WE green 202 Help

[RobertF]

Hi, My name is Robert.  I am new to phones and the forum. I found this phone at a flea market and was wondering if it was original or painted green by someone other than the phone company or factory. It has a D1 on the base, F1 on the handset and 6-51 5H on the inside of the dial. What do you guys think? I was thinking of painting it black but did not want to ruin it if it was original. Thanks

[Phonesrfun]

Welcome to the forum, Robert.  Definitely not an original paint job, since the phone company would not have painted it with the hookswitch pile-up still in the body of the phone.  The cords are a much later variety, and it is not wired correctly for use with a subset.  You need a subset on a 202 to make it work correctly.  Looks like it is wired to put the transmitter and receiver directly in series with the line.  While this will work, it risks damaging the receiver element over time, and there will be very loud popping noises in the receiver when you go on and off hook or others answer or hang up.

The phone company also did not paint the dial finger wheels.  They were usually black and in some cases on the later Continental models they were sometimes brushed aluminum. 

All that being said, it is a keeper and is very much able to either be used as a nice conversation piece (no pun intended) or to be rebuilt to a regular black 202 with fabric reproduction cords and a subset.

Subsets can be bought on e-Bay and other places and I think a going price that a collector would pay for a run of the mill subset would be about $40 or so.  The proper subset for that phone would be a 634 or 684.  The later 684 would probably be cheaper and be smaller.  There are also ways of making a subset from the base of a 302 and even a 500.

Welcome to the hobby of collecting phones.  Looks like you have started with a good one.

[bingster]

Welcome to the forum, Robert!  I agree completely with Bill on this one.  While this model was available in moss green in the mid 1950s, this particular phone isn't one of those.  Still, it's a nice phone, and a little stripper and some black paint will make it right as rain.

[RobertF]

Thanks guys. I will strip it and paint it, get the cloth cords and subset. Hopefully I can rewire it right. Should be a fun project. What paint do you guys recommend? Semi gloss?

[ESalter]

This post makes me curious.  I have a 202 literally IDENTICAL to that one.  A woman found it in her attic and brought it to me.  Painted the same color, overspray on the hookswitch, green fingerwheel.  What gets me though is it had the exact same style green cords and they were wired the exact same way as in your photos.  Makes me wonder if someone or some place didn't make more than one of these the same way?

---Eric

[bingster]

That's entirely possible.  It could be that one of the older vintage phone sellers in the 1970s or '80s assembled and sold these.  The cords, incidentally, are both line cords from a 500. Very interesting re-use.

[HarrySmith]

Hi Robert
Welcome to the forum and to the hobby!Nice find for your first phone, congratulations. Just a warning, phones are very addictive and they tend to multiply very quickly

[jsowers]

Eric and Bingster, you are correct. There was a company that advertised in the back of magazines in the 1970s. I think it was called Grand Com. They offered 202s and 302s and 354s, among many others, painted in all the WE colors with matching cords. I have two catalogs--somewhere--from them. One catalog I got from the back of a magazine in the 1970s when I was a kid (I started young liking phones, like Kenny). I have a 302 painted just like this 202, painted fingerwheel, straight green cords and all. I have 354 painted yellow. The paint was not that sturdy. It came off with use, especially on the handset.

As I recall, 202s were something like $15 and 302s and 354s were $20. There was no mention of the subset for the 202, so I think they connected it like the one you see here. And this was years and years before owning your own phone was approved by the phone company. They were based in New York City. One catalog I have shows their storefront.

The key to these is the painted fingerwheel and color matching vinyl cords. Those didn't come on the original color phones. Otherwise it looks like another Continental (WE's name for the painted 202).

Robert, I hope you have fun getting it back to its original state.

[RobertF]

That's great info. I did get it at a flea market in NY. Paid $45. Since it was originally black I don't feel so bad painting it.

[cchaven]

Nice 202 Robert..and welcome to the forum!  The 202 is definately a very usable telephone and is a real eyecatcher.  You'll have a nice setup when you're done with it, and will have accomplished quite a bit in the process.

Jeff

[mienaichizu]

hi there Robert, welcome to the forum

btw, that's a nice 202, I would also like to have 1 but it WE's are hard to find here in the Philippines.