1930s Motorcycle Jacket - Spanish/French??

[Baron Kurtz]

Another recent purchase, not quite a great deal as the Canadian one, but still pretty good at $100 and change. This one was listed as a ladies jacket on US eBay. It's a strange little jacket. Very short - stops just at my waist level. I really like the badly mismatched panels, particularly evident on the back shot. Gives it a bit of character, as if it needed any more! Very, very lightweight goatskin fastened by big old leather buttons.

Despite its lightweight nature, it's a very warm jacket due to this wool lining. Surprisingly insulating for what is quite thin wool. The arms are lined in ribbed satin fabric, typical of 1930s French suit jackets.

The waist buckle and shoulder boards. I like the buttoned and removable shoulder boards. A nice touch.

Here's the very cute little hook and eye at the level of the collar. I know i've seen this style of hook and eye on a military greatcoat, but i'm not sure i remember which nation.

The zipper (see below) is made by Relampago. Now, Relampago is Spanish for Lightning, but the epaulette insignia is very close to some of those worn by some of the French Compagnie du Train. I have been as yet unable to pin down exactly what the insignia signifys, but in French insignia, when the cog wheel and three spoked [steering?] wheel appear together, the insignia appears to be transport/heavy munitions. Note the last picture. The jacket is very similar to one illustrated on the front of a model kit depicting a French tank crew being taken prisoner during WWII. Could the steering wheel mean a driver?

See what the French guy on the right (the driver?) is wearing. Modelling guys generally get things like uniforms right. IIRC, most kits are prepared from original photographs or examples of uniforms. I think i also see some evidence on this jacket of where a flash like you can see on the front of his jacket was attached.

bk

 

[John Lever]

I once owned a very similar jacket that I sold to someone in the States. It was very small and very short, like a bellhop's jacket or ceremonial horse man's jacket and even had the lapel insignia.
Here it is -

 

[Baron Kurtz]

You don't remember who made the zip(s), do you John? Did it have the cog and steering wheel emblem, or just the red flashes?

bk

 

[John Lever]

You don't remember who made the zip(s), do you John? Did it have the cog and steering wheel emblem, or just the red flashes?

bk

I think it had button cuffs and an open breast pocket. The red flashes were unmarked. It was beautiful thing but only big enough for a thin teenager.

 

[H.Johnson]

Is the zip not named 'Lightning' in Spanish?

There are more pictures (and photos) of French Tank Crew in similar jackets in various publications (e.g. Osprey's Men at Arms) but, frustratingly, they all seem to be wearing the jackets tucked into their trousers, so you can't really tell what the lower part is like.

Anyway, I think these are beautiful jackets!

 

[Baron Kurtz]

I think it had button cuffs and an open breast pocket. The red flashes were unmarked.

Thanks for the info. It's good to know there's more than one of this style of jacket out there.

It was beautiful thing but only big enough for a thin teenager.

bk

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Is the zip not named 'Lightning' in Spanish?

I would quote myself but … Yes, i mentioned that in the post.

Apparently, also, according my Cuban labmate, and here we get really interesting, (is that enough clauses?), in certain parts of Latin America, and possibly elsewhere, Cierre Relampago simply means zipper. Cierre is closure (fastener), so if we extrapolate from Lightning we have Lightning Fastener (LF). Or if we want to go further down this line of spurious reasoning, Lightning - the atmospheric phenomenon - might reasonably called a Flash: Flash Fastener.

bk

 

[John Lever]

I wonder if the device on the lapel could represent something to do with an armoured division or a driver of some kind ?

 

[Baron Kurtz]

That's what i'm thinking. The closest i've found was the insignia apparently worn by a driving instructor. I'll try to find a picture of it again. I'm currently trawling through several hundred pages of Compagnie du Train insgnia

bk

 

[H.Johnson]

Sorry, I meant to ask if 'Lightning' was a generic term (like 'Hoover' used to be) for a zip fastener. You Cuban colleague appears to confirm this.

I would quote myself but … Yes, i mentioned that in the post.

Apparently, also, according my Cuban labmate, and here we get really interesting, (is that enough clauses?), in certain parts of Latin America, and possibly elsewhere, Cierre Relampago simply means zipper. Cierre is closure (fastener), so if we extrapolate from Lightning we have Lightning Fastener (LF). Or if we want to go further down this line of spurious reasoning, Lightning - the atmospheric phenomenon - might reasonably called a Flash: Flash Fastener.

bk

 

[Baron Kurtz]

I once owned a very similar jacket that I sold to someone in the States. It was very small and very short, like a bellhop's jacket or ceremonial horse man's jacket and even had the lapel insignia.

John, do you recall if you had an impression - or more definitive than that - of the country of origin of the jacket you used to own?

bk

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Sorry, I meant to ask if 'Lightning' was a generic term (like 'Hoover' used to be) for a zip fastener. You Cuban colleague appears to confirm this.

Grammar police! "Hoover" was a generic term for a zip fastener was it? lol lol

More seriously, I get the impression that "Lightning" or at least Cierre Relampago is or was a generic term as you describe.

bk

 

[H.Johnson]

You're right! Our mother used to say, 'Eeh, it's parky this morn...do up yer Hoovers before leavin' th'ouse'.

Grammar police! "Hoover" was a generic term for a zip fastener was it? lol lol

More seriously, I get the impression that "Lightning" or at least Cierre Relampago is or was a generic term as you describe.

bk

 

[Fletch]

Why do those red tabs make me think of Spanish Loyalists?

Especially with a driver's insignia. IIRC, Loyalist forces traveled primarily by truck, implying a lot of drivers.

Update: Loyalist uniforms were decidedly ragtag. Leathers were not unknown but this jacket would have stood out as unusually formal, even on an officer.
Pix of Lincoln Brigade, 1937-'38

 

[John Lever]

I get the feeling of horse riding society like Spain or 30's Italy. Could it be some kind of young fascist uniform ?

 

[reetpleat]

Grammar police! "Hoover" was a generic term for a zip fastener was it? lol lol

More seriously, I get the impression that "Lightning" or at least Cierre Relampago is or was a generic term as you describe.

bk

Perhaps, in Latin America, the term became a generic term for zipper based on this company. It would be odd for a company to mark their product with a generic term, but for a term to evolve based on a brand would be quite normal.

 

[reetpleat]

Why do those red tabs make me think of Spanish Loyalists?

Especially with a driver's insignia. IIRC, Loyalist forces traveled primarily by truck, implying a lot of drivers.

Update: Loyalist uniforms were decidedly ragtag. Leathers were not unknown but this jacket would have stood out as unusually formal, even on an officer.
Pix of Lincoln Brigade, 1937-'38

I don't think it would be unusual for someone to press a work or motorcycle jacket into service. Leather wasn't as formal as we would consider it today. It was utilitarian.

 

[reetpleat]

I get the feeling of horse riding society like Spain or 30's Italy. Could it be some kind of young fascist uniform ?

then it seems it has ended up in the right hands =)

 

[Creeping Past]

I wonder if the device on the lapel could represent something to do with an armoured division or a driver of some kind ?

Yes, the lapel insignia looks to be a cog atop a steering wheel.

And that's all I've got...

I don't think it would be unusual for someone to press a work or motorcycle jacket into service. Leather wasn't as formal as we would consider it today. It was utilitarian.

George Orwell, in Homage to Catalonia, mentions wearing one. He wasn't an officer.

 

[MudInYerEye]

I've owned two of these jackets with identical Relampago zippers and collar insignia. Pretty sure it was a military issued garment and not a civvie tog pressed into service.