Dare to Dream: Your "Ultimate" Leather Jacket

[Edward]

Beautiful!

When I was a 14 y/o kid I owned an Indian Arrow cycle, and wouldn't mind having it back now. This is the closest facsimile I could find on the net when I googled the cycle. As I recall mine was a 1949 model and paid $250 for it. How times have changed.
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[Monitor]

This was my first motorcycle. And the best I've ever had.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Dream jacket thread..??

 

[Monitor]

Dream jacket thread..??

Where??

 

[Fanch]

Dream jacket thread..??

Actually many of the leather jackets we admire were designed to be worn as gear when riding motorcycles, airplanes, and open automobiles, particularly during the Golden Era. All of this makes a great thread even more interesting where the only limit is our imagination.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Actually many of the leather jackets we admire were designed to be worn as gear when riding motorcycles, airplanes, and open automobiles, particularly during the Golden Era. All of this makes a great thread even more interesting where the only limit is our imagination.

Possibly/probably so...but there comes a point where the original topic is buried somewhere in past pages as the thread becomes mainly about something else. Future readers expecting a continuing thread with hopefully photos of ultimate dream 'jackets' find that it is not now much about ( or including ) that at all, and readers must entangle everything else to even find what they may be looking for. Of course...just my opinion.

 

[Fanch]

Well really I have my dream jacket. Aero zip sleeve brown FQHH Bootlegger. However, I could very easily lust after this hide in an Aero Work Coat....


..But then I'd need this to go with it...

HD I'm afraid I might look like a corny dog at the Texas State Fair if I tried to showcase myself in an Aero Work Coat, although I have sure lusted after a Cayman (and Boxter and 911, etc.).

 

[HoosierDaddy]

OR...you might just look like a battered worker...and charitable souls would stuff money in your hat...

 

[Dickie Teenie]

Speaking of battered, i couldn't dream of a better jacket than a Evel Knievel original. As a 10 yr. old it was all about launches and Moon landings.

 

[Fanch]

OK back on track. I have long admired the AN-J-3 that IMO provides the best elements of the USAF A-2 and USN G-1. Below is the URL for Aero's versions:
http://www.aeroleatherclothing.com/product-detail.php?id=976

 

[Monitor]

OK back on track. I have long admired the AN-J-3 that IMO provides the best elements of the USAF A-2 and USN G-1. Below is the URL for Aero's versions:
http://www.aeroleatherclothing.com/product-detail.php?id=976
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I would go for that one.

 

[handymike]

As the OP, I approve of this diversion I like the stream of conscience. approach- especially since it lead to Evel Kenivel.

 

[Edward]

I briefly owned a second hand Aero ANJ3 a few years ago. Really nice - but jinkies are they a snug fit. I average a 44 in most jackets; in some I wear a 42 (like the HWM). In an M442a, I have to go to a 46, and in this I'd need a 48.... it's definitely the snuggest of all Aero designs I've tried.

 

[Monitor]

There's not that many of us contributing here, anyway. Most members posted two or three of their jacket plus motorized transportation combo so I don't mind the places this thread is going. I've even learned of a couple of beautiful cars.

That said, Vanson Chipper is still on my list

As for the ride, I always dug this piece of crap. It's comfortable.

 

[Edward]

Wow! Thanks, you thought that through. Well written, an interesting, if uncomfortable read. Your last sentence was a very good summary, my discomfort came from the guitar analogy. Not that I'm musical, but on my bucket list is, or was, The Wurlitzer 1015, or, One More Time, Juke Box. I have had the good fortune to have owned one for the last 26 years. It is of course, valve driven. But it's authenticity is now in question simply by your definitive statement. My Juke Box, plays 45's, the first 1015 only played 78's. Not that it really worries me, I'm just being whimsical, my Juke Box has actually gained considerably in value over the years.

Ah, now here's another category.... it's like the guys who drop a 1300 A series from a Morris Marina or Ital into a Morris Minor.... The purists would hate it, but if it puts that Moggie out on the road, where it should be, rather than gathering dust in a garage or barn.... not to mention that some of them picked this up along the way. I remember reading about a guy who bought a 50s MG Magnette, and was horrified to discover a B-Series engine from an MGB lurking under the bonnet. When he looked into it, however, he discovered that it was, in fact, a car that had been modified to be rallied in the 60s, and at that one that had been a winner and of quite some note. The bigger, newer engine and the bright red body were part of its unique history, and he decided to restore it sympathetic to that rather than trying to revert to factory standard. With your wurlitzer, if it was midified while it was a working box to run 45s, that's part of its history and no shame for it; in any case, I'm sure you enjoy it a lot more being able to play 7" 45s that you like than it just sitting unused for decoration....

How times change, how fashions, trends and tastes change. In the 60's, like all my peers, I owned a Mod scooter and the obligatory original parka. Secretly I didn't really like the parka, but at 16, you have to be really brave to swim against the tide. It was at one of those much publicised Mod/Rocker riots in Brighton, in 1964, that my parka got stolen. I needed something to keep me warm for the return trip to London. There was a shop come stall selling leather garments, in all shapes and sizes. He wanted five pounds for this somewhat shabby sheepskin/leather. It was about the cheapest thing he had. Just to put it into perspective, a family of four could fill their supermarket trolley back then for about four quid. I told the shopkeeper about my parka being stolen and that I only had thirty bob (£1:50) left on me. "Go on Son," he said with a warm smile, "the A2 is yours for thirty bob." Hand on heart, that was the first time that I had ever heard the term A2, and it wasn't until decades later that I realised exactly what it was that I had bought, seriously. I mean, you are looking at someone who didn't even know, back then, that there was an MG TA, TB, TC and TD. I had heard the term TC and assumed that all the models were TC's. I thought it meant Twin Carbs or Twin Cam. This is turning into a mea culpa.
It will be interesting to see what take others have on the subject.

Indeed! That A2 of your must be worth a bob or two now..... As somebody who got into this hobby when they were already beyond buying, I find it hard to imagine they were once cheap.... but then I remember a time in the late 80s when original, Nam era M65 jackets could be had in mint condition for a tenner a pop, all day long. They used to even sell them both in original green, and batches of them dyed black (for whatever reason the latter was a popular thing for all sorts of military surplus we wore back then, long before Pattern Recognition became a thing...). Nowadays, they're vintage, sometimes ten times that amount, and you can spend hundreds on a flawless Japanese repro.....

Be interesting to start a thread sometime about your experiences in Brighton compared to the legends of the mods and rockers moral panic....

 

[Fanch]

I would go for that one.

Thanks Monitor. However, if I were to buy an AN-J-3, I would also have to source a civilian version of the T-6 to make my dream complete.

 

[Monitor]

Thanks Monitor. However, if I were to buy an AN-J-3, I would also have to source a civilian version of the T-6 to make my dream complete.
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What a beautiful airplane!! Yeah, that would without any doubt be it...

 

[Peter Bowden]

As another dream jacket,I would like to resurrect a piece of sheepskin(back into its former state) that is all that remains of a WW2 FAA Irvin that was my Father's.My Mother made him cut it up to make a rug to use in their first car which had no heater.They are still together and in their 90's which must mean something......
I may be banned from the Lounge for this.

 

[Ralph Chen]

Just as I posted this thread few weeks ago..Real McCoy re-release my dream jacket ..
Buco j-82 padded
http://www.realmccoys-nagoya.co.jp/?pid=102735288
Been wanting this jacket since 2014,Only problem I have now is working on the cash
The price definitely gone up quite a bit

 

[Monitor]

Did they made this padded one up or has there been one like it?