Vintage Cal - It's changing my outlook on things

[TooManyHatsOnlyOneHead]

One of the nicest Cal I've ever seen! Congrats! As a Cal lover I am, I understand you perfectly. I literally love the brass hardware/black leather effect on cross zip, I find this totally killer.

I own 3 Cal and I can't be happier. They're different from each other but I find beautiful in equal parts. For example, the first one I bought is a heavyweight padded, no belt loops. I guess zippers were replaced at some point, but a Talon puller remains in the main one. I fixed its male pin so I can zip up easily. When I do, I feel its embrace tightly on my body.
View attachment 322342
The second I purchased (in Japan) is this cute one: midweight leather, Serval #10 zipper and Talon in cuffs. Belt loops, kidney panel... size 38 as inner pocket shows. No scars of rough life. I usually wear it in early winter/early spring, also at summer nights if weather cools down a bit. Very tapered, so it's unlaced.
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The last one I bought is this padded beast. Made of mid/heavyweight leather, I love its pattern with these wide lappels. #10 Talon zipper and Serval in cuffs, bi-swing back and kidney panel. People stare at it when I take a walk over there. Ah, I forgot: gives off an irresistible leather smell!
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amazing jackets and you're making me realize 4 may not be enough LOL. The quilted ones, wow wow wee wow. Of course, we haven't even talked about the racer yet LOL.

 

[Superfluous]

This just drives the point home that I'm not done with my Cal love affair.

Do FL and FW know that you are cheating on them with Cal? You are a philanderer!

 

[Jin431]

Do FL and FW know that you are cheating on them with Cal? You are a philanderer!

i truly am, I'm not sure why I'm doing it because I know they won't fit as well as the FW/FL but I still bought 2 Cals anyway lol although I am still in the hunt for a black mulholland my size and got 2 FL projects secured too

 

[Superfluous]

i truly am, I'm not sure why I'm doing it because I know they won't fit as well as the FW/FL but I still bought 2 Cals anyway lol although I am still in the hunt for a black mulholland my size and got 2 FL projects secured too

 

[AbbaDatDeHat]

I definitely have jumped into this hobby head first. I won't deny it. Didn't even know what Aero, Himmel, Real McCoys, etc. were. Barely had heard about Schott. Didn't know the components on a jacket like a biswing back, cross zip, half belts, etc. Probably generally categorized them into black or brown and biker or fashion to be honest.

It's been fun/educational/mostly successful, but there were a couple mistakes along the way. No biggie. Somehow the closet currently has 21 leather jackets with another in the mail and that's with me selling a few as well and not counting several "starter" mall type jackets.

I definitely have some redundancy mostly because of fine tuning the fit or variables. But I also think I have a pretty good cross selection. I'm justifying it all in my head, but I'm really just fooling myself. Some of it I dismiss as I know I can pass some of the tighter fitting or less favorite jackets off to my two sons soon.

But to the point of it all. Been on a Cal mania lately. Bought 3 variations in short time span. Then this 4th became avail on Ebay. Again, it was slightly different, mostly in that it had a teacore base. So I hit buy and it showed up. Needed some love and luckily I've gotten to know the Cal shop pretty well, so I was confident they could bring it back to life.

Just guessing on the zips and all that, probably a 50s model. It's a little big on me and using my others as reference, I would say is probably a 46L. The 44s tend to fit me perfectly. But again, justifying in my head, it'll be my "too much pasta CAL" in case the others start getting too tight.

What I love about it is that when I grab it, I really feel like I'm holding on to history. If I'm being honest, it's probably just turning the corner of seeing it's apex, but just barely because it still has a lot of life to go. There's a few scratches and cuts, glorious patina and oxidation, random stitching here and there. One of the snaps is visible while the other 3 are hidden, don't know why. Almost has this Indian Ranger mixed hardware sort of thing. Probably spent 30 years plus on a bike getting exposed to sun, rain, bug guts, and whatever else it picked up in various dive bars (or at least that's the romantic image I'm giving it in my head).

But what really has me rethinking everything is that this jacket is what a leather jacket should be. I don't think me having 22 jackets and wearing each them 5 to 10 times a year will ever get any of those jackets to evolve to this point, even though many of them have the pedigree for it. And while I really really tried to capture it in photos, you really got to see this thing. It was lathered in Skidmores the get it alive again, so some of the brown base is hiding. And even though the jacket probably weighs 8lbs, it feels like nothing when I'm wearing it.

Lastly, wanted to give a shout out to Greg Field @Honeyman1935 for helping me source some missing hardware so I could fix a couple things on this bad boy. And of course the wonderful ladies at the Cal Leathers shop in Ventura for doing their usual magic, and her dad for giving me some tips on conditioning the leather.

Anyway, enjoy. I do think this is my goal with my jackets. To get them to evolve to this. So not saying END GAME by any means. It's too much fun to be on the hunt. But I do want to get my rotation down to maybe like 8-10ish. I figure 1 for each day of the week and maybe a few for random situations like a B3 for instance.

Anyway, thanks for reading.

Yup...that’s one of the good ones.
Great synopsis of what a Cal is and what it brings to the table. Plenty of blingy, zippy, shiny bells and whistles out there but a Cal is just blacked out subdued cool. Quiet cool that screams bitchin!!
Enjoy the beast.
B

 

[AbbaDatDeHat]

Changed my outlook on things too.
I pledged allegiance to the Cals.
Couldn’t resist a family photo!
L-R oldest to youngest.
B

 

[JMax]

View attachment 330436 Changed my outlook on things too.
I pledged allegiance to the Cals.
Couldn’t resist a family photo!
L-R oldest to youngest.
B

Awesome pic B! All you need is a CR and the circle is closed.

 

[TooManyHatsOnlyOneHead]

View attachment 330436 Changed my outlook on things too.
I pledged allegiance to the Cals.
Couldn’t resist a family photo!
L-R oldest to youngest.
B

amazing. Love it. TBH, the one I wrote about here doesn't even fit me. I like just staring at it LOL.

 

[AbbaDatDeHat]

Awesome pic B! All you need is a CR and the circle is closed.

Lol. Done buying J. Might trade for one. Best wishes in Austin!!
B

 

[Jin431]

View attachment 330436 Changed my outlook on things too.
I pledged allegiance to the Cals.
Couldn’t resist a family photo!
L-R oldest to youngest.
B

Wow! Love this collection. Especially the brown cross zip with black mouton, now that's extra cool

 

[Chevalier]

I was on the fence about this one for the better part of a year and finally bought it. I think it is a Cal, so I was hoping to get the opinion of the Cal aficionados here. The main and sleeve zips are Serval. The pocket zips are all chain pulls with no other info. The patina is nice, but the discolored patches (from stickers or iron on patches?) were what made me hesitate on buying for so long. I guess I am in the mood for a summer project The fit is pretty good, with just enough extra arm length for me.

I am heading down to So Cal next week, so I may try bring it to Cal for some TLC on the collar stitching.

 

[Leigh H]

I was on the fence about this one for the better part of a year and finally bought it. I think it is a Cal, so I was hoping to get the opinion of the Cal aficionados here. The main and sleeve zips are Serval. The pocket zips are all chain pulls with no other info. The patina is nice, but the discolored patches (from stickers or iron on patches?) were what made me hesitate on buying for so long. I guess I am in the mood for a summer project The fit is pretty good, with just enough extra arm length for me.

I am heading down to So Cal next week, so I may try bring it to Cal for some TLC on the collar stitching.
View attachment 338144 View attachment 338145

It’s a Cal for sure!! welcome to the club!

 

[Leigh H]

adding my Cals to this thread.

 

[JMax]

My current stable. I’ve had many more. I need to stock up again lol.

 

[JMax]

Double post. The heck is wrong with the site when using a phone to participate?

 

[TooManyHatsOnlyOneHead]

I forgot you had that beige one. Nothing like a Cal. There's some sort of essence to it that just exudes cool. Getting the fit down though is the challenge.

 

[Chevalier]

JMax, I dig that racing shirt!

 

[Leigh H]

I forgot you had that beige one. Nothing like a Cal. There's some sort of essence to it that just exudes cool. Getting the fit down though is the challenge.

I heard that most Cals were made to order with tailored measurements back in the day. Thats why there’s so many various fittings of these jackets.

 

[tmitchell59]

Is this like a rough out? I'm liking it the most.

 

[JMax]

Is this like a rough out? I'm liking it the most.

Yessir. You are correct. Only one I’ve ever seen. Barely fits so not one I will wear around. But a very cool jacket.