$5.00 Donor phone.

[Zombie Dave]

So I came across this phone on craigslist for $5.00. Took about a
45 minute drive to get it as it was a few cities away.  I figured worse case scenario it would be good for parts.
Once I arrived I quickly noticed the cracks and chips on the phone.  Indeed it's a parts phone. The kicker was the odd receiver fix.  Hard to just scrap a case though. Maybe this is what I'll make the plunge with into repairing them if it's possible.
No luck this evening adding pictures.

[jsowers]

Not a fix as much as a phone company modification. This is what was done to hard-wired handsets about 1977 when they needed modular handsets instead. It wasn't done for long and I think you may find this handset painted except for the faded parts, which are probably unpainted. At one time they were all the same color.

This one was rather crudely done. I've seen better. To me it's an indication of an early modular phone. Some call it c-stock. My grandmother had a yellow one and it's painted too. I think you may find a refurb/assembly date on the bottom around 1977 or 78 on the phone, if the paper label is still there.

[twocvbloke]

An odd thought occurred to me just now, will it get to a point where these "c-stock" phones will become so rare to find that they'll increase in value, due to having been harvested for parts and the rest discarded? Something to think about there...

[paul-f]

A good question is whether there will be future collectors of Bell System recycling efforts that will really want to add one or more of these to their collections?

[Zombie Dave]

Not a fix as much as a phone company modification. This is what was done to hard-wired handsets about 1977 when they needed modular handsets instead. It wasn't done for long and I think you may find this handset painted except for the faded parts, which are probably unpainted. At one time they were all the same color.

This one was rather crudely done. I've seen better. To me it's an indication of an early modular phone. Some call it c-stock. My grandmother had a yellow one and it's painted too. I think you may find a refurb/assembly date on the bottom around 1977 or 78 on the phone, if the paper label is still there.

So much to learn.  This does look rather crude. Now I know this is a thing.  I'm unsure what C Stock is though.  I imagine phones that have been converted/ modified ?

[jsowers]

So the story goes---and this is from word of mouth and not anything printed in a BSP--C-stock phones were provided to under-performing Bell divisions as some sort of punishment. They were refurbished and painted and not brand new phones. However, we also have the story that C-stock was refurbished and tested by machine before it went out, so it actually made for better performing phones, if not better looking ones. The painted and unpainted plastics haven't weathered the years well.

I have a hard time believing Southern Bell in Salisbury, NC was performing poorly in 1977 when my grandmother got her yellow 500 with that modified handset, since my uncle Don worked in their Business Office. But I have no way of knowing for sure. Maybe they knew a bargain when they saw it? I know he always did. I wish he were still alive to ask. And true to what was said about the phones working well, that phone is still connected and working to this day in the same house. I bet yours still works too. Most 500 sets do.

So draw your own conclusions. I have no idea if there was anything called B-stock or A-stock or D-stock.

[cihensley@aol.com]

C-stock belonged to the company that that provided the phones for refurbishment. The supply of phones for refurbishment came from disconnects and other retirements from service. Each company was measured on how aggressively they reclaimed sets that were disconnected. Periodically, installers were sent out to customer locations to try and retrieve sets that were not removed on the disconnect date. This was called working the LI (left-in) files. After a period of time, sets not recovered were written-off. The first preference on new installations was a phone from C-stock. If a particular set was not available a new set was used. New sets were a capital budget items.  The ratio of C-stock to Inward Movement (new installations) was closely watched by At&T and Bell company management. Use of C-stock was not punishment. It was an attaboy.

Chuck

[jsowers]

Use of C-stock was not punishment. It was an attaboy.

Chuck

Thank you, Chuck, for clearing that up. You deserve an attaboy too.

[andy1702]

So I came across this phone on craigslist for $5.00. Took about a
45 minute drive to get it as it was a few cities away.  I figured worse case scenario it would be good for parts.
Once I arrived I quickly noticed the cracks and chips on the phone.  Indeed it's a parts phone. The kicker was the odd receiver fix.  Hard to just scrap a case though. Maybe this is what I'll make the plunge with into repairing them if it's possible.
No luck this evening adding pictures.

Get a bottle of acetone and try restoring that case. I'm no expert on the US phones, but it sounds like these conversions are quite rare now, so well worth preserving.

[jsowers]

Get a bottle of acetone and try restoring that case. I'm no expert on the US phones, but it sounds like these conversions are quite rare now, so well worth preserving.

Before we recommend anything to do toward restoring the phone, it would be nice to actually see the entire phone first. Low-res pics are preferable here. Use a digital camera and not a cell phone to take the pics and you'll have a lot less trouble posting them.

[FABphones]

Before we recommend anything to do toward restoring the phone, it would be nice to actually see the entire phone first. Low-res pics are preferable here. Use a digital camera and not a cell phone to take the pics and you'll have a lot less trouble posting them.

Agreed, it would be nice to see pics of the whole phone.
Also, I thought that if it was a factory paint job (looks like it could be), then the paint would be hard to shift. Acetone wouldn't be effective?

[Zombie Dave]

I'll see if I can get some low res pictures. The only camera I currently have is my cell phone.