Red Phones

[mienaichizu]

Here are my red telephones
1. LM Ericsson, my latest purchase, not yet restored
2. NEC Type 4, actually its a maroon phone
3. and lastly my Japanese red payphone

[Doug Rose]

I love the NEC phone. I'll keep an eye out for the NEC plaque that is missing from the front. This is one sharp looking phone....Doug

[mienaichizu]

thanks Doug

[Adam]

Here are two more of my favorite red telephones in my collection.

The 500 with a regular (numerals only) dial is a Stromberg-Carlson.

-Dave Haber
Massapequa Telephone
C*NET 1-798-7619

[JorgeAmely]

Dave:

Is the numerals only phone for rural markets?

[Adam]

Ah.  That's a long story.  Yes, they were used in rural areas.  But they were also used in many local systems as the phones behind switch boards and PBXes, and also in areas where they just never added letters to phone numbers until much, much later, like Puerto Rico.

I'm not sure how universal the term "regular" was for dials with numerals only, but it's what ITT called them ("regular" was numerals only, as opposed to "metropolitan", which was numbers and letters).

I have a small collection of phones with regular dials in various colors, mostly 500s.

-Dave Haber
Massapequa Telephone
C*NET 1-798-7619

[Greg G.]

2. NEC Type 4, actually its a maroon phone

Shades of red are ok.  I want a Type 4 to keep my Type 3 company.  Here's a scan of the dial card.  I scanned it on my home scanner, so it may not be high enough resolution to print, but you can try.

[AdamAnt316]

Here's my red ITT 2500 motel phone (neon message waiting light, plus a sticker telling the user how to dial out). Currently, it's ringer sounds louder if the phone is upside-down. 



-Adam

[Adam]

The red phones everyone's posted so far are very cool!

Adam:  Nice phone.  I don't have any ITT cherry red in my collection.  The interesting thing about ITT red is that they changed it at some point in the seventies.  My 1970 ITT TIMM2 (Telephone Instrument Maintenance Manual), in the available colors, lists red with the color code 02.  However, my 1975 TIMM2 lists Cherry Red as color code 47.

ITT 47 red is a brighter red than Western Electric 53 red, and I believe it's what your phone is, Adam.  I believe the original ITT Red 02 was identical to Western Electric red 53, in the same way that Stromberg Carlson red was (see my pics above).

Red phones is fun!

[mienaichizu]

2. NEC Type 4, actually its a maroon phone

Shades of red are ok.  I want a Type 4 to keep my Type 3 company.  Here's a scan of the dial card.  I scanned it on my home scanner, so it may not be high enough resolution to print, but you can try.

thanks brinybay for the scan

[McHeath]

Golly gee what a nice collection of red phones!  I don't have anything in full red, just a fake red/black two tone 500 that I cooked up with a red shell I bought at the phone show in San Jose California last year. 

[KeithB]

You're all making me envious, and now I'm thinking about re-painting my WE233G payphone glossy red instead of black. 

[LarryInMichigan]

For what it's worth, I have a 12-95 red ITT/Cortleco 2500 DM (minus a handset cord) which I bought last summer for $4 or $5 at a SA thrift store.  It looks exactly like Adam's, but without the red light dome and handset cord.  I figured that I could salvage the transmitter and network from it for use in older phones, but I have decided to leave it as-is for now.

Larry

[AdamAnt316]

Adam:  Nice phone.  I don't have any ITT cherry red in my collection.  The interesting thing about ITT red is that they changed it at some point in the seventies.  My 1970 ITT TIMM2 (Telephone Instrument Maintenance Manual), in the available colors, lists red with the color code 02.  However, my 1975 TIMM2 lists Cherry Red as color code 47.

ITT 47 red is a brighter red than Western Electric 53 red, and I believe it's what your phone is, Adam.  I believe the original ITT Red 02 was identical to Western Electric red 53, in the same way that Stromberg Carlson red was (see my pics above).

Indeed, the baseplate of my ITT 2500 says "47" on the bottom, next to the model number. Oddly, the handset cord doesn't quite match the color of the rest of the phone as far as brightness goes, though it could just be dirty.
-Adam

[Dave F]

Red 851BM wall keyset (1977).