Old leather

I've been busy and haven't provided The Lounge with the attention it deserves, so this may not be the right place to post this. If not a bartender should feel free to relocate it. But here's the tale:

Once upon a time, a 13-year-old boy could take a test, pay a fee and secure a license to ride a motorcycle. And if he got lucky, he could con his father into letting him shingle a house for enough money to buy a small second-hand motorcycle to ride. And then he could pester his parents to buy him a leather jacket. Not that threatening black thing that gang members wore, but something like a G-1. I was that boy and today I passed that jacket on to my son. I see no motorcycle in his immediate future, but here are some pics.







It's in pretty good shape except for the cuffs. I really need to find some way to replace these.



Sears best!



He's thrilled to have it and I'm shocked that he is actually big enough to wear it.

Comments?

Mark

Edit: I meant to mention for the record that this jacket was given to me at Christmas, 1975. That makes this hide 35 years old.
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looks kind of big for you

I wore it steady for about three years, then on and off until I was 20. It hasn't fit me since I was 24. It may be a little big for my son, but that'll probably last about 15 minutes.

Mark
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It looks like the leather has aged very well, I can see only small creases that give some "personality" to the jacket (I like the jacket, by the way).
Your son is going to enjoy it for a long time, I guess

By the way, I'm envious of US laws: here you had to wait being 14 to use a motorcycle (I mean, a very small one, like a motoscooter or one with a similar engine: 50cc) without a license; then 16 to use a 125 motorcycle (exam and license), and then 18 to all others "real" bikes, if I remember correctly...

Ciao!

Apart from the label, that jacket looks IDENTICAL in every detail to a Schott bomber I purchased a little later, around 1982. The exact same zipper, lining, hide, knits, snaps, sleeve/back construction, everything. It sure looks like Sears was subcontracting these from Schott.

BTW, I just got rid of my Schott a few years ago after it became clear that MY son would never considering wearing it...

Italian-wiseguy said:

It looks like the leather has aged very well, I can see only small creases that give some "personality" to the jacket (I like the jacket, by the way).
Your son is going to enjoy it for a long time, I guess

By the way, I'm envious of US laws: here you had to wait being 14 to use a motorcycle (I mean,
a very small one, like a motoscooter or one with a similar engine: 50cc) without a license; then 16 to use a 125 motorcycle (exam and license), and then 18 to all others "real" bikes, if I remember correctly...

Ciao!

Click to expand...

Thank you sir. The laws were ambiguously written and we youngsters got away with riding larger bikes because of it. I started at 100cc and upgraded to a 350 V twin about a year later. It was a lot more motor than I was entitled to, but I survived it.

Mark

Doctor Strange said:

Apart from the label, that jacket looks IDENTICAL in every detail to a Schott bomber I purchased a little later, around 1982. The exact same zipper, lining, hide, knits, snaps, sleeve/back construction, everything. It sure looks like Sears was subcontracting these from Schott.

Click to expand...

In retrospect, this was a very well made jacket. The zipper is practically bulletproof (don't recall the maker off the top of my head), and the leather has held up remarkably well. Sears was actually still worth something back in those days and if they were getting the jackets from Schott, that might explain a thing or two.

BTW, I just got rid of my Schott a few years ago after it became clear that MY son would never considering wearing it...

Click to expand...

Ah, that's too bad. I'm thrilled that my son is so happy with this one. One of his friends set the whole thing in motion when he got a cheap (pleather?) mall jacket last week. I'm happy because our winters down here can be very, very mild, but it's still chilly in the mornings (low 30's F when I got in today) and he refuses to wear a coat. Now, he won't take this one off! He should enjoy it for years to come with a little luck. At any rate, thanks for the info.

Mark

Lucky kid! I think it's great for him to have something with personality to wear, and you never know how this kind of thing can shape his tastes and interests.

You're right: these are very tough jackets. My Schott was nigh-indestructible. I wore it daily as my main winter coat through five NYC winters, and occasionally thereafter until my gut became too big to zip it. The leather developed some stains and abrasions, the knits got stretched out, the quilting inside the sleeves got flattened out, but nothing ever broke. Years later, when I finally got my hands on some decent A-2 and G-1 jackets, I was shocked how thin and light they were (and how much smaller the zippers were) compared to my old Schott bomber.

Alas, my son really didn't want a leather jacket (especially a beat-up old one). But he's owned a couple of MA-1s and a WEP, so at least he's not totally flight jacket-averted!