Gun Boats - like them or dislike them?

[The Shooman]

Who has gunboats? (Gunboats = large double sole shoo-monsters with very broad 360 degree welting)

Do you like gunboats or dislike them?

What gunboats do you have gentlemen?



l've been a huge fan of gunboats since l was a kid of about 3. l was purchasing big monsters with 360 welting from my mid teens. My love of gunboats has never left me. Many good memories with my gunboat-monsters.

l'm willing to bet Mr Pollock has the biggest gunboat collection around. He's a huge fan of the gunboat and his total shoo collection now is over 220 pairs (probably alot more now) of top quality goodyear constructed shoos. He has plenty of Alden and Church's too.

Feel free to post top notch gunboat pics too....pics of your favourite gunboats.





Regards: your Shooman

 

[The Shooman]

l notice Trickers does all their biggest gunboats (St James Collection) with a wider stitch [than normal] along the welt. ls this as secure as the single sole Trickers with closer stitching?? Something really bothers me about the big Trickers gunboats l own......


Gunboats are not just double sole shoes. They are exactly how l described in my original post. Double sole must be verging on the very thick side.


l can't even recall any norvegese constructed double sole monsters even being true gunboats. Maybe i'm wrong?

 

[pablocham]

I have always loved Gunboats, but never heard that term before. My grandfather wore them all his life. I have two pair of giant Florsheim Imperial wingtips from the 60s-70s that are exactly like his. I don't wear them too often because they are so giant and heavy, but whenever I find a pair in my size at a thrift store I can't help but buy them.

 

[The Shooman]

Wow wee, my favourite type of gunboat. Always had a love for the longwing gunboats. Amazing!!!

 

[pablocham]

I may be wrong to think of them this way, but in my mind they are closely associated with WWII vets in the fifties, sixties and seventies. In my imagination these are what Ike, Johnson, and Nixon wore, though I have no idea if they actually did.

 

[Dr Doran]

imperial gunboat ... florsheim imperial long wing kenmoor

I wear Florsheim Imperial Long Wing Kenmoor wingtips and I love them. Heavy, thick shoes with heavy, thick soles and, yes, welting all around. I can barely wear dress shoes with thin soles and don't like them much. To me this is the ideal shoe: the details of the wing tip but so sturdy it'll never give out. That sole will last as long as I do. They remind me of combat boots I wore in the 1980s and steeltoe shoes I wore in the 1990s. They cost me $228 on zappos and I could not be more pleased. I took a part time job (well, I picked up a few shifts for a week at the grocery store where I used to work) solely to buy them last Spring.

My favorite association for these shoes comes from a column I read in Chronicle of Higher Education called "Remembering the Old Lions" which described the men who had been GIs in WW2 and came back, finished PhDs on the GI Bill (great deal!) and then taught as professors, the most democratic bunch of professors in US history of the widest original income range ever (since the GI Bill paid for their education!) as well as a wider range of ethnic backgrounds then ever before in the US professoriate.

The author of the article remembered them from his youth in the 1970s: they were stern, oldish men, wearing black suits and "highly polished, black wingtips that looked like they weighed 5 pounds each. I imagined the shoes were all made by the same cobbler to whom the professors were referred after earning tenure." They were demanding professors and were considered conservative by their students but this is because after being in the war, they knew how fragile civilization actually was ... so this is the association I keep for this kind of heavy welted shoe.

If you can access it, here it is:

http://chronicle.com/weekly/v50/i30/30c00201.htm

 

[Big Man]

Here are my 14 1/2 EEE wingtips. Do they count as "gunboats" (or maybe "battleships")? I like substantial shoes. I have several pair of these in black, brown, and cordovan that I wear every day to work.

 

[The Shooman]

Awesome `gunboats' gentlemen. Very good stuff indeed!

l've got some `gunboats' too. No way near enough, but i've got these anyway:

* AE shell cordovan burgundy wingtip.
* Johnny Moke black plaintoe blucher
* Trickers tan wingtip (huge)
* Trickers tan split toe (very very huge)
* Santoni Handmade black wingtip
* Black Jeffery West chelsea boot.
* A few old Florshiems.

l've got heaps of double soled shoes, but those above are the true gunboats. Gunboats MUST have their soles stitched.

lf l could get another 2 from Trickers (St James Collection) and another 4 from Dinkelacker, then l would consider my gunboat collection relectantly complete. Sure i'd like a few Aldens and many J.M.Westerns, but unfortunately l don't know my size. l'd be reluctantly satisfied with 15 gunboats.

 

[univibe88]

* AE shell cordovan burgundy wingtip.

I've got some of these - "MacNeils"

I love 'em!

 

[Jeff Naylor]

Alden longwings in whiskey and #8, waiting not so patiently until November hoping for another pair in cigar. Fantastic stuff.

 

[indycop]

Here are my 14 1/2 EEE wingtips. Do they count as "gunboats" (or maybe "battleships")? I like substantial shoes. I have several pair of these in black, brown, and cordovan that I wear every day to work.

You know who the bossman is from this pic!lol lol

 

[Brinybay]

"Wingtips" to us Yanks. I love them, although I don't own a pair. Elegant and stylish.

 

[Big Man]

You know who the bossman is from this pic!lol lol

And they better not forget it !

 

[kschurch]

I love "gunboats"! I have 4 pairs of Allen Edmonds "McNeils". Two in black and two in brown. One of the brown pairs I had resoled into golf shoes.

They look great with suits and jeans as well.

 

[The Shooman]

Here is an older pair of Church's gunboats:

http://img399.imageshack.us/img399/7475/c5amj7.jpghttp://img399.imageshack.us/img399/4016/c5bpn4.jpghttp://img399.imageshack.us/img399/9310/c5cfb3.jpg[/quote]
Totally amazing `gunboats' Tony. Simply awesome. http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b151/Marc_au/Ron1/Aportneyface-1.gif

Here are some of mine:

Allen Edmonds shell cordovan (Cambridge model).

Trickers St James collection.

Trickers St James colection.

Jeffery West.

Santoni Handmade brogues.

Johnny Moke (London).

Santoni Handmade brogues.
Eventhough the stitching doesn't go 360 degrees, it still has a 360 degree welt.

l've got a couple of duplicates of the pairs above. l've also got a couple of `gunboats' in the shed (they are covered in dust and have spiders living in them. They will be worn [again] one day). l've also got a pair in my car boot in case l unexpectedly go to the beach.

l reckon Mr Pollock would have at least 50 `gunboats'. He's a lucky guy.

 

[imoldfashioned]

You know who the bossman is from this pic!lol lol

Too true! Is that your office Big Man? I love the furniture and the pictures (and the shoes, of course!).

 

[Big Man]

Too true! Is that your office Big Man? I love the furniture and the pictures (and the shoes, of course!).

Thanks.

Yes, that's my office. I've tried to collect a lot of the hospital's old photos and antiques to keep them safe. My desk is the same desk the first Superintendent of the hospital had when we opened our doors in 1877 (and I've got a picture to back it up).

 

[The Shooman]

A new pair of huge monsters. That's why l like Trickers (St James collection). They do the monsters the best!

Regards chaps: your Shooman.

 

[Steve Smith]

I have two pairs of vintage Florsheim longwings (tan and black) and one pair of cordovan colored Knapp steel-toed longwings. These are my favorite shoes.

 

[Orgetorix]

Haven't had time to take a better picture yet, but I recently picked up these older Florsheim shell cordovan longwings on OFAS: