atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Other TDM Phone Systems Antique Telephones Nasty pink phone

Hi,

I came across a nasty pink 500 at an estate sale. They wanted 10 and I offered 3. Paid 4.

Phone was a 1960's vintage, and had been (ugh, not again) painted. The good news is that it was pink on pink. Thats the good news.

I have been sanding it now for two days (not continuously :-) ) with 800 grit, and have finally gotten all of the old nasty pink paint off of it. What was a grosly discolored pink with a purple tinge is now a finely sanded pink with a very slight orange tinge.

Now it is time to go through the grits to 2000.

What I want to know is just what type of paint did WECO use when they refurbished phones? This stuff was NASTY. It clogged the sandpaper worse than anything I have ever experienced, it formed these really gross 'dust bubbles' in the water, and it irritated my skin something horrible. I used almost an entire sheet of 800 on it (and my sandpaper comes from Japan, I am worried about supply now). My hands have finally quit itching after repeated washing and application of benadryl topical to them. The whole thing was quite obnoxious (oh the trials of a phone collector after his first pink phone. I am sure Arthur knows from which I speak!)

Anyway, I will post pictures when I am finished with this one. Now that the paint is off, I am sure that it will be much easier.

Joe

Joe, after digging through 300+ paint related posts on another forum, I still don't have an answer for you. I have also always wanted to know what kind of paint they used, and would also like to add a related question: Later WECo phones were made of ABS [an almost indestructible plastic], but there are many references on the forums to earlier "soft" plastic WECo phones. What was the "soft" plastic, and how does one tell the difference? Also, what is the best paint to use to re-paint a phone [of either type]?

Sorry, you came for answers and all I have is questions...

Jim
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Speaking from a secure undisclosed location.

The paint is called POLANE

To determine if a phone is made of soft plastic, there are several methods to use.

If you scratch soft plastic, it will emit a foul odor, like horse poop mixed with vomit.

The plastic itself will resound will a dull thud, rather than a sharp click, when tapped with a fingernail.

The housing will have a date and shift mark, stamped inside, along the edge.

The handset caps will not have a center hole in the. The receiver cap, as an example, will have 6 holes, not seven, like the later caps.

The cords will be fat. Very early 500 sets had really fat cords that did not match the color of the housings.

click

Here are some pink phones that were never painted.

Arthur, as usual, you are the "go-to" guy for all facts WECo...

Thanks for the answers!!

Jim
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Hoarding plain black 500 sets in a secure undisclosed location.

Hi Arthur,

Where did you find those pink keysets???

Joe

A little more searching took me to the Sherwin-Williams web-site. Polane is NOT a do-it-yourself proposition! It's a 2-part system. (I guessing it's not something you'd want to apply in a small non-ventilated room, if you know what I mean. ) Too bad, seems like a VERY tough finish!

Arthur, a pink 302! I meant to comment once before on your collection, but what a beauty! Perhaps the only rarer phones were those gold plated commemorative editions? - of which, I have only ever personally seen one and that one was a multi-button 564.

It takes a while to collect anything that is a bit odd. It also helps if the collector himself is a bit odd.

I have a rotary 6-button in every color ever made, except clear.

The pink TT one came out of an office I serviced as a NYTelCo repairman. The rotary pink one was bought at an ATCA show in Connecticut, from a guy who walked in with it in a shopping bag. It was so dirty I didn't even realize at first that it was pink.

Dave, there is a pink 302 in the picture, (top left) and a pink 305, at the top right, which is a bit more rare. A 305 is a 302 with a bell cut-off key at the lower left corner.

soft plastic

This is a soft plastic 500 set in a rare early color. Notice the fat cord that doesn't quite match, and the absence of center holes in the handset caps.

I finally finished my pink phone. This morning, I assembled the handset, reconnected the pink plug and wiped it down one last time.



So now my small collection of finished phones (not including keysets) consists of a Pink 500, a yellow 500 and a green (-51) speaker.

Working on a red 500 now, and my kitten is helping me with that as well as making this post. (He just told me that any old cat can use a touch-tone phone, it takes a real feline genius (like himself) to use a rotary phone!)

Joe