FINALLY! Got a yellow WE 500 keyset off of eBay for $20!

[Babybearjs]

OMG! I stumbled upon this on ebay... the starting bid was for $1.00! put in a high bid of $50.00 and won it for $20.00! sorry about not sharing the auction, but I've been trying to get my hands on a yellow phone for years! Now its done! just need the yellow 2564 to go with it.... looking forward to getting this, cleaning it up and sharing the finished photos with you all! I'm so excited!

[Pourme]

~

Nice score...good deal!

Congrats!

[Key2871]

Good job, and it's one with a newer housing so you don't need the escutssion for the keys.
I've always liked that color key set, congrats.

[5415551212]

Yeah thats a nice phone congrats

[MMikeJBenN27]

Congratulations!  Yellow key sets are rare!

[Scott]

Congratulations.

Scott K.

[Babybearjs]

yeah, I'm excited to have gotten it... looking forward to getting it next week....

[oldguy]

Congratulations, Great find & a really good price John.

[Babybearjs]

Thanks! I pulled out my matching units and am surprised I actually have 4 phones with the newer WE shells... and only 1 of them is modular... interesting!

[Key2871]

Nice, I actually really like the newer shells, much cleaner look to me anyway.

[Babybearjs]

yeah, and you don't have to worry about losing the designation strip cover. the newer sets just had the simple plastic lens piece... and were easy to replace... but then come a question, of which was more popular? these newer sets seem to be dated from 1975-1984 before they were discontinued for the Merlin series.... I remember in 1985 when my employer upgraded from the old 1A1 system to the Merlin system.... they replaced our departmental phone, a black 851 with a regular 2554 wall phone.... it was a nice upgrade, but I missed the mutibutton features.... we went from dialing #4 for the PA to dialing *44 for the PA.... thats progress for you!

[Key2871]

Yea those escutions  didn't fit well after a while and I just think it was about time when they changed the housing. Plus finding those escutions were / hard to find. Except someone on eBay has a bunch for sale and that's great, but none of my sets use those.
But yea you have a beauty of a set. I saw one years ago in a dealership, I loved the color and actually saw that one but I passed on it because I thought it was going to go for more money than it did. So you got a nice set for a great price.

[Babybearjs]

my goal is to have one of each color... although black seems to rule the day! I have black, brown, green, beige, white, red, and gray. most of them are 564/5's and I have a few 2564/5's in matching colors.... I kind of hate the newer shells and most of my collection is from the 1950's, 1960's.... I have 2 sets that are ITT Kellogg sets and they have the round buttons. all the others have the square buttons....
.

[Babybearjs]

well, it finally came today, better late than never.... (darned postman.... he was running real late yeasterday.) anyway, I got the phone and broke it down and cleaned it.... really badly faded.... wonder if leaving it out in the sun this summer will help....  anyway heres what it now looks like... when I tested it, it wouldn't dial out and the ring didn't ring when called....  have a good dial tone and the hanset works OK... I'mn going to let the unit stay in storage for awhile as I'm wondering if its just from being cleaned thats causing some issues. I had the same problem last time I cleaned a key set. anyway, I now have a yellow phone in my collection.... funny though... it look like a mustard yellow, even close to a Caterpillar yellow... if I can't get the dial to respond, I have a spare yellow dial in my parts chest! the phones original date code is 1964, so it has the original network and dial..... it was refurbished back in 1972. originally property of Illinois Bell!

[Key2871]

Well it's a start, a bit more work it should come out nice.