Australian Post Office
Telephone No. 138MT

Telephone, Magneto, Table or Wall

This ugly steel-cased desk phone was imported in 1948 to make up a post-War shortage of magneto sets.  It was made by the Federal Telephone & Radio Corp of New York and was their Model FTR804.  It was used mainly on private lines.  It was finished in matte black crackle-finish paint that seemed to look dirty the minute it was taken out of the box.  The handset proved to be the weak point as the phones are often found with a 300 series handset fitted.

This model is sometimes listed in catalogues of APO phones as Telephone No. 804.  This is incorrect.  The 804 was a long-line phone of the plastic 800 series.  The instruction issued to introduce this phone refers to them only as the FTR804A.

A simple modification to the cradle could convert them to wall phones. This only made them look uglier.

Taken from Bob's Old Phones

Last revised November 24, 2024

FM2