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new member, uk - "david@london"

Started by david@london, January 03, 2012, 01:21:54 PM

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david@london

hullo forum!

3 weeks ago i bought my 1st US phone - a black WE500 army signal corps in pretty good condition i think. the base + housing + ringer are 12/1952. network 11/52 and stamped in red: sAc 1340. housing marks are 13 12 52 1.  Receiver is 8/58 and the dial is stamped underneath 1/62.

i bought the phone from a dealer - apparently these phones were destined for usaf bases in east anglia here in the uk after refurb in canada in the 70s. i have 2 large pristine yellow labels stamped 130th.E1 Sqdn.,SLC,UT   + w/ printed warning: unauthorized persons removing this tag may be subject to $1000 fine or imprisonment.

anyway, this phone is so great! + got me looking for info on the net- i found dennis markham's site + this forum which i've been looking at the past week - thought i'd register + say hullo to all of you.

unfortunately i have a modern line cord + transmitter but the handset cord is a black,  hardwired, coiled original-looking fat one with no date on crimp though. i suppose the military have alot of new/old spares.

the leather feet quite worn but the housing and G1 handset are in lovely condition. i've ordered a bottle of novus 2 for some fine scratches.

there are some small but obvious scratches on the finger wheel where the card-holder has been removed/inserted carelessly [not me] - i'd like to renovate these. don't know the best paint/technique.  otherwise the  metal fingerwheel looks pretty much as new.  i put a  copy of a dial card in there from the archive site - please wait for dial tone - Chelsea 3 -7733.  hope that's ok for a 1952 model.

anyway, hi to you all ........ i am amazed by some of the beaut, restorations shown on the forum.  makes me want to get a couple more nice coloured 500 models!

Tom B

Welcome to the Forum, David. You will find a wealth of information and suggestions here from some very well informed people.
You can buy some touch up auto paint for the mark on the fingerwheel - if that doesn't suffice then some fine sanding and respray can be simply done.

It's obvious that the desire for more phones has already taken root - be very careful - it gets addictive ;)
Tom

bingster

= DARRIN =



twocvbloke

Yep, the desire to buy more phones gets stronger the more you look at the pictures here... ;D

(I'm "oop t'north" in Co. Durham by the way!!)

david@london

thanks Tom B, bingster + twocvbloke!

good suggestion of auto touch-up paint tom, i'll try that.

the 500 ringtone is very much a sound of the 60s/70s for us brits too as we watched so much columbo, rockford files etc on tv, don't you think twocvbloke?


twocvbloke

Quote from: david@london on January 04, 2012, 08:55:59 AMthe 500 ringtone is very much a sound of the 60s/70s for us brits too as we watched so much columbo, rockford files etc on tv, don't you think twocvbloke?

Oh definitely, I blame ITV for that love of the WE500 ringer sound, they always had shows imported from the US, and of course the movies made in the US that have bell phones (regardless of the make or age of phone used, they always used a stock WE500 ringer sound), it's the reason why I had to have one... :D

Now I have two, and I'm looking at wall-phones now (WE and Cortelco models)... ;D

twocvbloke

Oh I can do the US-style 2-4 ring cadence (2 sec. Ring, 4 sec. Silence), sort of, I use my BT 286A linesman phone to do that when I'm bored...  :D

A Panasonic phone system would help though, an internal call would produce the US-style ring cadence (for countries where the landline ring is "broken" like ours), or near enough, I think it's a bit shorter on them... :)

Unfortunately, I haven't got a 2CV, never raised enough cash to even get a driving licence and lessons when I was able to work, and definitely can't now living off the state cos of a mental disorder (no, it's not the hoarding of phones, vacuum cleaners and other vintage appliances!!!), so, it's buses and trains all round for me... :(

And we moved away from Lancashire, so there's a 100-odd mile gap between here and Burnley now, and I've yet to find a similar place to go to for lovely bargains on old things that are just begging for a new home and restoration... :D

twocvbloke

Yeah, I like repairing vintage technology, I've not braved 405-line TVs and valve radios though, no room for that... :D

I've got a spin-dryer, but it's of the sort that when you fix one thing, two other parts fail, so it's been relegated to living out in the shed until I decide what to do with it, when it was working though, it was great at getting the last drops of water out of clothes washed & spun in the washing machine, thus reducing drying times (though our computerised dryer got confused and though they were dry while they were still wet, hence the dents in the base where my boots kissed it!!), was some OEM brand thing made in West Germany (before the wall fell), so it was old enough to be that old, 2800 RPM too... ;D

I also had one of them plastic portable twin-tubs too, worked great for a few years, but plastic fatigue took hold and cracks formed in the wash tub, so it stayed in Lancashire (well, the plastics did, the electrics came with me!!), but I want a Hotpoint Supermatic 9404 Twintub, cos they work better than the other brands... :D