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  1. lina

    History of the "Cafe Racer" jacket.

    So, I got a quick and gracious response from Denny at Aero, who checked with his father Ken, who gave the following reply, with some good info! I have put in bold some key points. Seems like definitely a US style jacket, as we've suspected. Interesting that Ken says they first called them...
  2. lina

    History of the "Cafe Racer" jacket.

    Yeah, I’m getting there!
  3. lina

    History of the "Cafe Racer" jacket.

    Yes, and it is also striking how widespread it became. I just did a quick search on the various makers, and Aero, Vanson, Schott, Himel, Goodwear, Diamond Dave, and Lost Worlds all use the phrase "cafe racer" to describe this style. I sent an email to Denny at Aero asking if he knows when Aero...
  4. lina

    History of the "Cafe Racer" jacket.

    ^^ I have a hard time thinking that the two things (jacket and bike) being called by the same name are unrelated. Can't see the phrase arising independently in the US.
  5. lina

    Himel Brothers TV The Imperial

    @michaelagraham I think this is probably the jacket that resulted from the initial collab between Himel and Good Wear that your jacket represents. That is, I bet your jacket was the prototype. Think I like yours better, and certainly that leather is hard to beat and I think a one-off Shinki...
  7. lina

    History of the "Cafe Racer" jacket.

    So I think the question at this point is, Can we find evidence of when this style of jacket begins to be called and/or marketed as a “cafe racer” jacket? How did that connection initially get made?
  8. lina

    What do any of you make of this..

    Attached pic from Tin Tanaka, dating this tag (i think) to 1940s-1952).
  9. lina

    Cross zip nation

  10. lina

    What do any of you make of this..

    Wow, that's in unbelievable condition! I would take this any day over a repro, and I'd expect to get years and years of wear out of it. The main question, as others have said, is fit. but looks like it's returnable, so I would not hesitate. It's a beauty!
  11. lina

    History of the "Cafe Racer" jacket.

    Have spent some thoroughly enjoyable time this morning looking up Bill Ray's CA Hells Angels pics and Danny Lyon's mid-west "Bikeriders" pics, both from the mid 1960s. I can't see any mandarin collars in the Bill Ray pics -- the Hells Angels seem at the time to prefer denim jackets and vests...
  13. lina

    History of the "Cafe Racer" jacket.

    Sure enough!
  14. lina

    History of the "Cafe Racer" jacket.

    Ah right, a good point. So by 1969 the collarless "racing shirt" has become unattached from racing and associated with cool, anti-establishment bikers. There were lots of other, less famous and less well-made "1%-er" biker movies from the mid-60s. I just looked up Fonda in the 1966 movie "Wild...
  15. lina

    History of the "Cafe Racer" jacket.

    No chance you still have it I guess..? I think celebrities tend to help styles go big but tend not to generate the styles in the first place. People like Tom Cruise, Mamoa, etc, as well as stylists for the movies they are in, pick up styles from the "cool" kids and use them I think, rather...
  16. lina

    Dave Sheeley 30s Monarch Aviator

    Also, can you link to Terry's inspiration jacket?
  17. lina

    Dave Sheeley 30s Monarch Aviator

    Wow, that really is a beauty! Of course it begs to be photographed with someone wearing it...
  19. lina

    History of the "Cafe Racer" jacket.

    The recent thread on Buco posted by @MemphisBlues and the conversation there, especially the comments by @Monitor (see here: https://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/buco-jacket-restoration.100580/), made me think more about the history of what is now so commonly called the "cafe racer" style...
  20. lina

    Buco Jacket Restoration

    It’s interesting that in the pics of the 60s rockers/cafe racers in the UK they are almost always wearing Brando style cross zips (by Lewis Leathers no doubt). Mandarin collars (aka “cafe racer” style) seem in the 60s still to be mostly the provenance of track or TT racers (often as part of a...
  21. lina

    Buco Jacket Restoration

    Now that's recent...
  22. lina

    Buco Jacket Restoration

    I just shed a tear...
  23. lina

    Buco Jacket Restoration

    Wait, what..? It really IS the apocalypse..!

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