New Aero Highwayman in the House

[OneEyeMan]

Just got my new Highwayman.
If you'll recall, I'd purchased one earlier in 09.
It had some aspects which were less than perfect for me, so I sold it and ordered another one thru Mark Moye.
Mark is absolutely the best person in the world to work with.
After thousands of questions, changes of mind, and basically worrisome inquiries as to the status, he never became ruffled, and always answered very quickly.
OK, the differences between this and the previous one:
- 2" less in the waist so I can cinch up the bottom tight to keep wind out
- exterior zipped chest pocket on the right side so as not to make a huge bump of leather with both it and the inner gun pocket on the same side
- one piece back; the scalloped yoke dug into my back whenever I drove, plus it looks cleaner
- courderoy lining for all pockets
- 3" piece of leather at the bottom of the lining to protect the lining from wear
The astute among you have probably already noticed that the 3" piece of leather is missing from the lining. It is indeed missing as Aero forgot to do this mod. I mentioned it to Mark and he said he'd gladly send it back to Aero (shelling out the shipping cost from his own pocket) for the fix. He recommended I just wear it through the cold weather and wait till spring to have it done. Good idea; Aero should be less busy then.
I gotta say, I'm a little surprised that Aero forgot this feature, but the rest of the jacket is perfect.
Fit is spot on, all stitching is as close to perfect as humanly possible, everything lines up, and the Horse Hide is killer nice with great grain here and there.(sorry, it doesn't come thru in these pix. I'll try to get some outside shots of me wearing it if I can talk my wife into it.
I gotta ask you all, have you ever had to send back an Aero for changes, forgotten features, fit alterations etc?
Doesn't seem to be standard practice for them as I don't recall any of you ever mentioning it. Come on, if you have sent back an Aero, fess up Inquiring minds want to know. I can't be the only one.
Anyway, on to the pix.

 

[HighandDry]

Nice jacket. What kind of leather did you get? Where's the pics of you with it on ?

 

[1911 Man]

I gotta ask you all, have you ever had to send back an Aero for changes, forgotten features, fit alterations etc?
Doesn't seem to be standard practice for them as I don't recall any of you ever mentioning it. Come on, if you have sent back an Aero, fess up Inquiring minds want to know. I can't be the only one.

This is what I ordered:
50's halfbelt, seal brown A2 horsehide.
Cotton lining, two interior pockets.
Leave upper breast pocket off, and replace slash pockets with A2 pockets.
No hidden storm cuffs.

They had not left off the upper breast pocket as I requested, which completely altered the look of the jacket I had wanted. Everything else was done right, though, and it fit perfect.

I waited a day before emailing Mark that the jacket was wrong and I was sending it back. He told he that they would make it right, and to send it back to him. He did not offer to cover any shipping charges, those came out of pocket for me.

So now I am waiting again.

 

[OneEyeMan]

Nice jacket. What kind of leather did you get? Where's the pics of you with it on ?

It's FQHH.
As for pix of me with it on, I'm working on it.
You know how wives are: "Take a picture of you with it on? No, that's stupid"
If I have to, I'll do the old self portrait thing in the mirror.
Lenny

 

[Cooperson]

Very nice Highwayman Lenny. The hide looks good and I see you stayed with the Common Riding lining which I think looks great with brown leather. It's a shame about them missing the bottom leather panel off, I know how important it was for you to get the perfect leather jacket this time - it must have been a a real disappointment. On the positive side, it will be a very easy alteration for them to do so it won't disturb the jacket at all.

I have read of other people not getting some of the mods they requested, like storm cuffs being left in when the asked for them not to be put in. I can only assume they get so used to making the standard Aero patterns that individual mods get missed, particularly when they are trying their best to get through a very long order book.

As you know, my next Aero on order has quite a few mods, so you've got me a bit worried now. One of the mods is the same leather panel along the bottom, which i think is a good one as it also stops the lining from dropping down and showing at the back of the jacket. This happened to my highwayman so I had to get the wife to put a horizontal pleat in the lining to take up the slack.

I have asked Amanda to email me just before the jacket goes into production in the hope that we can go over the mods one last time. I don't know if that will do the trick but it's worth a go.

Cheers

 

[GriffDeLaGriff]

Very nice jacket you have there. I also want pics front and back when you wear it. Just set the camera to autosnap and put it on something as high as your chest (if you dont have a tripod)
I remeber your last jacket since I saved it as a color reference. Man it was some sweet jacket you sent back. How is the color on tis one compared to the other?

I also had kinda long list of alterations on my jacket, and some of them changed over time.
Ill get the jacket next week so we will see what they got right.

A 3" bottom panel is something I thought of adding to my list for a long time but it never happened because i forgot and there were also other more important things like armlength and lining. I got mad at myself for forgetting it since a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. It makes no sense with leather and seems that will hold for 40 years if the lining comes out under the jacket or through the sleeves, or if it gets holes.

Im having thick alpaca in this one tho so I dont think its as important as with a thinner lining. Time will tell.

I wouldnt send the jacket back because of the panel missing. I would wear it and when and if it becomes a problem then send it back. Maybe there will be something else to change aswell when that time come.


On my next short jacket Im gonna go with thin lining so I will remember to emphasis the leather panel since the lining will always travel over the years if its satin or the likes.

 

[andy richards]

Thanks for posting. I think you have made an excellent choice. Do you want the 3" leather strap covering just the back panel or also the two side and two front panels. If you want to cover them all, you might experience a very stiff waist of the Highwayman. I have two Aero's. My highwayman has the 3" leather strap on the back panel only and I am very pleased with that. Indeed it prevents premature wear, and it adds a nice detail too.
My LHB has also the 3" leather strap, covering all the panels. The LHB is longer than the Highwayman and would not create a "stiff" bottom lining because the side straps are placed slightly higher than on a Highwayman.
So, maybe in your situation it is not that bad to wear your jacket for a while and decide what and how to alter/modifie.
Also, you might consider the following: I found my Highwayman rather bulky when only wearing a t-shirt. So I asked Amanda to place an extra side strap just below each arm-pit to make it more a snug fit.

Here some pics of the hwm extra side straps:

interior hwm

interior of my lhb:

Hope this helps.
Andy

 

[OneEyeMan]

Coop,
Thanks for your empathy.
I was a bit disappointed when I opened the box, but since the jacket is pretty much perfect besides the leather strip, I'm not that concerned.
It will be perfect soon enough.
BTW, great idea to touch base with Amanda prior to the build. :eusa_clap

Griff,
The color is similar to my last jacket. Perhaps a bit lighter and rustier, which I like.

Andy,
Good point on the coverage of the leather panel.
I've wondered this myself.
Is the strip on your Highwayman FQHH?
I've asked for the lightest weight leather for this strip, but I might just go for the strip on the back panel only.
And like I said, I won't do anything till spring.

Finally, I'm going to ask to have the depth of the exterior chest pocket reduced by 2".
When I drop my cell phone in there, it's virtually impossible to retrieve it with the current depth.
This should be relatively easy to do as long as they're unstitching the lining.

Anyway, thanks all for your input.
Lenny

 

[andy richards]

Hi Lenny,
Yes the leather panel is FQHH. You may opt for another or softer leather. FQHH is fine for me. Thanks.

 

[PoohBang]

what is the lining on that highway man? I really like the color...

nice looking jacket!

 

[gfirob]

lining protection

I am sending a Highwayman back to Aero to have the lining repaired along the bottom because of wear. They said they usually replace the bottom of the lining with corderoy (I have seen jackets with this done to them) but it never occurred to me to have them do it in leather. I would worry that it might be too stiff or too cold. Anybody else have the lining fixed in this way?
Thanks

 

[OneEyeMan]

what is the lining on that highway man? I really like the color...

nice looking jacket!

Thanks.
It's called Common Riding, wool.
Lenny

 

[OneEyeMan]

I am sending a Highwayman back to Aero to have the lining repaired along the bottom because of wear. They said they usually replace the bottom of the lining with corderoy (I have seen jackets with this done to them) but it never occurred to me to have them do it in leather. I would worry that it might be too stiff or too cold. Anybody else have the lining fixed in this way?
Thanks

I remember that Amanda mentioned this to me once via email.
Maybe I'll go with the courderoy too.
At least if I go full width, it won't be too stiff.
Lenny

 

[johnnyjohnny]

you can never be too...

I would worry that it might be too stiff or too cold ---gfirob

assuming that statement is about the missing leather strip on this jacket

actually, my new eastman luftwaffe jacket has about 2" of leather all the way around...but they may have just ended the lining 2" higher...but many jackets i see do this to prevent that wear, which is noticeable on a lot of ebay aero highwayman jackets...

i wonder if they can just bring the lining up 2" higher and not necessarily add a leather strip, using the seam of the leather strip around the jacket already...otherwise i'd say just use the softest but durable leather they have

i do think it's de rigueur given the wear that part of the lining gets, mostly from the back, pants (jeans) and belt rubbing against it

howevah...extremely nice jacket, and nice that you can have some time to figure out what you wish to do...congrats

 

[OneEyeMan]

As promised, pix of me wearing the Highwayman.

The sleeves look slightly short in the pix because I had my arms out and forward.
Plus, the jacket is still stiff so the wrinkles at the elbows don't always relax when my arms are straight.
In reality, the sleeves are perfect.
Lenny

 

[OneEyeMan]

assuming that statement is about the missing leather strip on this jacket

actually, my new eastman luftwaffe jacket has about 2" of leather all the way around...but they may have just ended the lining 2" higher...but many jackets i see do this to prevent that wear, which is noticeable on a lot of ebay aero highwayman jackets...

i wonder if they can just bring the lining up 2" higher and not necessarily add a leather strip, using the seam of the leather strip around the jacket already...otherwise i'd say just use the softest but durable leather they have

i do think it's de rigueur given the wear that part of the lining gets, mostly from the back, pants (jeans) and belt rubbing against it

howevah...extremely nice jacket, and nice that you can have some time to figure out what you wish to do...congrats

Johnny,
I shot Amanda an email yesterday asking her advice.
They're closed till the 7th so I'll let you all know what she advises after she responds.
I think your suggestion about bringing the lining up 2" is a great idea.
I also agree that the strip should be de rigueur for all of Aero's short jackets.
Anyway, either they have a very light leather for the strip, or I'll go with courderoy which looks nice.
It's a nice deep chocolate brown which should go well with my lining.
Lenny

 

[53Effie]

Very Nice

Great jacket. I agree that the addition of the inner leather strip at the waist band area is really a good idea. I wish I had ordered mine that way. Also, in retrospect, I would like to have the sleeves lined in satin material as well...I'll do it next time. I like all the custom touches you had them do. It's a cool looking jacket. Have fun with it.
Mike

 

[univibe88]

Great jacket. I agree that the addition of the inner leather strip at the waist band area is really a good idea. I wish I had ordered mine that way.

Same here. When the day comes to send it back to repair the worn liner, I'll have them add it in then.

 

[elnico]

charge for strip

I just got a response from Amanda regarding ordering an extra 2'' strip of leather around the bottom and she stated it will cost an extra £50. Does this have to do with the new price hike? seems excessive to me...

 

[Creeping Past]

I just got a response from Amanda regarding ordering an extra 2'' strip of leather around the bottom and she stated it will cost an extra £50. Does this have to do with the new price hike? seems excessive to me...

Maybe they've finally decided to charge for extra work. That makes business sense to me.

I think this is a sensible response to what I guess is an increasing number of customers, educated by forums like this, asking for those extras that previously only those 'in the know' would have asked for.