Elvis Bike Jacket

[Michael Leigh]

Doubt it's Schott, though they did do a D pocket Perfecto at a time. Elvis wore a standard 618 in Roustabout, of course, but as to his personal jacket, the Bucos look closest to me.

Thanks for the info! The Aeros are pretty cool jackets also.....I had never heard of them until now.

 

[Mysteryo]

The photo which GreyHaas has posted above looks to me it's a 3rd edition cycle champ by the Harley Davidson from the 40-50s. I have an exact replica by the Japanese Real McCoy, although it's not an accurate reproduction but it's the closest in the market.



The other jacket worn by the king... however with its unusual long zipper along the forearm, could it be a Durable instead of a perfecto?

I agree it is a Harley Davidson, you see on this "famous "picture of the King, and which inspired the "Elvis Jacket" by Aero. Here's a pict showing more clearly the jacket:

 

[Mysteryo]

here's the original one (pictures by Dinerman)

 

[ace12]

That's a beauty with a brown hue...

 

[Edward]

here's the original one (pictures by Dinerman)

Ah, yes... That's definitely it, not the Buco...

Shame Harley don't do anything as cool as thst now, but it seems to be the logo as sells these days....

 

[scottyrebels81]

Are you sure it's not a Schott Perfecto jacket? Marlon Brando wore one in the Wild One, James Dean wore one, and the Ramones and Bruce Springsteen wore Schott Jackets.....been around since 1913.....the best you can get!

Absolute rubbish!
James Dean NEVER ( @ least photographed,....) wore Schott's "Perfecto". That's just plain bull$#!+ used by the marketing dept. to capitalize on their popularity , $queezing a few ( million ) fistfull's of dollar$ . I mean , christ, tack up Brando, Dean, Springsteen, ( His Manager's Perfecto BTW ), The Ramones , etc.... in a run of ad's , keep mum on whats fqct from fiction & watch the $$$$$$ come a rollin' on in!! Do some research on Dean's leather , its easy to end the search after a few photo's , esp. After the photo of one of Dean's ( the one he's most photographed wearing ) leather framed & on the Auction block ( or was , guess jen bought it or wannabe bad boy doofus Justin Thereux ) .
Dean had ( from photo's , & my own interest ) 2 leathers:
A sears &
A Cal HWY patrol jacket ( Phil stern series ). I've yet to find a photo proving me wrong.
Hell, i love my Perfecto , think they're a great heritage brand and made in America is even better. Still, shame on 'em for taking a low road using famous fellows as marquee mascots to sell copy and jackets, allowikg the price to crank up & over the 1 G mark. I've called 'em on this. No reply of course.
Your reply annoys me. You sound like the same copy peddling this bull$#!+, & a poseur. C'mon man, is their no originality ? Are you not individual?
Keep buying the hype, i'm sure your well off to not care about spending double-triple based on an ad with some "king of cool" apearing rather than another quality product, minus the b.s. hype ( ya know,... LYING ) @ a fraction. Or go the custom tailor route if your gonna drop over $800
Cheer's,
Scotty
P.s.
I am a shmuck too!
I fell for the hype while researching leathers as i liked Dean's style (the sears ) leather. I wanted to believe. My conclusion:
A- The above mentioned
B- I'm an idiot!

 

[shadowrider]

Love Elvis' mounted police trousers in that pic!

I've ordered some 3M silver fabric tape that I'm planning to sew on the side of a pair of blue chinos, to use as biking pants. Hope I won't look too much of a weirdo in them!

 

[Americanaaa Mark]

Who makes repros of the old HD patterns?

 

[scottyrebels81]

Love Elvis' mounted police trousers in that pic!

I've ordered some 3M silver fabric tape that I'm planning to sew on the side of a pair of blue chinos, to use as biking pants. Hope I won't look too much of a weirdo in them!

Ooorrrr,
You could take a stroll on over to the local Goodwill/ thrift store, look about, & probably find a pair of tux trousers .
Nothing wrong with going your original route, i like a fun mission & i smell one here. Screw looking like a weirdo.
Rule of thumb:
Do I like __________ ?
Is __________ comfortable?
Can i wear __________ with a variety of ____ _______ & ______ ?
If so, Hell yeah!
If no, oh well

.
The above is a Cafe leather i found @ Goodwill, bought it for Ma , she didn't like it ( of course, preferring my '50's D-pocket instead ) , so, with some leather paint, i hand painted the pink to a knight blue ( or at least i believe it to be K. Blue,....) & wear it around from time to time . It fits my body like a surgeons glove, i look the business , & even notice the heads of some attractive skirts looking me over with a nice smile. Who knew a womans garment would lend such results? Who cares. I like the look & feel irregardless.
Screw the rest.
Cheers!

 

[Monitor]

Ooorrrr,
You could take a stroll on over to the local Goodwill/ thrift store, look about, & probably find a pair of tux trousers .
Nothing wrong with going your original route, i like a fun mission & i smell one here. Screw looking like a weirdo.
Rule of thumb:
Do I like __________ ?
Is __________ comfortable?
Can i wear __________ with a variety of ____ _______ & ______ ?
If so, Hell yeah!
If no, oh well View attachment 76647 View attachment 76648 .
The above is a Cafe leather i found @ Goodwill, bought it for Ma , she didn't like it ( of course, preferring my '50's D-pocket instead ) , so, with some leather paint, i hand painted the pink to a knight blue ( or at least i believe it to be K. Blue,....) & wear it around from time to time . It fits my body like a surgeons glove, i look the business , & even notice the heads of some attractive skirts looking me over with a nice smile. Who knew a womans garment would lend such results? Who cares. I like the look & feel irregardless.
Screw the rest.
Cheers!

Looks like such a cool jacket that I'd wear it even with the pink stripes but in any case, you did an awesome thing there!

 

[Superfluous]

 

[Edward]

The penny loafers always looked oddly out of place to my eye on Elvis in those photos.... but back in the day a lot of the rockabilly rebel boys wore 'em just like that. Think I'd want something heavier on me trotters in the event of a prang, though!

 

[Motorbass]

One more example of a Harley Davidson Cycle Champ. Original from the mid 50ies. 3rd Cycle champ label. Horsehide, black version. Love the spot work on these!

Sent from my SM-N910C using Tapatalk

 

[RJD257]

I managed to find these two clear photos of Elvis in a bike jacket

View attachment 41472 View attachment 41471

This same pic just came up randomly for me this morning (...I wasn't even aware of this, even though my mom was a HUGE Elvis Fan...); and of course, it made me wonder "Who Made that Jacket?" I know someone else said this was a "standard 618" - but IDK.... those sleeve zips look AWFULLY LONG for a Schott.... And honoring those who gave their lives so we can live free on Memorial Day

 

[photo2u]

Who makes repros of the old HD patterns?

RMC and Vanson make repros of the old HD patterns. The Vanson is a copy of the cycle king not the cycle champ. I like the vanson repro. To me, the only downfall of the jacket is the hide used. Everything else is very good.

 

[photo2u]

One more example of a Harley Davidson Cycle Champ. Original from the mid 50ies. 3rd Cycle champ label. Horsehide, black version. Love the spot work on these!

Sent from my SM-N910C using Tapatalk

Love the jacket. I have one in steer courtesy of Max and James.

 

[photo2u]

The photo which GreyHaas has posted above looks to me it's a 3rd edition cycle champ by the Harley Davidson from the 40-50s. I have an exact replica by the Japanese Real McCoy, although it's not an accurate reproduction but it's the closest in the market.



The other jacket worn by the king... however with its unusual long zipper along the forearm, could it be a Durable instead of a perfecto?

I believe this is a good reproduction of a cycle champ. I have an original and have seen in the flesh the RM repro. However, this is not the jacket Elvis wore on the Enthusiast magazine. I also had two Aeros which are ok but the "d" pocket is all wrong. It is sad and hard to believe Aero did not put more attention to simple details. Truly not that difficult. I was able to duplicate a spot on "d" pocket from the Enthusiast magazine image. Now that I have the real deal of all the HD 40-50's originals, I can make an assessment that several makers made the jackets. One last thing, the curator of the Harley Museum approved the cycle king jacket vanson reproduction. Which I believe is one of the best cycle king reproduction made. The latest reproduction of HD jacket made by RMC is strange to me. It has some details that do not make sense. For example, the cotton lining and the patterns are not consistent with the evolution of the HD jackets. Remember, HD has been selling leather jackets since the 30's. In those days they were called aviator type jackets..

 

[jeo]

This same pic just came up randomly for me this morning (...I wasn't even aware of this, even though my mom was a HUGE Elvis Fan...); and of course, it made me wonder "Who Made that Jacket?" I know someone else said this was a "standard 618" - but IDK.... those sleeve zips look AWFULLY LONG for a Schott.... And honoring those who gave their lives so we can live free on Memorial Day

It’s believed that the Jacket Elvis is wearing is a Penneys, but it can also be a Daniel Boone or the manufacturers version of these jackets. There are a few different versions with slightly different details. A lot of them feature 2 stars on the epaulette. This version Elvis is wearing has a blunt cut epaulette that is straight and features no stars.

Here are a couple of different versions of this jacket, some Daniel Boone, some JC Penney and some generic.

Penney version

Daniel Boone version

Generic versions