I grew up in a house with a "real phone" -- a Western Electric #500 (standard issue telephone until the 1980s). It was ivory, but tended to look more pink to me.

My mom didn't get touch-tone until 1994 when she decided to buy a telephone/answerer combo. It had one of those electronic buzzers that sounded like a cricket.

A few years later I moved out and found the old phone. Some cleaning and replacing of the cracked and worn modular connectors (easily obtained from an electronics parts vendor) the phone was as good as new.

I also had to replace the earpiece. For some reason it had gone bad from years of non-use. The friendly phone company guy at work helped me with that one and got me the little speaker! [Linked Image]

After years of living with these electronic beepers at home, the sound of a ringing bell took some getting used to. The first couple of days I would visibly jump and get startled at the loud RING! RING! RING!

A ZYLMURBAFI???hahaha! Man, you Austrians are weird....but I love you anyway! [Linked Image] [Linked Image]

(hope to visit Vienna some day, it seems like my kind of city ... OLD!)

I now have two #500s (black and ivory with the real dial), a #2500 (pushbutton version in black) and a Princess phone (pushbutton, found in garbage pile). I "rotate" them regularly (only have one phone box in the flat).