Auction 15 - 1966 WE 500 in pink

[JimH]

I bought a white one from this guy dated 1960, all parts matching with white cords.  What I really wanted was a soft plastic in white, but this was much cheaper and a beauty.  Only problem with this guy is that it looks great from a few feet, but when you look at it up close, he's sanded the hell out of them to get the original color back.  It has tiny, SHINY, "sanding" marks on close inspection.  I suppose I could sand out the scratches, but if you're paying big money for this you shouldn't have to do that.

[HobieSport]

Hmm.  That reminds me; have we answered the question of weather it's possible to sand out some faded/discolored phones or is the fading too deep?  Has anyone tried it on hard or soft plastic?

[Dennis Markham]

Yes, it is possible to remove scratches, dings, and discoloration by sanding plastic phones.  Both soft and hard plastic.

If the phone you bought shows the scratch marks it was  not done thoroughly.  However, if you had to get the magnifying glass out to see the marks then its still nicer than a yellowed white phone.  However I believe a seller should indicate that the phone was sanded to remove color.

I have seen some hack-jobs that ended up on eBay.  If you look at the "mouse-hole" where the cords exit the phone you can sometime tell that someone had sanded them smooth.  They should have a ridge around them.

The process is very very time-consuming and tedious.   One must begin with a low grit wet sandpaper and progressively work up, finishing with a good polishing and buffing.

If anyone is interested in my tips, just shoot me an e-mail and I'll be glad to share them.  Soft plastic is much more difficult to remove all of the scratch marks---because it's soft.

[JimH]

I have tried this myself, with a hard-plastic WE 1500 that is white.  I think the yellowing on this 1965 telephone was so deep, my sanding ended up making the case very THIN.  I had to sand away so much of the plastic to get it back white.  I finally gave up on that one, I guess I could always use a later "2500" white case in good shape for this one, however the dates won't match.  Many of the ten-buttons were refurbished for many years.  I remember when I was a kid in 1974 we got all new push-button phones (3), and one was a ten button.  I wondered why that one didn't have the * or the #....but of course, now I know!

[McHeath]

Well it only went for 82 clams.  Geesh, I guess I should have tossed my hat in the ring. 

[bingster]

Another surprisingly low bid.  And a win for Dan²!  Congratulations, Dan!

[mienaichizu]

congrats Dan2, you won!

[Dan]

Wow, I don't know what to say!