2 of 6
BACKNEXT
Steve Hilsz
Steve Hilsz
Age: 65
Company: Navy Salvage and Phone Surplus
Technology: Rotary phones
Number of repairs: 15 a week
Location: Salome, Ariz.

Hilsz started scouring military surplus stores for parts and trading his repairs for old phones at age 15. Half a century later, he's repaired, built, or reconditioned about 8,000 phones.

He worked with oak and brass crank phones during the nostalgia craze in the 1970s and sold refurbished ones to retailers once the break up of AT&T into regional carriers meant people could own their phones.

Now, he restores World War II Army field versions, mostly for military reenactors, but repairs on old rotaries and dials still make up the majority of his business.

"Everybody picks them up," he says. "They're the last anchor to what they remember before everything was disposable and digital."

NEXT: "Mister Betamax"
Last updated April 12 2010: 9:30 AM ET
Email | Print | Share  |  RSS
 
google my aol my msn my yahoo! netvibes
Paste this link into your favorite RSS desktop reader
See all CNNMoney.com RSS FEEDS (close)
More Galleries
5 biggest share buybacks of 2014 Stock repurchases are booming. These five companies are ready to spend over $79 billion on buybacks. More
10 horrifying corporate mascots McDonald's Happy is part of a long lineage of creatures great and small that shill for products and mortify consumers. Mr. Mucus, anyone? More
5 best cities to launch a career The top spots in the U.S. for new grads to land a job -- and actually enjoy life -- according to financial site WalletHub. More

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.