'Orphan' A-2 jackets

[AdeeC]

An orphan's story...

Back in the mid 1980's when I was in college, I spent the astronomical sum of $355 to buy an Avirex MacArthur A-2 (tuition at Oregon State was $483 a term). At the time with no internet and such, it was the closest thing I could find to an original.. It wasn't a bad jacket at all and was quite an "improvement" over the L.L. Bean "A-2" I had been wearing. I wore that thing every day, partied in it, slept in it, rode my motorcycle in it...I did not treat the jacket kindly, but it took everything I dished out at it.

About 2 years after I had owned it, after a long night of studying, I draped it over the back of my chair in my room of the fraternity I lived at and went to bed on the sleeping porch. The next morning the jacket was gone! The house wasn't exactly secure, but my room was in the middle of four decks and at the end of a hall, right next to the porch--literally in the bowels of a very large 1920's house. Needless to say I was a little depressed over this. If I make it to heaven, the first question I am going to ask, is how hat jacket disappeared.

In any case, I bought a real Bronco A-2 to replace it. $400 was the price, again, an astronomical sum at the time for a college student. Not a bad jacket, but all the "soft" parts had been replaced and the sewing job looked like it had been done by a palsied drunk.

Walking to class about 5 months later, not less than 1/2 a block from the house was a bum wearing my jacket! I ran up to him with one other guy and told him that was my jacket. I expected him to run, but he didn't and said he had traded it for a pack of cigarettes from another bum. I offered him what I could scrounge up; $7 in my pocket plus $5 from my friend. He was more than happy to let me have it and I was ecstatic to have it back. Unfortunately while it really wasn't any worse for the were, IT REEKED as you would expect from a bum who wore it constantly for 5 months in a winter in Oregon and never bathed.

I tried everything from airing it out in the sun to wiping it down, to Lysol. Nothing would remove the aroma of cigarettes and BO. I didn't think one could actually wash a leather jacket (even thought if you watch the USAAF Thunderbolt documentary, there is a guy washing his A-2 in a washing machine), so I broke down, took it to the cleaner and spent the $45 to clean it. It came back odor free, but shiny as something John Shaft would wear in the 1970's. I never could get the shine off of it, and the finish was never "right". I hung onto the jacket but went down the road in about 1991 in pursuit of a Cable A-2, and I never gave it another thought.

Fast forward 25 years. I am not sure why, but my interest has turned back to the orphans and I score an identical Avirex MacArthur horse A-2 for $60. The jacket is literally like new, but it must have been hung in a house with chain smokers, as it reeks like cigarettes (odd how the seller never mentioned this...).

So, the great experiment begins...it's not going to the dry cleaner, it's going into the Maytag. Lord knows I can't screw it up more than the cleaner and washing it is basically free...

I'll let you know how it turns out in a couple of days...

Great story. Perhaps the seller was a smoker and could not smell the tobacco smell. That's what happens with smokers.

 

[AdeeC]

I used to have one of those Schott 4 in 1 A2's. Owned it for about 20 years. Solid well made jacket but all materials are one or two levels down on quality from the Aero's and Eastman's etc. My biggest gripe was the piling on the knits. I did like it very much then. After owning a couple of high end A2's I don't think I could go back though.

 

[Juanito]

An orphan's story...

...

Fast forward 25 years. I am not sure why, but my interest has turned back to the orphans and I score an identical Avirex MacArthur horse A-2 for $60. The jacket is literally like new, but it must have been hung in a house with chain smokers, as it reeks like cigarettes (odd how the seller never mentioned this...).

So, the great experiment begins...it's not going to the dry cleaner, it's going into the Maytag. Lord knows I can't screw it up more than the cleaner and washing it is basically free...

I'll let you know how it turns out in a couple of days...

I never got back on this one. I washed the jacket in cold water with a little Woolite. Smoke smell came out and the jacket is spotless. Maybe it will suffer something 20 years from now, but as far as I can tell it is no worse for the wear!