G1 Restoration advice

[Lord Flashheart]

Morning all,

One of my local vintage shops currently has a Star Sportswear G1 for sale which fits me (this is a bit of an occasion as I'm a fairly big lad!).

While the leather is intact (no splits/holes or overly dry spots) is still in fairly "worn" condition. From what I can see the following is required:-

Knits - Cuffs and waistband is heavily pilled and does not have much elasticity. Would like to replace them.
Leather - needing fed but as I mentioned earlier, no holes, slits or "dry beyond redemption" spots.
Colour - Heavily worn over the years I would say. The colour is worn off at the contact points around the jacket and at heavily creased areas. If possible I would like to "sympathetically" re colour them.
Zipper - It has a Talon zipper which works and there is no teeth missing but because the fabric of the zip is pretty wavy, it it hard to operate.
Collar - Its beautiful shade of ginger/brown, no work required.
Action back - is there elastic in them to expand and contract as the arms are extended? If so they may need repalced.

My question is can these issues be fixed by a novice restorer (me!) without causing damage and can anyone point me in the direction of a website that might assist me?

Lastly, what era would this jacket be from? Wiki tells me that Star Sportswear had the contract from 1964-67 but I've seen some of you guys refer to SS G1's being an early 70's contract.

Many thanks

Garry

 

[El Marro]

Garry,
If the price is right I would go for it, Star made a very nice G-1 in my opinion. I have two of their jackets and I had the knits replaced on both of them as well, I believe this is the part which was most susceptible to moths and the ravages of time. The action back does indeed have an elastic strip to retract the leather gussets and that also wears out over time. Since I had the work on my jackets done by a local tailor I am not qualified to advise you on whether or not to attempt the repairs yourself. I do know that knits and zippers are available from eBay as well as from Aero and Lost Worlds.
Regarding the age of the jacket it should be pretty easy to determine based on the label inside the collar. Here is a photo of my 1969 Star Sportswear G-1:

The date is indicated in the bottom row of numbers: DSA100-69-C-0475. Another interesting detail revealed on the label is which series the jacket is from. Mine is a D series as noted in the top row of numbers: MIL-J-7823D(WP). This series of jackets were the last to have real mouton collars and they were followed by the E series which introduced the use of the synthetic Dynal collar. As a general rule, the earlier the jacket was made the nicer the goatskin and mouton were.
I hope this helps, good luck!

 

[Atticus Finch]

As to Star contracts...yes, they went into the 1970s. I’ve owned three Stars...a 1967, a 1971 and a 1972. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen white tag Stars, too. White tags in G-1s began in 1973.

AF

 

[Dumpster Diver]

My advice, slap some neatsfoot oil on it. Leave it timeworn!!! Jesus!!! leave it for the love of god! put a drop of oil on the Zipper pull and Just enjoy!!! It's fine, Lets see the cuffs, if they are original leave them...they can be darned with a needle and thread which I recommend, if they are replacements...replace them! You'll never get a new pair of cuffs installed the way they originally were.

REMEMBER!!! TIMEWORN!!!

It shows signs of being used in service right? That's awesome, a star sportswear Jacket has an amazing Finish that flakes off like a dream!!! It's one of my favorite looking and feeling Jackets of all time!!! some people would pay money for a pair of pre-worn jeans, same with a Jacket...hell isn't that a marketing gimmick?

You're forgetting something....lets see some PICS please!!!

also see if you can locate my thread in here somewhere a few pages deep, entitled Replacing Knits on a G-1 Jacket.

it's the same star sportswear Jacket as yours...take a look, it's pic heavy...click on my profile and dig through some of my posts you might find it easier that way.

 

[Eastwood]

The first contract Star Sportswear G1 was 55J14 in 1947, further was 7823C in 1964

 

[Lord Flashheart]

Thanks for the responses Gents.

El Marro - Interesting labelling info. The label on the jacket is pretty time worn so I don't remember seeing any date on it. It's an extremely tempting jacket but the vendor wants $300 Aussie dollars ($235USD) which is a bit steep in my opinion as I think I would possibly be doubling that in repair fees to get it back on the road. Spending a bit of cash isn't a problem but I don't want to shell out on a wardrobe ornament.

Atticus Finch - like I said above, the label is pretty worn. Should it be unreadable is there any other clues to its age? Talon zip?

Dumpster Diver - thanks for the tips mate. I'm want to preserve the age/patina of it but I still want to have a wearable jacket. The patina on it doesn't appear to be from repetitive "military" use as I would imagine it to be. There is much creasing in the areas you would imagine but also a lot which reminds me of a garment lying wet at the bottom of a car boot or wardrobe although there is no odour or suggestion of rotting or anything, it just looks like a heavily used but solid jacket. Wiould neetsfooting the jacket soften and darken the creasing? I will sertsinly search for the posts you mention as they will be very useful. As for pics, when I eventually cave in (I'm on that road already!) I will post some shots and keep you tuned in to how it's going.

Eastwood - would early contracts have dates on the label like we have discussed above?

Regards

Garry

 

[Doctor Damage]

also see if you can locate my thread in here somewhere a few pages deep, entitled Replacing Knits on a G-1 Jacket.

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/threads/still-looking-for-cuffs-and-waist-for-g-1-jacket.75152/

 

[El Marro]

Is it possible to post a photo of the label? That might help in assessing the age of the jacket. The Talon zipper is a good clue because the later Star Sportswear jackets had heavy Scovill zippers with the paper clip style zipper pull. If it is an older jacket then the price might be justified because those are getting harder and harder to find.

 

[Atticus Finch]

Thanks for the responses Gents.

Atticus Finch - like I said above, the label is pretty worn. Should it be unreadable is there any other clues to its age? Talon zip?

Regards

Garry

I’d love to see what’s left of the tag. Yes, some G-1 spec tags are worn to the point they’re illegible, but if we can at least see the tag’s format, that’ll be a clue.

AF

 

[Lord Flashheart]

I happen to be at the shop now so here's the label Here's the label.

 

[Lord Flashheart]

Could it be a 64?

 

[Atticus Finch]

Yes. It is a 1964, the first of the C-series jackets Star produced. Nice find! I would treat it with Pecard Leather Dressing (not neatsfoot oil) and, otherwise, leave it as original as possible.

AF

 

[El Marro]

If the leather and the collar are in nice shape I would not let that one slip by. Ditto on the Pecards to rehydrate the leather.

 

[Atticus Finch]

Here’s how the tag looked when it was new.

 

[Dumpster Diver]

Pecards is probably better, I Just said neatsfoot because it will soak in quick and glug glug glug..It's cheap too, and you can normally get it locally at the hardware for cheap unlike pecards. My Jackets seem to be very thirsty. Like I said, Star sportswear makes my favorite G-1 Type Jacket!

Well, you gotta know me, each to his own, personally the more dirty and rattier Jacket the better IMO!

I can't wait to see!!!

 

[Eastwood]

1947 Star Sportswear G1 55J14 zipper was Conmar small tooth blacked, only once saw Talon small tooth blacked, early contracts not have dates on the label, and need Pecard Antique Leather Dressing

 

[Lord Flashheart]

Well gents, I am now the proud owner of a 1964 Star Sports G1! It's actually in better shape than I initially posted. I rubbed some candle wax on the zip and its loosened up pretty well but it seems to be tarnish which is making it stiff so I might run a dremel with a soft polishing wheel over it to hopefully make it more serviceable. The knits aren't moth eaten, they are a little fuzzy round the waist band so I might try shaving them lightly to tidy that up.

I noticed when I got it home that there is some stich holes on the left hand breast. I assume that was an name tag from when the jacket was issued?

Thanks for your assistance fellas, especially the prompt advice of Elmarrow and Atticus. I was on the point of walking away but I left it in the hands of fate waited to see what you guys thought of the label and went for lunch to kill a bit of time. I got your messages so I got footed it back again and bought it.

Photos to follow shortly!

Garry

 

[Atticus Finch]

BTW, if you live near a Harley Davidson dealer, they carry something they call “Leather Dressing”. It’s actually Pecard. Pecard sells it to Harley and they repackage it as a Harley Davidson product.

 

[Atticus Finch]

Depending on how dry the leather is, I’ll typically hang the jacket on a sturdy, wooden hanger in the middle of my garage. Then I zip it all the way to the collar and turn the collar up and button it. Using nothing but my fingers, I smear gobs of the Pecard over every inch of the jacket’s exterior, working it into all the seams, pleats, pocket flaps and behind the collar. I carefully avoid getting Pecard onto the mouton, rayon lining or the knits.

Then I leave the jacket alone for a week. Seven whole days, at least.

At the end of the week, I use an inexpensive, white towel to remove the excess Pecard from the outside of the jacket...then I unzip the jacket and treat the windflap in the same way as I described above.

AF

 

[Dumpster Diver]

I'll Just drown mine in Oil and then put it on and wear it to give it some ply back, some guys wont ever oil them which is fine too if there's no real danger of dry rot and you're wearing it from time to time eh. I am really excited to see how it looks! THe fact that you're going to shave the wool waist, Ah, Nah, Leave it, I'll bet it's great, glad to hear you appreciate a good Flight Jacket as much as I do! Congrats!!! It will take care of you more than the other way around!