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Fun With An Aqua Phone

Started by DiaLen, September 26, 2015, 02:02:08 PM

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DiaLen

I was lucky enough to pick up a dirty 1959 soft plastic aqua 500 on ebay. The handset cord looked like it had been run over a few times and the line cord had spent considerable time being dragged around on a dirty floor. Overall, it needed some (lots of) TLC.
Following a lot of the comments found on this forum, I was able to get it in presentable condition, so that's what I'll do here:
Be faithful to the commitments of your life.

jsowers

Len, it looks a lot better. A whole lot better. You did a good job restoring it. But where's the mounting cord? You got a lot of original dirt there and it looks better without it. Cords can be very dirty sometimes, but a quick swipe of denatured alcohol will get even paint spots off cords and leave them squeaky clean. Just only use it on the cords or unpainted hard plastic. You probably knew that already since you read posts on the Forum. Thanks for doing that. There's a lot of good information out there on restoring phones.

Was the fingerwheel replaced? I can't tell. The one that's on it now looks like a hard center instead of the soft center one it came with, but it could be an illusion because it's so clean.

I agree that cleaning off the years of crud and getting it to look new again is the fun part. Those restored phones people sell have all the fun taken away. They appeal to a larger audience, but I like fixer-uppers better.
Jonathan

DiaLen

Hey Jonathan, thank you for your comment. I appreciate it.
Regarding the line cord, I didn't realize it was hiding. I did take a picture from a slightly different angle and you can see it behind the phone. It came out ok but not great. I do need to come up with a plug for it. The phone showed up without one.
I did have to replace the fingerwheel because the original open-center wheel was broken on the inside diameter, I'm guessing by someone trying to remove the dial card and not knowing how. I discovered the open center wheel is kind of hard to come by so until I find one, I put on a newer solid wheel.
You've sure got a good eye for these phones!
-Len
Be faithful to the commitments of your life.

jsowers

Quote from: DiaLen on September 26, 2015, 07:10:30 PM
You've sure got a good eye for these phones!
-Len

My eye has been honed by 16 years of looking at phones on eBay. A great education and for cheap. And my great-grandmother was an Eagle. Nancy Eagle Goodman was her name. I never knew her, but I'm told nobody messed with Grandmother Goodman! You had to be on your best behavior. That's according to my 98-year-old aunt. I'm joking a little, of course, but having an Eagle for an ancestor can't be all bad.

I've gotten many phones damaged like yours, where they try to pry the old phone number out the hard way. I wish they had just left well enough alone. Original number cards are really nice to have. If I spot any open center fingerwheels I'll let you know. They are getting scarce and a bit pricey.
Jonathan

Dave203

That phone sure does have a nice shine to it  ;)