Antique Rotary Phone

[johneymute]

with such slow speed you can,nt even call the police that fast.

[peekaboots01]

That is BEAUTIFUL.

[erp65]

Looks like early '60s to me. The handset is hardwired (as opposed to modular connectors) and the feet look like the old leather variety, rather than rubber. I could be wrong. Easy to check: unscrew the mouthpiece & see what date is stamped on the bottom of the microphone. (This isn't a foolproof method, since Western Electric often swapped parts, but it's pretty reliable. More reliable would be to unscrew the bottom, lift off the cover, and see what date is stamped on the circuit box.) FYI. ;)

[LNERMallard]

Nice WE 500 you've got, but... 30 years is a little young for 'antique.' More like 'vintage.'

[DoctorChibi740]

I remember having one of these as a kid. Antique in the title makes me feel old now >.>

[JR1070]

I jizzed in my pants when it rang

[phantomfangurl]

I have the same one, I love it to death!! :D

[masochistnteam]

in cuba they still use this

[raddaguy]

@masochistnteam Actually, the Cubans are using this for one reason only. The signals emitted from rotary telephones are digital, instead of the pulse-signals that pushbutton telephones use; therefore, it's actually quicker to call on a rotary phone than on a pushbutton phone because you con't have to waste time for the pulse-signals to be translated to digits.

[uh0oo]

25 years an object is concidred classic, 30, and beyond it is an antique. Atleast that is how it works for cars.

[shipwreck911]

i have a phone that looks like that the bell is so loud i can hear it from upstairs

[edwardschlosser1]

Antique? They were used all through the 80's and into the 90's. I have an antique digital camera from way back in 2003.

[sbgrant]

Do you actually know what "antique" means? Oh wait, you're American.

[iwantoldschool]

@sbgrant So's YouTube. 

[NoIDidunt10]

Antique phone is the kind before rotary when you had to call the operater to place a call

[beapearl]

I just purchased one! It looks very similar. C/D 501 2/53 is stamped on the bottom. I love it...

[SuperOscarHernandez]

@beapearl Do you still have the phone?, would you like to sell it?

[beapearl]

@SuperOscarHernandez I do! I just wouldn't be able to part with it...  :)

[distantlandmusic]

omg i remember playing around with phone like that when i was 2 years old. lmao.

[NoobsAreUsh]

I have an iPhone 3G. what an antique!

[datawraith3080]

I have a model 500 wired on regular phone circuitry with the new style jacks

simply connect red and green, ignore yellow

[sassyface1943ho]

I have a phone from 1980

[PigsInBlanket]

It looks late-50's or early-60's. You're lucky that you still have the older style phone jacks to hook those phones up to. When I buy a rotary phone, I need to find modular ones since that's all I have in my house.

[Wiccanpower0]

O_O u hung up on ur self how dare u 

[BritishAutophone]

Is that phone brown or black?

[mara235]

I have a yellow one like this- when the power goes out it works vs. the cordless and digital ones that are useless.

[grafonolafavorite]

Hello, Is this the part to whom I am speaking?

[Bearry143]

i have the same telephone in black

[realcatgirllover]

I have an old german ww II bunker phone... perfectly working, virtually indestructible and extremly heavy... the receiver alone weighs 13 pounds!

[Bearry143]

i have a phone from england from the 1930s

[forkfour]

it has to be 60 years old to be a antique

[morethansalt]

@forkfour NO, 25 years- vintage, 100 years- antique.

[forkfour]

i have a phone made in the early 40s

[MMZen]

Doesn't an object have to be over 50 years old to be officially classified as an antique?

[comgeek24]

My great uncle had one of these in his house. It wasn't hooked up, so i don't know if it actually worked or not. It'd be such a trip to get one of these and use it. I wonder if they would work on today's landline systems?

[AstringOfPoloponies]

A nice blast from the past. I enjoyed it ! ~:D

[jfishfan1000]

Tee hee..I'm a teacher. Brought 1 of these into class. Kids couldn't figure it out;.

[1q2w3e4r1565]

phones today are so ugly and fragile

[rtermini]

I still love this one...

[Utamivz808]

I have a ITT tan phone just like that, but it's missing the headset cord and the the part of the phone you speak into doesn't work. Any soultions on how to fix and where I can get a cord?

[fjbutch]

Very nice..

[twind04]

Do you have any videos of grass growing that you could share with us? Super exciting stuff!

[grantourismo0109]

@twind04 man i was so excited when he dials the phone !!! i could feel my heart pumping so fast !!!! the phone goes ring i blacked out !!!

[1987ian]

i found a beige '83 w.e. 500 in the trash behind the stage at my school a long time ago, and i still use it!

[matkovicha]

It's a Western Electric Model 500 desk telephone. They are the toughest little phones out there. Yours is probably made in the sixties because it has the hard wired handset cord.

[brentjames24]

im totally going to buy this phone i am 25 years old and think they are awesome

[mronionsalad]

i own that same phone, only its an ugly tan color. and it doesnt even have a speaker in the actual phone. maybe because it was a buisness phone for only calling and not receiving. you can still call it. but i just wont hear you. i have to relay on the other phones to answer it. thats what you get for 15$ at a flea market.

[daewooparts]

i love these phones ,got a bunch of them i use some of them too "tough little suckers" as for getting a speaker , just find a payphone & screw it out of it with a pair of gloves :P

[zeekyboogydoog46]

I actually bought a phone just like that at a flea market a while ago, just like the one in the video but this ugly tan almost with a hint of pink in it. didn't ring either, just like yours. i opened it up one day and it turns out the ringer just wasn't hooked up to the phone line inside the phone. i couldn't tell you how to put it back on because this was about a decade ago and the phone is long gone now but i do remember it being just one wire, green i think. might be worth a look.

[branditrottier]

I think my kids would stay off the phone if I switched back to one of these. Probably would't know how to use it!

[Hnil96]

I'm surprised the antique story bothered to carry it. People were still using rotary in the home well into the 80's.

[guitard777]

When THESE phones were being used, Star Trek was on TV and they had their flip-fone "communicators" on the show that looked and acted JUST like today's flip-phone cell phones.

Now, when I go to dial a long-distance number on a regular land-line phone (which I don't even have anymore), I ALWAYS forget to dial "1" first, because on a cell phone, "1" isn't required. LOL.

Weird how some things change so quickly. and others don't. Cars still have steering wheels and 4 tires and DON'T hover.

[guitard777]

Yep...I grew up with these Bell Atlantic phones.....I don't think it is quite an antique, though. I hear they are sill made for special purposes that must use strictly mechanical contacts....the phones inside missle silos are still of this type, as they can't get knocked out by an electromagnetic pulse. Nice thought, huh?

My new samsung cell-phone has that SAME exact ring....I love it, as it brings back memories!! It just rang today...LOL.

[ethen24]

I have this same model in my basement...I love it, but it's a pain to dial the numbers...

4 *pause*, 5 *pause*, 3 *pause*....oops, I messed up, start over, 4 *pause*.....

[almondtealeaf2]

That phone is ancient I don't even know how to use it anymore let alone think anyone would want it for anything except for display in their home or a museum!

[Hookedoncollies]

Neat old phone! I guess the sounds of the rotary phone, the dot matrix printer, and the 14.4 dial up modem are all extinct!

[2indulgent]

OMG that's the phone I grew up with in the 1960s right there. I haven't see one of those in decades and i miss the sound they used to make when I dialed them.

[EndorasBoxes]

this phone and the wall phone are still very much in use at my house... we have 1 touch tone phone and its a cordless.... i guess thats what you get when you live with the grandparents :)

[Argonaut22j]

I have an antique cell phone, made way back in 2005.

[coupleofbeers31]

LOL! good one. I remember when pay phones were still rotary, and that was up until the late 80s even! hell, public phones still look old today!

[sassyface1943ho]

@Argonaut22j That is not old 

[Argonaut22j]

@sassyface1943ho I guess we disagree then?

[chanceyboymcgilly]

@Argonaut22j i have a antigue cell phone from 1991....... soooo i win!!!!! jk i bet ur fones kewl

[phinchy007]

@Argonaut22j 2005 is antique???? wow i feel really old!!!!

[1987ian]

nice phone! and my sisters bitrthday is the date that you posted the video!

[itstheit]

That's funny, calling a 30-year old phone 'antique'.

[hyperactiveguy]

Cars are considered antiques after 20 or 25 years, so it's not really that funny

[itstheit]

In a age where the majority of people think that any film that was released before 'Jurassic Park' is considered 'old', it says more or the people who label such things as 'antique' than the product, itself.

[hyperactiveguy]

I guess you're right, but I would consider this phone Vintage myself based on the plastic dial and the coiled cord

[almondtealeaf2]

In technology chronology the 30 year old phone is an antique in human chronology it's vintage.

[bluefiredart]

See what I have done to the same phone, you should try it! Please rate it if you like it.

fonejackerhacker