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Date of Manufacture, Leather Type and Manufacturer of Cafe Jacket.

J.Fallaw

New in Town
Messages
14
Location
Atlanta Ga
I am completely new to posting on your forums. I must admit in the past years I have read many of them as I have grown deeper into collecting leather jackets. I bought a lamb skin jacket 6 or 7 years ago when I was looking for a new winter coat (I know lamb skin sucks now). But after I wore it a few times my dad was making fun of my (kid leather) and was showing me an old Buco jacket he has from his younger days. It's like a size 42, sadly I am in the 34 to 36 range. I remeber the feel and smell of that old jacket and just had to have one myself. I did take his home and it resides in what I call my leather closet in my guest room, well taken care of. But I don't have a small fortune to purchase one of my own yet in my size... But one day I'll find it. But none the less I fell in love and ended up in a AMF Harley jacket, (I know again, but it does fit me perfectly) which also threw me into the search for more styles and leathers and colors, and the absolute perfect fit. I'm tall and skinny and like tighter fits so its a lot of searching. Plus the more patina and age to it the more I love it. At this time now 6 years later I own somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 jackets and am looking to create my own store on ebay to rescue and sell them to the correct people.
But enough of that. I know to go to Gail at Schott about Schott or Beck jackets and everything else I only believe someone in these forums knows the rest.
I have what I believe to be a Fidelity Cafe jacket in brown horsehide or just cowhide. When I had it apart repairing the liner, it has a thick coat on the leather which confuses me even more. The patina on it is amazing. Faded and worn in perfectly. It tells an amazing story. Lately it has taken my favorite spot from the likes of my Aero jacket I had made, which says a lot. I took several photos, but they do not show the justic it truly deserves until you are up close. It truly is a beautiful jacket.

Front
vk64.jpg

kk43.jpg

Back
nuxk.jpg

clwh.jpg


I know next to nothing about it though. It has the threads from the tag left in it, and a chain at the top of the collar, which is where I get the Fidelity notion.

Here is the collar with the chain and missing tag.
xgjx.jpg


I also do not know what type of leather and I'm not an expert, so I took some photos of the inside grain and the leather up close hoping one of you would.

Top Finish up close
34fw.jpg


mrbm.jpg


Back side of the leather
http://imageshack.com/a/img842/2859/bn6r.jpg

And my final question would try to solve what decade it was made in by the zippers. The cuff zippers and main zipper are Talon. The hand warmer pockets have no identification on the pulls or stopbox. The main zipper I believe to be a replacement. It seems more like a early 80s Talon zipper because its (aluminum), and not brass like all the other 4 zippers. Also the stitch holes are very close to being in the same holes but if you look closely on the inside seams they do not line up, so it has been either completely taken out and seen back in or replaced, which I believe. I saw a forum on here for dating zippers but wanted to ensure I got the ovals and line underneath talon right for the cuffs, and figured its better to ask in this case than assume.

Here is the main zipper in all its unmatched glory(it will be replaced again).
o5o2.jpg


Here are the hand warmer zippers
zw9t.jpg


And the all important cuff zippers
be3z.jpg


I want to tell any of you that reply, and even to those who don't and just take a look thank you. This was not a hobby taught to me but rather learned and self educated by a lot of time on the internet reading forums and looking at photos. Many of those forums have been in here, and I thank any of you that have posted here for putting your knowledge out on the web to help people such as myself. Its a hobby, interest and style all of my own and I enjoy learning and sharing more at every opportunity. I'm 31, probably young to many of you, but I hope to one day pass these jackets and knowledge down to my own son, who hopefully will be my size and or even better hopefully my dads Buco size one day ha. Anything you could help out with on this jacket would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Jeremy
 
Last edited by a moderator:

J.Fallaw

New in Town
Messages
14
Location
Atlanta Ga
Sorry but none of your links are alive and working in your post.
HD

Weird. It shows them on mine even when I'm not logged in. Are they still not showing? I've used Direct links from imageshack, which I've used on team camaro forums for years.
 
Last edited:

Seb Lucas

I'll Lock Up
Messages
7,562
Location
Australia
Nice old thing. No expert but aluminum zips go back decades before the 1980's. And from what I learned on the Aero site some makers sometimes mixed up brass with silver zips - I don't know why. You might be right about the maker. I would have guessed it was an old Bates.
 

pipvh

Practically Family
Messages
644
Location
England
Nice old thing. No expert but aluminum zips go back decades before the 1980's. And from what I learned on the Aero site some makers sometimes mixed up brass with silver zips - I don't know why. You might be right about the maker. I would have guessed it was an old Bates.

X2. The back looks like Bates' style. Ditto the gold-ish lining.
 

J.Fallaw

New in Town
Messages
14
Location
Atlanta Ga
Nice old thing. No expert but aluminum zips go back decades before the 1980's. And from what I learned on the Aero site some makers sometimes mixed up brass with silver zips - I don't know why. You might be right about the maker. I would have guessed it was an old Bates.
Bates is still around I think too, I might send them a few photos.
 

J.Fallaw

New in Town
Messages
14
Location
Atlanta Ga
This is a photo of another fidelity jacket with that generic label they put on some of their jackets, the latching collar chain, and the same green liner. The leftover broken stitches on mine appear to be two separate boxes right above one another and longer in length than the fidelity one, which only adds to my confusion.
http://imageshack.com/a/img707/459/yp4m.jpg
 

Dinerman

Super Moderator
Bartender
Messages
10,562
Location
Bozeman, MT
With the distinctive vertical quilted liner and the cut, I'd say Fidelity as well. And with those zips, probably from the 1970s.
 

J.Fallaw

New in Town
Messages
14
Location
Atlanta Ga

technovox

One Too Many
Messages
1,241
Location
San Francisco
I bought a very similar brown cafe racer a while back. Same latch chain, same tear drop zip pulls on the chest pockets, talon main zipper. The seller (another vintage leather jacket collector) and I both attributed it to being a no-name Fidelity as well. I ended up putting it up on ebay about half a year ago. It was not nearly as worn-in your is...otherwise I would have ended up keeping it! Beautiful looking jacket you have there!
 

J.Fallaw

New in Town
Messages
14
Location
Atlanta Ga
Yes, The D-Man knows zippers, and was nice enough to write a guide on them.

The jacket looks as if it is dry. If so, a coat or two of Pecard will fix it right up, keep it from cracking and extend its life.

Yeah I thought that was the name I remembered from that post. I can't spout off knowledge about a lot of these jackets in grand detail at all, but I'm slowly learning. Now 69 Camaros, I can tell you all day about, grew up with several of them at any given time, it's my dads hobby and truly his obsession, that became mine as well, if any of you ever need any of that... I know the same tedious redundant questions all of us new people ask must get annoying, so payback might be nice.

I've heard Pecards several times. I am about to go order some. Is it going to be okay to use with most of the finish gone? I wear most of my jackets pretty hard, I like them pretty messy so other than oil changes on the car or welding, I don't avoid take them off, it doesn't make them softer to the point of tearing easier does it? A scuff adds character, the tears I try to avoid.
 

J.Fallaw

New in Town
Messages
14
Location
Atlanta Ga
I bought a very similar brown cafe racer a while back. Same latch chain, same tear drop zip pulls on the chest pockets, talon main zipper. The seller (another vintage leather jacket collector) and I both attributed it to being a no-name Fidelity as well. I ended up putting it up on ebay about half a year ago. It was not nearly as worn-in your is...otherwise I would have ended up keeping it! Beautiful looking jacket you have there!
It didn't show as well in the photos when I bought it myself, and I was actually extremely happy when I took it out. I like the feel of my heavier jackets, but I live in Georgia, right below Atlanta. It just doesn't get that cold until December through February, this one feels about the same as some of my Steerhide Schotts, and it doesn't bake you inside it like the Fqhh. But then again I don't like them as much either. My Aero came in late last winter, so I didn't get much wear out of it, it's itching to come out. But I'm really liking this fidelity too, mostly because of the wear on it, it's going to be a good competition for about a decade until the Halfbelt is nice and beat up and turning 12 different shades of brown and tan.
 

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