Help dating an Excelled MC Jacket

[KURGAN]

First of all,hello everybody and compliments for your web space!! This is my first post here, i read this interesting forum for years as a leather jackets enthusiast but i decided to register only Yesterday.
But now i think it's better to directly go to the topic :

recently i bought a more unique than rare (for Italy) Excelled motorcycle jacket. It's an old school Made In USA and it deserve to be bought just for this point.And then because size 36 is super rare. It's a well made jacket (in my opinion),the leather is heavy and thick (a little less than my Schott 684sm to be honest) but generally i can say it's a good quality product,my other jackets are all Schott and this one isn't bad near them. I think it could be made in steerhide because it "cracks" in a very similar way to my Schott 684sm.

The main zip is by EMAR,the sleeves ones are by YKK . The pockets zips are unbranded,but have the wonderful chain pulls like the Perfecto.

The guy that sold me the jacket didn't know from what era it is because it bought in a vintage store in England some years ago.
I did some research on the web,specially ebay auctions. Now i have some idea but i'm a bit confused :
some jackets have the same label,the same front zip and the seller say 60's.
Some other have same zip,same label but a little bit different belt and claimed to be from 80s.
Some other say 70s.
But i see some other ones that have a leather label and different zipper that are dated between late 60s and early 70s.....
At the end i see other styles by Excelled similar to A2 and G1 with the same zip of mine and are between late 70s and early 80s....
I hope to don't confuse you and i'll post some pics of my jacket hoping someone could help me dating it.

Thank you very much since now and Happy new Year!!!

 

[Sloan1874]

You'll need to have a second shot at posting your pics. Easy way to do it is click the icon on the 'Quick Reply' which has picture with a tree in it. Then you click 'select file', find the Download folder and select the pic you want and then click 'upload file', and that'll get you there.

 

[KURGAN]

Thanks for the help but unfortunally when i click the icon with the tree the only thing that appears is a window with the space to insert the URL code...exactly what i did in the first post. What is the problem? Images size?

Anyway,you've got a very nice avatar,i like so much the Thin White Duke character.

 

[Plumbline]

Kurgan .... the EMAR zipper ( or more appropriately Separator Co. Inc.) only originated in NY in the early 50's ... se defacto it's no older than that. Emar zippers and YKK were used on Excelled jackets in the 70's through to the mid 80's when I believe they moved to YKK zips throughout ( although old stock may have hung around) .... certainly I've had two excelled jackets which were YKK zips throughout.

Other than if the style is unique e.g. they did a J-27 Boco copy which was unique to the 70's then it could be quite difficult to age .... once pics are available should be able to help more.

best regards

 

[KURGAN]

Maybe this time it could work.....

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The pics are resized at 640x480 resolution i hope to have done the right thing.
Sorry for the 2 posts.

 

[KURGAN]

Many many thanks Plumbline! So it could be between 70s and early 80s.
No no,the style isn't absolutely unique,it's the classic "Brando" (Perfecto) style,i said more unique than rare because i've never seen an Excelled jacket here in Italy before. Infact i bought it also because is something rare here.

 

[Plumbline]

Alas that doesn't really help ... the label is the generic "Excelled " label which was used throughout the 60's, 70's and 80's so it could be from anywhere late 60's till mid 90's ( given stock hang around).

It should be noted that the "genuine Leather" title could mean that the jacket is manufactured from steer, sheep, pig, goat or horse ... in fact it could be cat or dog as the "leather" title only determines that the jacket is made from tanned animal hide


Sorry can't help further ... nice jacket though

 

[Cyber Lip]

"it sells because it excels" lol. That brings back memories. I had one exactly like that that I practically lived in for 10 years in the 80's to early 90's.

 

[Dinerman]

I'd say 1980s.

 

[dh66]

I had a few excelled jackets in the 80s, during high school and college. I did a bit of growing in these years, and went through 3 different sizes. Being made in the U.S. Would make it no newer than late 80s. They went overseas for production after that. The earliest one I had, bought new in about 79 or 80, had recycled wool inside the quilted liner, the next two I had (one in about 84, another about 88) were filled with polyester. I can't see from your pics, but the ones I had all had square ends on the shoulder straps. I haven't seen that feature on older jackets, they had pointed or rounded ends on the straps. So I'd say - square straps would be no older than late 70s, and what's inside the lining could narrow it down to even more.
They were cowhide, by the way, and pretty decent quality. They were a pretty solid middle of the road quality at the time. By no means top shelf, but not cheap crap by any means. I cannot speak to current standards of quality, as I have never owned one of the offshored ones.
Hope this was some help
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[KURGAN]

Wow,many many thanks everybody!

If for "shoulder straps" you intend the epaulets (i've Always seen this word for that part) mine are squared at the ends.
I've just read the other label that's down on the left side of the jacket and it says :

Shell : genuine leather

Lining : 100% nylon face
If quilted : 50% acrilic 50% other unknown fibers

DH66 : did all the ones you had had the same label of mine? Because i see some similar jackets that are still made in the USA and are claimed form the '80s that have a completely different label with an American Flag,an Eagle and "Excelled" written in Yellow.

P.S. Sorry if sometimes my English is bad,but i don't write or speak it everyday.

 

[Cyber Lip]

Shell : genuine leather

That's always such a great selling point lol

 

[dh66]

Yes, all mine had that same label. And yes, by shoulder straps I meant epaulets.
I'd guess mid 80s because of the acrylic content of the lining. Like I said, the first one I had was recycled wool.
Nearly everyone I knew had an excelled jacket back in those days. The ones who didn't had Sears brand. Schotts and HD jackets were not for student's budgets.

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[Swoosed]

pure Ramones, 70's or 80's

 

[Seb Lucas]

Looks like a more recent, 1980's job. Is this look coming back into fashion?

 

[tonypaj]

pure Ramones, 70's or 80's

Yep, my son's got one of these, size 40, zips are a bit all over the place, but he couldn't give a damn, it's just what he wants. A bit short to my taste but pure Ramones. I'm more than fine with that, I'll blast more often than not "Cretin hop" and likes after a day of tedious work on the way home. And arrive relaxed... Too old to pull the Ramones look these days, bald and way too fat. Them's the apples.

 

[Joao Encarnado]

Looks like a more recent, 1980's job. Is this look coming back into fashion?

Hope not. I hate fashion. They seem to copy me :S

Too old to pull the Ramones look these days, bald and way too fat.

When someone says that to me, I say "go look yourself in a mirror".
I hope when I'm 60+ to be able to endure the weight of my Perfectos.

 

[dh66]

Looks like a more recent, 1980's job. Is this look coming back into fashion?

More recent?
Are you in denial about somthing?
It's been nearly a quarter century since the 80s ended. Stuff I bought brand new back then is now considered vintage.

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[Seb Lucas]

More recent?
Are you in denial about somthing?
It's been nearly a quarter century since the 80s ended. Stuff I bought brand new back then is now considered vintage.

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I ask beacuse I remember every second kid wearing them back then and on most this kind of jacket looks... not very good. Don't really want to see them back in numbers.

 

[dh66]

I ask beacuse I remember every second kid wearing them back then and on most this kind of jacket looks... not very good. Don't really want to see them back in numbers.

At least they aren't parachute pants

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