Stromberg Carlson orange 500

[guitar1580]

I have a chance to buy an SC 500 in orange.  I seem to recall that we are not permitted to discuss dollar values openly on the forum, but can anyone give me an opinion on how rare or desirable it would be, or difficult to re-sell or not?  I'm not sure of year of manuf. yet, but it is hardwired and in very good condition.

I see that some have sold on ebay, but mostly as "best offer accepted", so you don't really know what it sold for.  The one I'm looking at is priced at a point where I think it's a little too high, so I'm on the fence about it.  If it was Western Electric, I'd go for it because that's what I mostly collect, but I don't even think WE made orange, did they?

Just looking for general opinions

I halfway considered putting some black parts on it, and a couple of Harley Davidson decals on it, and sell it to one of my Harley friends for their garage ... but to me that would kinda ruin a nice vintage phone.

[HarrySmith]

"Not permitted to discuss dollar values"? I don't know why you think that, but we discuss phone prices & values all the time. That being said I am not familiar enough with selling SC phones to offer an opinion on pricing but I had the same thought you did about making a Harley phone out of an Orange wall phone I have.

[paul-f]

If it was Western Electric, I'd go for it because that's what I mostly collect, but I don't even think WE made orange, did they?

Orange wasn't a standard WE 500 color, but was made on special order.

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=3831.msg50804#msg50804

[guitar1580]

Thanks Harry.  I'm on a lot of forums, and I must have been thinking of one of them, on the price talk.  I'm not very familiar with SC prices either.

Paul, thx, nice orange hotel phone.  The more I see them, the more I want one. 

I'm going to try to get the seller to check inside for dates, and maybe see if she'll do better on the price.  Orange is not my favorite color, but it's a color I don't have ... and the Harley phone idea is always a possibility.  I could do it and make it reversible.  I do have a Harley in the garage, but no phone line.

[Key2871]

If it were me, and the price were good I'd do it.
I never had to chance to get anything like that around here.
I could order one and pay dearly for one...

[guitar1580]

Yes, it will mostly depend on the price, but I'll try to nab the orange one.

I did get a really good deal locally a couple of days ago on 4 interesting non W/E brand phones that are in great condition, a hardwired cream ITT 500, a brown Southwestern Bell 500, and 2 black AE80s, one of which is Canadian & has an odd third plunger.  I'll do a post on them as soon as I get them cleaned and photographed.

I've been gathering up a few phones to restore on winter weekends, esp after football season ends.  It gets pretty cold and boring around here in Feb & March.

[guitar1580]

Does anyone know if they put dates on the Strombergs on components under the housing?  It looks like there could be a date stamp on the base, but it's smeared and not readable.

[Jim Stettler]

I have been around a long time. I get nailed as far as forum rules. I don't think that is a rule . If it turns out to be I will use my (little) influence to ask why.
That said. I am reading your post for the first time. I will respond with my personal opinion at that time. It is cool that I am defending this post without reading it thru.
However, that is the way to do it in my opinion. My next post will deal with the actual subject.
Jim

[Dan/Panther]

I wrote a review of the SC and the ITT, Phones,  how they were built, and how they stacked up against WE for quality.
I found that the ITT brand was very much like WE, the SC had many solid state parts not compatible with We components.
Anytime I want an odd color on a phone, I search for ITT.

D/P

[Dan/Panther]

Here is a link to that thread.

D/P

http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=1142.msg14289#msg14289

[guitar1580]

Thanks Dan.  That was a good comparison, and good photos.

I agree about the ITT phones.  I bought one a few days ago locally.  It's dated 1980, is hardwired with a fat handset cord.  When I first took the housing off and was checking it out, I was thinking it was built more like the older Western Electrics than the actual Western Electrics were in 1980 time period. 

Josh

[Key2871]

I remember when ITT tried to go cheaper by making a plastic base pan. I used to see those in the trash more than anything because if you dropped the phone.. It broke.
Anyone else remember those?

[guitar1580]

I've not seen the plastic base, but it sounds like a disaster.

I wanted to acquire one of the GTE Automatic Electric dial phones, and I noticed the newer ones had a plastic base, which didn't seem like a good idea.  I ended up getting an older one dated to 1966 that still had the metal base.

[Key2871]

Those didn't make it long. Not even a year. Every one I saw was broken, I've seen one or two in yard sales but I didn't by any because they were junk. Then they went back to metal.

[guitar1580]

To update, the lady chickened out on shipping the orange phone, and didn't seem like she wanted to wheel & deal on the price, so the orange SC isn't going to happen.

After seeing Dan's comparison, I'd rather wait and get an ITT anyway.

Josh