Vintage Phones

[PADDY]

Ringing in yesteryear with this Bakelite Beauty...

Working as perfectly today as it did when born in 1938..!

This one is 1930's too (European).

 

[DeaconKC]

Very nice, Paddy. Are they going to see use?

 

[PADDY]

They are currently being used on a daily basis.

 

[DeaconKC]

:eusa_clap
That looks GREAT!

 

[russa11]

Paddy and Anthony I am jealous of your phones. They are terrific looking.

 

[zaika]

since i just want a phone that is authentic and works, i found a peddler on Ruby Lane who sells phones that he's polished up and fixed to work and be compatible with modern jacks. His phones cost between $150-250 on average. do you think that's a reasonable price?

i'm looking to switch from using my cell as my primary phone to a land line and i might as well go all the way!

 

[Flivver]

since i just want a phone that is authentic and works, i found a peddler on Ruby Lane who sells phones that he's polished up and fixed to work and be compatible with modern jacks. His phones cost between $150-250 on average. do you think that's a reasonable price?

i'm looking to switch from using my cell as my primary phone to a land line and i might as well go all the way!

A Western Electric 302 might be a good choice for you since it is the first WE phone that doesn't need a ringer box. And it was designed by noted industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss.

Around here, you can pick up a decent 302 at the flea markets for $25 or less. The phone guys on the internet generally charge about $150 for restored versions of these, but if you're willing to do some cleaning and touching-up yourself, you can save quite a bit of money.

A good reference on the 302 with pictures can be found here:

http://www.telephonearchive.com/phones/we/we302.html

 

[David Conwill]

Does anyone have a source for a new or slightly used carbon microphone for an Automatic Electric 80? It seems mine has bit the dust.

-Dave

 

[zaika]

A Western Electric 302 might be a good choice for you since it is the first WE phone that doesn't need a ringer box. And it was designed by noted industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss.

Around here, you can pick up a decent 302 at the flea markets for $25 or less. The phone guys on the internet generally charge about $150 for restored versions of these, but if you're willing to do some cleaning and touching-up yourself, you can save quite a bit of money.

A good reference on the 302 with pictures can be found here:

http://www.telephonearchive.com/phones/we/we302.html

great advice, flivver! thank you! are these phones fairly easy to fit with a modern jack? i mean, for someone like me who doesn't know the first thing about how to do it...if it means being able to save $125 to have a working phone, then i'll do it!

 

[Forgotten Man]

great advice, flivver! thank you! are these phones fairly easy to fit with a modern jack? i mean, for someone like me who doesn't know the first thing about how to do it...if it means being able to save $125 to have a working phone, then i'll do it!

Well, most refurbished phones you'll find today have new cloth cords that look like the old type but, have a modern plug that fits right into the modern phone jack. And if you find a phone that has the old four prongs styled plug, you can buy an adapter that will attach to it that will allow you to plug it into a phone jack.

The only thing you can't do with a rotary phone today is handle phone calls that are automated that require hitting number 1,2,3 or more. It's good to have a touch tone phone out of site that you can use in case of this need. I have a touch tone hidden under my endtable that has an answering machine... glad I have it but, my Western Electric 202 and Western Electric 302 are out in view.

My first vintage telephone was my grandmother's Automatic Electric... the case is missin' most of the back and has a good number of cracks... but, it worked still! The bells never did ring however but, I found it in the garage. Then, my friend gave me a Western Electric 302... great phone and a good place to start.

 

[Forgotten Man]

Found another photo of my candlestick phone...

[/IMG]

Say, is that a "bulldog" mouth piece on that W.E.? Looks like it! If ya wanna have the original mouth piece, ya can contact these good folks:

http://www.phonecoinc.com/

They'll have the parts you need if ya should desire the original mouth piece.

Nice phone! I love the Western Electrics the best... and that set up you got with the ringer box is really nice! I can't wait till I get my candlestick!

I know what you mean about using vintage stuff... it really makes the normal task seem more enjoyable! Makes someone kinda feel like your in an old movie! lol

And that's why I stick to the originals... nothin' like the real thing!

 

[Flivver]

great advice, flivver! thank you! are these phones fairly easy to fit with a modern jack? i mean, for someone like me who doesn't know the first thing about how to do it...if it means being able to save $125 to have a working phone, then i'll do it!

Sometimes the phone you get will still have the original cord on it with three color-coded wires coming out the end. You can buy new plugs and adaptors at Wal-Mart or Home Depot to attach the phone to a modern modular jack. Any of us here would be happy to show you how once you get your phone.

 

[zaika]

forgotten man and flivver - thank you both!

i will definately post again for help. it sounds like adapting it myself would be fairly easy to do...and for a cheaper price, yes please!!

now to wait for payday... hehe

 

[GI Joe]

I updated my Western Electric Model 302 with new cords from http://oldphoneworks.com/index.asp?currency=USD
and just now put on the finishing touch, an new dial card with my current phone number with a Ma Bell exchange name.

I found it at http://www.vintageswank.com/vintage-telephone-dial-card-inserts.html

For $2.75 they print in the exchange and number in the correct font. They have dial cards for many other makes, too. Email them at their contact page. They were very helpful.

 

[CaddyKid21]

I have a 1920's candlestick telephone, that my dad brought back from Argentina, it looks like this, but ours had brass accents. Suck as the ear piece, as well as the stick. It sure is a nice phone.

 

[PADDY]

Just the facts maam, JUST THE FACTS...

Another photo of the 1930's phone which is currently in the guest room (which as you can see is doubling up as an LAPD office!!

 

[MrNewportCustom]

Funny that this thread was revitalized so recently.

While enjoying a dinner of high stain potentiality with FedoraGent and Magneto this evening, I remembered these pictures I'd taken of six vintage phones (plus a radio and a switchboard) at a Route 66 museum in Barstow (my recent train-spotting trip), and FG all but climbed over the table demanding that I post them. I saved myself by forming a cross with two rib bones and holding them up between us. D) Well, he was right about posting them, and I'd intended to post them sooner, but forgot. "The older you get, the more you forget," I always say.

Anyway, here they are. Enjoy.

Zenith Portable Radio.

Switchboard. Note the candlestick phone to the right.

I like that dial.

"Are You Smiling?"

Rikstelefonen.

"Emergency Dial 400"

Is this phone for making crank calls?

The candlestick that was in the photo of the switchboard.

Lee
_____________________________

"The number you have dialed . . ."

 

[Lillemor]

My husband went about explaining to me that geeky technological difference between vintage dial phones and the ones we have now. Pulse-pause-Pulse and a bunch of blah, blah, blah...So that's why we won't ever have a vintage phone

But at least I can drool over this thread.

 

[Lucky Strike]

Funny that this thread was revitalized so recently.

While enjoying a dinner of high stain potentiality with FedoraGent and Magneto this evening, I remembered these pictures I'd taken of six vintage phones (plus a radio and a switchboard) at a Route 66 museum in Barstow (my recent train-spotting trip), and FG all but climbed over the table demanding that I post them.

Rikstelefonen.

Norwegian! How on earth did that end up there?

 

[Josephine]

My husband went about explaining to me that geeky technological difference between vintage dial phones and the ones we have now. Pulse-tone-Pulse and a bunch of blah, blah, blah...So that's why we won't ever have a vintage phone

But at least I can drool over this thread.

Get just one, for you. Let him have the others.