Vintage Phones

[Tony in Tarzana]

I love the 302. Pre-WWII, heavy as heck. The one on my desk is from 1938, and it works great. My cordless phone from 1999 is about ready for the scrapheap.

 

[airfrogusmc]

Our everyday phone

 

[Rosie]

I currently have 2 WE 500s. I'm looking for some earlier models though, as soon I figure out what I really want.

 

[The Reno Kid]

This phone hangs in my hallway and probably gets more use than any other in the house:

1940 Western Electric 653A

In addition, I have a 1931 WE 202 in my living room. I don't have a photo of it handy but I borrowed a picture of one that looks just like it:

Western Electric 202

The ringer for the 202 is mounted on the wall behind the sofa and it sounds great. Both phones work fine. Neither is restored. I had to do a little bit of work on the 202. Apparently a previous owner had tried to work on it and rewired it incorrectly. I have a schematic, so I was able to hook everything back up correctly in about 15 minutes. I ended up with a very nice phone at a deep discount.

I have found that I can even use some modern features like call waiting. I just depress the hook briefly when I hear the signal and I get the second call. Depress it again and I'm back on line 1. To me, the WE 653 (and its earlier incarnation, the 553) are the coolest telephones out there.

By the way, you can use these things in situations requiring touch tone. Radio Shack (and other places as well, I'm sure) sell a tone generator that's about the size of a deck of cards. It's designed for this very application and is easy to use.

I don't own a cell phone. I don't want to be that easy to get in touch with.

 

[The Wingnut]

Here's mine:

Picked up in Oregon for a fraction of the current going rate. Prices for these things have gone through the roof! Pretty nuts. Cracked mine open and wired in a modern modular jack, but was able to do so in a way that retained the original cord. I'm working on getting a line run from the bedroom to the front room so it'll work, something I should be able to finish tomorrow night.

302s were often called the 'Banker's last ditch' because you could crack a holdup thug in the head with the receiver or even the whole phone and knock him out cold!

 

[airfrogusmc]

Wing I really like the radio to!!!

 

[The Wingnut]

Thanks! If the place burned down, I'd run back in and drag it out!

 

[SGB]

Thanks! If the place burned down, I'd run back in and drag it out!

You'd better, or you'll have me to contend with, and I can get real nasty.....
SGB

 

[Sefton]

Here's mine:

Picked up in Oregon for a fraction of the current going rate. Prices for these things have gone through the roof! Pretty nuts.

I had a feeling I might be going nuts...I paid a lot for mine. At least I know that it's going to last..and last..and last!

Yours really looks sharp on top of that radio!

 

[skinnychik]

I love my WE 500, but, like Rosie, I would like an older phone. Still, I love the way it sounds when it can be bothered to ring. I think it's much better for a long phone call than a cell phone. The receiver is fat enough to rest comfortably on my shoulder, and it doesn't get all warm on my ear. I'm pretty sure old phones haven't been connected to brain tumors the way new ones have either.

A pic of one from a Bell site.

 

[Shaul-Ike Cohen]

Here's my 202 (or WE D2 F-1 #5 for the pros), which I've been using daily ever since I had it. (I. e., last week. And not counting the Sabbath.)

But I certainly have a mobile 'phone, and the pictured beauty is connected to a line that has a mailbox, so even if it doesn't look like it, it is a virtual answering machine and a fax machine.

 

[Warden]

Hello everyone

We have 3 phones in our house. 2 vintage and one modern tone phone so we can do our banking etc.

The kitchen phone is a Swiss wall telephone. These telephones were designed in 1931. The nickel bells counterpoint and enhance the solid black square look.

The living room phone is the classic GPO standard 332. First designed by Ericsson in 1932, this became the GPO standard telephone largely produced in the 1940s and 1950s. I did the conversion myself, so it can work with modern UK phone system. recieves well, but their must be a problem with the microphone in the handset as callers have problems hearing us.

Pip pip

Warden Harry D

 

[LizzieMaine]

Vintage phones all the way here -- In the foyer, a 100% original 1933-dated WE 202 with 534A subset (mounted on the wall below).

I got this phone about twenty years ago at a second-hand store for $50, and it's worked flawlessly ever since.

My office phone is a 1940-dated WE 302. I found this one on eBay to replace a 1939-dated 302 that I'd found at a flea market for $5 -- and then gave to a friend of mine who really wanted a vintage phone.

I use both these phones regularly. When I run into those awful automated answering systems, I have a pocket tone dialer in my desk drawer that I can use to "press the pound key for more options." (The main option I'd like to see, though, is the total abolition of those systems!!)

 

[Powerhouse]

All Vintage...

All the time! Telephones are the best! I love the ring and muffled tin can sound you get while speaking through one. I use a deadstock AE model 37? don't remember exactly. I will try to post a pic of it. Heres on exactly like it.

http://www.oldradioparts.com/pg5p8.jpg

I would like a Automatic Electric Type 50 Wall Phone

http://www.oldphoneworks.com/antique_phones_details.asp?currency=CAD&Phone=27

or

Stromberg Carlson 1211 with dial

http://www.oldphoneworks.com/antique_phones_details.asp?currency=CAD&Phone=206

 

[Rosie]

Kind of off topic, I remember a thread which I can't seem to find where we were discussing the old exchange system and how to go about possibly finding out our exhcange. Can anyone point me towards it or point me towards a resource where I can try and find this out? Thanks .

 

[Mike in Seattle]

Kind of off topic, I remember a thread which I can't seem to find where we were discussing the old exchange system and how to go about possibly finding out our exhcange. Can anyone point me towards it or point me towards a resource where I can try and find this out? Thanks .

Here's a link to a listing of what ATT recommended be used for exchange names in the mid-50's. The other part of that site, which is supposed to have updates based on cities & counties just has a notice they're working on it and need someone to volunteer to re-engineer the site and database. Since it's been like that for quite some time...I'd assume it's pretty much dead in the water.

And I'm going to hazzard a guess (having only live here in Renton for 12 years) that our exchange would've been Crestview, maybe Crestwood. I know the suggested exchange they have for the phone number I grew up with isn't what it actually was - Newmark for the 63 beginning of the number in Long Beach, CA. I think I'll make a sticker for my vintage style reproduction desk phone & candlestick phone - someday I may find the real thing that won't cost an arm & a leg!

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

Kind of off topic, I remember a thread which I can't seem to find where we were discussing the old exchange system and how to go about possibly finding out our exhcange. Can anyone point me towards it or point me towards a resource where I can try and find this out? Thanks .

http://ourwebhome.com/TENP/TENproject.html

 

[airfrogusmc]

AAAHHH these phones are all great. Nothin like a phone that has bells and really rings!!!!!

 

[airfrogusmc]

Rosie I saw Gordon Parks speak in the early 1980s. Not only was he a great photographer but a wonderful man.

 

[Rosie]

Yay! Thanks Tony and Mike!