The Open Road Guild

[Dusty Rhodes]

My Latest

I've not had the time to properly shape it and take pics but just using my hands made the crown look better than this (Original Ebay Pictures)
http://public.fotki.com/formerblueangel/felt_fedoras/hat22.html
3X Beaver Open Road with ribbon replacement courtesy of Art Fawcett
http://public.fotki.com/formerblueangel/felt_fedoras/stetson_open_road_3x_1.html
http://public.fotki.com/formerblueangel/felt_fedoras/stetson_open_road_3x_3.html
Dobbs Westward
http://public.fotki.com/formerblueangel/felt_fedoras/dobbs_westward_3.html
http://public.fotki.com/formerblueangel/felt_fedoras/dobbs_westward_1.html
Two Mac Lachlans, style name unknown but it's pretty obvious who they copied
http://public.fotki.com/formerbluea...rblueangel/felt_fedoras/mac_lachlan_gray.html
http://public.fotki.com/formerblueangel/felt_fedoras/mac_lachlan_greenis.html
http://public.fotki.com/formerblueangel/felt_fedoras/mac_lachlan_greenis-1.html
:cheers1:
DR

 

[Bud-n-Texas]

Thank You Sir

Another fine version of the "Open Road" and pretty darn sharp!

I am a just bit partial to it:cool2:

 

[tonyb]

Four Open Roads and 10 impostors.

 

[Not-Bogart13]

I'm In

I am the proud owner of two OR's, I think from the 60's, but I'm not completely sure. I love both of them, especially the blue/gray one. I don't mind the cattleman bash on the OR because the hat isn't a huge as most western hats. However, te bash just doesn't look good on me.

My blue/gray OR has a center crease and front pinch, while my tan one has a c-crown. I sniped the blue on e-bay this winter and had Art clean it up for me. The tan I got from Wingnut, and had the ribbon replaced (by Art). That will probably end up my summer hat.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/michaelgarcia13/detail?.dir=ae0a&.dnm=87c4re2.jpg&.src=ph

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/michaelgarcia13/detail?.dir=/3f6d&.dnm=45c3re2.jpg&.src=ph

 

[tonyb]

One of mine is a Royal DeLuxe version with a liner whose stitching has come undone. I think I'll just leave that (kinda funky anyway) liner in the bottom of the box and wear the hat liner-less on warmish days when the skies are threatening rain. With the exception of the liner and a sorta crispy sweatband, it's still in pretty nice shape, considering what it has probably been through over the decades. Speaks well to its quality. And if it gets dirty and sweat-stained, I can always dunk it in naptha.
By the way, Not-Bogart, that hat looks just right on you.

 

[Russ]

I've been expelled

I bought an Akubra Stetson Open Road about 12 years ago but sold it after a pigeon attack. I cleaned the doo-doo from the hat but my attitude toward that hat was never the same afterwards. So now I'm a former OR guild member.

Akubra was making a few Stetsons under license back then, but apparently they stopped. Here is their catalogue from 12 years ago with the Open Road (my personal handwritten annotations have been blurred). It was open crown and came with a wind cord. I had no idea what the wind cord was at the time. I bashed mine just like my other Akubras at the time (Snowy Rivers) with a teardrop C crown.

Now with all this recent praise of Open Roads I am regretting my decision to let it go!


By the way I think this was a catalog for hat retailers since the minimum order was 30 hats, and not many individuals are that extreme in their buying tendencies. Okay, maybe a few folks in this thread would qualify...

 

[John in Covina]

Fine hat!

I have one. It was found on Ebay about 5 years ago. Rarely worn unless taken on a road trip where I need a good knockabout hat.

Mighty fine hat Mr. D!

 

[John in Covina]

Fine OR but is the parrot pinimg for the Fjords?

The Open Road is a wonderful warm weather hat.


Whenever I look at it sitting on the rack, I think of Summer!

:beer: How many beers did the parrot have?:cheers1:

 

[John in Covina]

Calm, cool and collected!

Here's mine. I had 3 more but traded them off.

fedoralover

******
That's definately the start of a serious collection of Open Roads!

 

[John in Covina]

Don't start nothing you can't finish!

Four Open Roads and 10 impostors.

**************
This is a SERIOUS collection. At first I thought it was a picture at a shop some place!

 

[John in Covina]

The wonder from Down Under!

I bought an Akubra Stetson Open Road about 12 years ago but sold it after a pigeon attack. I cleaned the doo-doo from the hat but my attitude toward that hat was never the same afterwards. So now I'm a former OR guild member.

Akubra was making a few Stetsons under license back then, but apparently they stopped. Here is their catalogue from 12 years ago with the Open Road (my personal handwritten annotations have been blurred). It was open crown and came with a wind cord. I had no idea what the wind cord was at the time. I bashed mine just like my other Akubras at the time (Snowy Rivers) with a teardrop C crown.

Now with all this recent praise of Open Roads I am regretting my decision to let it go!


By the way I think this was a catalog for hat retailers since the minimum order was 30 hats, and not many individuals are that extreme in their buying tendencies. Okay, maybe a few folks in this thread would qualify...

************
Even "Down Under" the Open Road was a hat to be recond with! Return to the fold all is forgiven!

 

[tonyb]

So were the ORs with "Made in Canada" stamped on the sweatbands manufactured under license by, say, Biltmore or another Canadian company? Or did Stetson once have a plant up there?

 

[jamespowers]

Four Open Roads and 10 impostors.

Darn! I think we found the Guild president guys.

 

[jamespowers]

So were the ORs with "Made in Canada" stamped on the sweatbands manufactured under license by, say, Biltmore or another Canadian company? Or did Stetson once have a plant up there?

Biltmore was part of Stetson in the 1980s if I remember correctly. They were the factory for Stetson back then. Stetson never had a plant up there per say. Biltmore was it. Biltmore bought out Stetson and became a stand alone hat maker not long after Stetson started mucking about in their business and trying to make them produce pretty stinky stuff. Biltmore is not a bad off the shelf hat if you get the highest quality they have.

Regards to all,

J

 

[fedoralover]

I forgot about these.

These are what I call Open Road "Style" fedora's or as Tonyb says "imposters". I had 2 more out in the garage but forgot about them when I took this pic. I'm not sure if Stetson started this style with the Open Road or if it was common with other hat makers. But regardless, a few feet back and you wouldn't be able to tell if they were actual Stetson Open Roads or the Open Road "Style". I like them, as I can see many others here do as well.

fedoralover

 

[jamespowers]

1949 Stetson Open Road. Yep, they have been around a little while.

 

[jamespowers]

These are what I call Open Road "Style" fedora's or as Tonyb says "imposters". I had 2 more out in the garage but forgot about them when I took this pic. I'm not sure if Stetson started this style with the Open Road or if it was common with other hat makers. But regardless, a few feet back and you wouldn't be able to tell if they were actual Stetson Open Roads or the Open Road "Style". I like them, as I can see many others here do as well.

fedoralover

I think we found the Vice President of the Guild now.

Regards,

J

P.S. Nice collection.

 

[tonyb]

Actually, fedoralover's are likely of much higher quality than the run of my collection. There's a few relatively modern Borsalinos in that bunch, and while they are of generally superior quality to the more recent Stetsons, I find them inferior to the old Stetsons. And everyone would find them considerably less desirable than the Mallory Dallas, which is the best of the bunch and the only one I'd even think about putting up against a vintage Open Road of the high-end variety, such as a Stetson 25 or (dare I wish for one) a 100.
Fedoralover also raises a question I've been wanting an answer to for a while now: Who actually originated the style? How far back does that Borsalino model go, for instance? It could be that the Open Road itself is the "impostor." And it could be that several hatters back in the day were "inspired" by one another's work and produced western-style hats with a thin ribbon and a less-pronounced brim and the look caught on.

 

[jamespowers]

Actually, fedoralover's are likely of much higher quality than the run of my collection. There's a few relatively modern Borsalinos in that bunch, and while they are of generally superior quality to the more recent Stetsons, I find them inferior to the old Stetsons. And everyone would find them considerably less desirable than the Mallory Dallas, which is the best of the bunch and the only one I'd even think about putting up against a vintage Open Road of the high-end variety, such as a Stetson 25 or (dare I wish for one) a 100.
Fedoralover also raises a question I've been wanting an answer to for a while now: Who actually originated the style? How far back does that Borsalino model go, for instance? It could be that the Open Road itself is the "impostor." And it could be that several hatters back in the day were "inspired" by one another's work and produced western-style hats with a thin ribbon and a less-pronounced brim and the look caught on.

The Open Road Style was introduced to the public in 1946. The Allesandria came soon after that so actually Stetson was first. I am sure there were other smaller operations that probably produced a similar style but Stetson gets credited with it. I think Peter Brothers had a Shady Oak that is nearly identical to the Open Road but I have no idea when they started producing them. Someone who knows that concern might be able to tell which came first there.

Regards to all,

J

 

[jake_fink]

Chinatown was set in 1937 and John Huston wears an Open Road style. It would be unlike Richard Sylbert to use a prop or costume that was not period accurate.

The image below was an item on auction on Ebay recently. The model in the centre of the ad appears to be an Open Road Style. This is from 1919.

It appears that the style, if not the name, might have been around for a good long time.