The main danger in having too many leather jackets is that one is tempted to wear them all. I believe that the only way to end up with a great leather jacket...one like your old LL Bean A-2...is to buy it new and wear the heck out of it. And to properly “wear the heck” out of your jacket...
Haha! These cattle have a charmed life. A couple of neighbors and I bought the acreage to prevent it from becoming a sand mine. The cattle are spoiled pets.
AF
Today, I’m wearing a 1960, black tag, John Ownbey. Black tag MA-1s used to be the only thing most nylon geeks thought collectable. Now, even orange-lined reproductions sell for more than their original price. It’s a strange world, Mildred.
That’s a potential leather jacket, grazing in the...
I’ve never owned a Ralph Edwards G-1, but everything that I’ve heard about them indicates that REs were considered the “cream of the crop” among issued G-1s. The best of the best.
AF
First, yes your jacket was made in 1984 and is an E-series Ralph Edwards.
The specifications for E series G-1s call for the collars to be dynal and the jacket shells to be embossed cowhide. But there clearly have been variances. For example, I have a 1992 Cooper that is goatskin and I don’t...
This is a rather blurry photo of Bill’s Jacket’s zipper showing the large “G” stamped into the bottom stop. I wonder what brand is this zipper. @thor, I just glanced through the internet and saw several seventies jackets sporting this zipper, two were 1975 Stars.
AF
I had considered Brill...but most of those mid-seventies Brills were very russet colored. This one is much more seal than it appears in my photo, above.
AF
Interesting! I had guessed it to be an early eighties jacket, but I wasn’t at all sure. The shell is embossed cowhide, but it’s much thinner and of higher quality than the thick, squeaky hides if the 70’s Imperial Leather G-1s. In fact, if I didn’t know better, I’d swear it was goat. If this...
This is my my new/old, no-name G-1.
About four or five years ago, a friend called and said he had an old “bomber jacket” he’d like to give me. He’d found it hanging in his barn where he’d left it decades ago. When he showed up with it a few days later, it was almost unrecognizable as being a...
Today dawned clear and cool...in the mid-forties...much cooler than any morning since last April. So I’m wearing a faithful reproduction of a jacket that never existed. This is my Spearhead Militaria, wool A-1. There may have been civilian jackets like this, back in the day. But I think the...
That is a great G-1! It has enough character and mojo for ten jackets! Honestly, other than to stabilize it with some sort of mild leather treatment, I wouldn’t do a thing. Restoring that old girl would be like refinishing a 1957 Telecaster!
AF
Depending on how dry the leather is, I’ll typically hang the jacket on a sturdy, wooden hanger in the middle of my garage. Then I zip it all the way to the collar and turn the collar up and button it. Using nothing but my fingers, I smear gobs of the Pecard over every inch of the jacket’s...
BTW, if you live near a Harley Davidson dealer, they carry something they call “Leather Dressing”. It’s actually Pecard. Pecard sells it to Harley and they repackage it as a Harley Davidson product.
Yes. It is a 1964, the first of the C-series jackets Star produced. Nice find! I would treat it with Pecard Leather Dressing (not neatsfoot oil) and, otherwise, leave it as original as possible.
AF
I’d love to see what’s left of the tag. Yes, some G-1 spec tags are worn to the point they’re illegible, but if we can at least see the tag’s format, that’ll be a clue.
AF
As to Star contracts...yes, they went into the 1970s. I’ve owned three Stars...a 1967, a 1971 and a 1972. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen white tag Stars, too. White tags in G-1s began in 1973.
AF
I looked for a size XL for over two years before I found one. I have four size XL M-51s. Fortunately, I can only wear one at a time. So they all share my one liner.
AF
Sadly, we've got the second half of this hurricane season yet to go. As I type this, the GFS (one of our more dependable forecasting models) is predicting that soon-to-be Hurricane Maria will landfall in eastern North Carolina. By the way...most people think "GFS" stands for "Global...
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