to the inside base has the numbers 6 & 0 stamped on it (this is the only part not numbered 1961 that I've been able to find so far).

[mienaichizu]

hi Tom, welcome to the forum, so we have three newbies here