The Stratoliner Society {VINTAGE}

[jamespowers]

I thought I would take this time to remind people that many vintage hats were named after cool things in the old days. The Stetson Stratoliner is just one of these but I thought I would give you just an idea what it was that inspired the hat.
The stratoliner was an airplane produced in the late 1930s that was very deco and well appointed for the period. WWII came along and ended the production of the Stratoliner. I wonder how popular it could have been considering it cost $12,000 for a trip to the middle of the country! That is like paying a few hundred thousand now! The following pictures give you some idea about what the plane looked like and the resulting hat that it inspired.

Regards to all,

J







merged Stratoliner threads 01.31.10

[jamespowers]

A few more pictures for back ground.

[jamespowers]

and one more:



It is a shame that the only surviving Stratoliner is now a damned house boat! I suppose it is better than none surviving but I do not think Howard Hughes would be too happy with how his airplane ended up.
No, Actually I am being facetious. There is a house boat stratoliner but fortunately the Clipper Flying Cloud from good ol' PanAm was obtained by the Smithsonian and restored by Boening workers when they found it languishing in a warehouse. Check out the full story at:

http://members.clnk.com/k5cf/PanAm903/PanAm903.htm
and
http://www.boeing.com/news/frontiers...ust/qt_ab.html

Regards to all,

J

[jeboat]

I saw a Stetson Stratoliner advertised on an online auction site advertised as made of wool. If that is correct, how can that model be so popular?

jeboat

[BellyTank]

...the eBay vendor doesn't know that it's fur-felt- you see a lot of that- good hats described as wool. If it's a good brand and model and described as wool, then chances are it's not wool. just the vendor not knowing anything about hats. Unless it is a wool Stetson...?

B
T

[besdor]

i also see alot of people saying the hat is wool . The problem today is most people dont understand the difference between wool and fur . The reality is nobody for the most part wears hats except for us in the know . Thats why people need to be taught the difference . i was in a hat store in Chicago last year and another person was trying on a hat (Dobbs) . When the store salesman told the customer the price , the customer almost fell down . He didn't understand how a hat could be 100.00 .

[varga49]

I bought a hat on ebay which actually was a wool..in the homburg style, made by the golden gate hat company from Los Angeles.

[feltfan]

You've gotta wonder about a hat company in
LOS ANGELES named "Golden Gate".

[varga49]

You've gotta wonder about a hat company in
LOS ANGELES named "Golden Gate".

heh heh....!

[besdor]

You win some ,you loose some . Generaly ,most of the hats seen on Ebay are fur felt ,but you need to be careful . Hats from companies such as Bollman, Dorfman Pacific and Golden Gate are made of wool .
Always ask questions when you buy .