Don't Laugh - Merlin 34B in RED?

[TheMitelGuy]

Hello,

Many years ago (when I was like 6yo) I could have sworn that Avaya (then AT&T) made the 10 button and 34 button Merlin phones in RED... Am I out to lunch? I remember them from TV. Did they ever produce such a phone, or did they just paint them for TV?

Also, if I'm not in Dream Land, where could I source them? Any ideas?

 

[TouchToneTommy]

They definitely made them in red. For sources, you might contact the Antique Telephone Collector's Association, or Telephone Collector's International. TCI has a open group on Yahoo called "Singing Wires", where you could join and post.

 

[TheMitelGuy]

Antique Telephone? Seriously, they're an Antique? OMG!

 

[Dexman]

Several models of Classic Merlin telephone sets were available in different colors. When one ends up on eBay, it sells quite readily.

While black was the most common color, I've seen listings for red, blue & brown (I think "Red" was called "Cinnabar").

I've got to admit that those old telephones look really good. Western Electric created a true hit. It's a shame that the display models cannot handle Caller ID (the feature didn't exist back then).

If it ain't broke, I haven't fixed it yet.

 

[HiDesert]

What was fun years later was trying to replace a defective colored set... it seemed At&t didn't make that many of them....customers became attached to those colors....who knew.

 

[Dexman]

For AT&T, it probably came down to Supply & Demand. It's hard to think of situations that would call for a red, blue or brown multi-line telephone set.

If it ain't broke, I haven't fixed it yet.

 

[TheMitelGuy]

If you really look at the old shows and movies, you will see a lot of red ones.

I wish I could find a new, red one, but I doubt anyone would have any laying around.

 

[merlinman]

What are you looking for, ATL, TDL, MLX or Partner of some type.

I may know someone who has some sets of different colors.

But when they get them, they usually don't last.

http://home.comcast.net/~merlinman

 

[TheMitelGuy]

The original Merlin sets, the ATLs.

I only want the original, authentic, no painted ones.

 

[merlinman]

My source no longer has any of the originals.


However, if you want painted..........

http://home.comcast.net/~merlinman

 

[AndrePa]

MitelGuy,

You are right, there was the Western Electric/AT&T "designer series" Merlin Phones.
There were ATL Membrane phones 10B, 34B, not sure if they were available in 5B. There was Coco ( Brown ), Slate ( Dark Grey ), Dark Blue, Red, green, not sure of the other colors. Membrane were silver, plastics, handset cord, and handset were in color.
After they became Lucent, they were only available in white, and black, just like the 10/22/34 BIS Phones, even though white BIS phones were very rare.
Avaya classic Merlins were only available in black.

Andre

 

[dagwoodsystems]

There's no law against moving the electronic "guts" of a working set into the chassis of an old designer-color phone. This of course assumes that the problem is a broken set and not the need for a new one.

The boys over at Refurb Supplies make flawless--and I mean FLAWLESS--reproduction plastics in Black or Misty White (see

http://www.refurbsupplies.com/Scripts/XListSearch.aspx?XGID=AVBIS-34),

but I guarantee if you ask Matt nicely AND have a sizable order, you could soon be "the man" and proud owner of the only NEW Cinnabar-colored plastics in the country.

You don't have to be Steve Wynn to get your own specialty colored telephones (which Avaya accommodated for his famous Vegas hotels), you can be THAT GUY by pulling the trigger with the contact I just hooked you up with.

Tim Alberstein

http://www.dagwoodsystems.com