Freewheelers Caboose, Did I get burned? Calling all aficionados...

[BuZZ's]

Okay guys, so I need the assistance of The Fedora Lounges expertise. I have been looking for a Freewheelers Caboose in Dead Leaf Brown in size 40 for, well, a long time. Years. Its all Dudwhatthehecks fault, lol. I am pretty active over on Grailed and noticed a lot of Asian sellers with a LOT of Freewheelers for sale. I have always been apprehensive to purchase from these sellers and never understood how their operation must work. Last week though, A size 40 Freewheelers Caboose in Dead Leaf Brown popped up in size 40. It was exorbitantly priced but I decided to send an offer regardless and just see where it lead. I have owned a lot of Freewheelers, in fact I sold Papalaka my Sunset which i now wish i had kept. I have a Caboose in size 40 in Black jack already and know how they fit. I have a mulholland and a Bodie both in black. Anyhow after some negotiation I agreed to buy the jacket for a little more than it would have cost new. I paid the "freewheelers tax" as it has been called here. I was fine paying that amount assuming the jacket was as described. After all this was pretty much THE jacket i have been looking for for years. The seller shipped from Shanghai China really quickly via Fedex. The jacket arrived ridiculously fast. like 4 days from China fast. so now on to the interesting part......
Upon opening the box it looks good. That Dead Leaf Brown looks even better in person. the leather is thick and pliable. I throw it on and immediately something is not right. N

ow I dont want to spoil the fun so Ill post a single fit pic and see if everyone can tell just based on that what is wrong with this jacket. Then Ill post the rest and I think it will be an interesting discussion. its super obvious up close and somebody ruined a perfectly amazing jacket in my opinion but i just want to see what people think initially

Excuse the mess in the pic. and the leather y2 pants .i have a terrible addiction, my wife has banished me and all my "leather detritus" as she puts it to the spare bedroom.

 

[Jasonissm]

Did they shorten the sleeves?

Leather pants are really cool by the way

 

[jeo]

I think that might be @dudewuttheheck ‘s old jacket. He had the sleeves shortened.

 

[BuZZ's]

I think that might be @dudewuttheheck ‘s old jacket. He had the sleeves shortened.

I was pretty sure dudewuttheheck had a size 42 that he had shortened the sleeves on.

 

[bigmanbigtruck]

That's too bad - I understand that you already have a caboose in 40 that fit fine and that you probably didn't feel the need to confirm measurements with the seller.
However, that should be the first step before buying - you never know what modifications the jacket has been through.

 

[BuZZ's]

so now I will post pics of me in my Caboose size 40, in Black jack. and to be clear the seller has insisted that the Dead Leaf Brown size 40 he sold me is COMPLETELY UNALTERED. He maintains that this is a stock, unaltered size 40 Caboose in Dead Leaf Brown. Here is my Black size 40 for comparison....

 

[bigmanbigtruck]

That's unfortunate, definitely a big difference in the sleeve length between the black and brown jackets. I have no idea if the seller was insisting it was unaltered due to ignorance or intention. But to reiterate from earlier, if I was spending FW $$$, I would definitely have asked for pics of measurements with a tailor's tape.

 

[IrishStu]

That black jacket is awesome. Can you return the brown one? Also, is that a pair of Red wing Blacksmiths on the floor? I just got a pair.

 

[jeo]

I was pretty sure dudewuttheheck had a size 42 that he had shortened the sleeves on.

You’re right. I just checked, his was a 42

 

[cbez]

yep it's worthless now, send it over

 

[BuZZ's]

That's too bad - I understand that you already have a caboose in 40 that fit fine and that you probably didn't feel the need to confirm measurements with the seller.
However, that should be the first step before buying - you never know what modifications the jacket has been through.

Actually i did request the measurements, he was just vague about the arm length. what if the seller had removed the cuffs and then decided the sleeves were the right length and reattached them, super janky, crooked stitching, looks like Dave Himels dog Opal did the sewing, that would have had fine measurements and a jacket that would not have been okay to sell. It would be like listing a 1969 stock camaro that turns out had a bunch of rust bondo'd. it is the principle of selling a collectors item which has been modified. it will never have the value of a stock item and any alterations to collectors items should be mentioned up front. in my opinion. but regardless the seller remains steadfast this is stock....

 

[dudewuttheheck]

As stated, I had one in size 42 and I shortened the sleeves on it. If this one is a 40, it's not mine. Thats unfortunate that they did not mention the short sleeves though. Very dishonest of the seller.

 

[BuZZ's]

yep it's worthless now, send it over View attachment 633850

i just made a fool of myself laughing out loud at work. thank you, this made my day. perfect jacket for those with polydactyly

 

[BuZZ's]

so it sounds like everybody has pretty much noted the very short sleeves. so now on to what the seller said to me as to why the sleeves are so short......ill attach their response....any freewheelers expertst that can confirm or deny this statement.

 

[BuZZ's]

As stated, I had one in size 42 and I shortened the sleeves on it. If this one is a 40, it's not mine. Thats unfortunate that they did not mention the short sleeves though. Very dishonest of the seller.

you know freewheelers better than most anybody. the seller is trying to tell me that the short sleeves are from the 2016 model and that they werent shortened. He says that in 2016 Freewheelers made the sleeves super short. I think he is making excuses but dont want to immediately discount the possibility. Ill post some shots of the cuff stitching which is atrocious and there is no way Freewheelers would let such bad sewing slip through.

 

[BuZZ's]

Here are shots of the stitching from the reattached cuffs..... is there any way this was stock from Freewheelers? its so crooked it looks like they closed their eyes and just hoped for the best. You can see old stitch holes. when you look inside the cuffs at the stitching along the flannel lining it is extremely wavy. My black caboose has super straight stiching on both the inside and outside of the cuffs.

 

[BuZZ's]

That black jacket is awesome. Can you return the brown one? Also, is that a pair of Red wing Blacksmiths on the floor? I just got a pair.

I am im the process of fighting wtih the seller to get a refund through grailed. The boots on the floor are some lofgrens and a pair of Role clubs. good stuff.

 

[cbez]

 

[bigmanbigtruck]

Here are shots of the stitching from the reattached cuffs..... is there any way this was stock from Freewheelers? its so crooked it looks like they closed their eyes and just hoped for the best. You can see old stitch holes. when you look inside the cuffs at the stitching along the flannel lining it is extremely wavy. My black caboose has super straight stiching on both the inside and outside of the cuffs.

Sheesh... that stitching is trash

Actually i did request the measurements, he was just vague about the arm length. what if the seller had removed the cuffs and then decided the sleeves were the right length and reattached them, super janky, crooked stitching, looks like Dave Himels dog Opal did the sewing, that would have had fine measurements and a jacket that would not have been okay to sell. It would be like listing a 1969 stock camaro that turns out had a bunch of rust bondo'd. it is the principle of selling a collectors item which has been modified. it will never have the value of a stock item and any alterations to collectors items should be mentioned up front. in my opinion. but regardless the seller remains steadfast this is stock....

Not trying to say the seller wasn't misleading, but if they were vague about arm length and wouldn't provide a pic of the measurement, that's a big red flag. And you could have saved yourself the headache and disappointment you have to go through now.

All I had to go on was that the sleeve looked short based on your first set of pics since you're feeding the info piece by piece. With the info on the stitch job, yeah it looks like this seller was taking you for a ride saying it was never modified.

 

[BuZZ's]

That's unfortunate, definitely a big difference in the sleeve length between the black and brown jackets. I have no idea if the seller was insisting it was unaltered due to ignorance or intention. But to reiterate from earlier, if I was spending FW $$$, I would definitely have asked for pics of measurements with a tailor's tape.

what if he removed and reattached the sleeves without changing the length, just destroying the jacket in the process. in that scenario it wouldnt have mattered if there were measurement pics with tape. In my opinion there are two separate issues here. One is about sizing. This isnt about sizing. This is about selling an altered collectors item and never disclosing it was heavily altered. If the jacket was stock but just too small for me I could easily resell it. Nobody is going to pay full price for a collectors item that was hacked up. Same with an old collectors car. you would be called out for selling a stock 69 camaro listed as stock but turns out they cut part of the frame and covered it up. Nobody would be okay with that. this is no diffefrent.