The majority of 302 telephone sets were produced in black. Painted color sets were available by 1939; subscribers paid a surcharge for the option. The housing was originally cast from a zinc alloy until production sets were increasingly made from a thermoplastic material, Tenite, in 1941. The thermoplastic housings were available in five colors: ivory, Pekin red, green, blue, and rose until telephone production was suspended due to the military material requirements for WW-II by orders of the War Production Board. Post-war telephone production resumed with black plastic housings in 1945 and by 1949 color sets were reintroduced. Requests for custom colors were also fulfilled, including the traditional dark gold, statuary bronze, old brass, and oxidized silver hues.