My First Vintage! Now I Understand!

[Not-Bogart13]

At last, the moment has come! I am now the proud owner of a vintage Stetson Open Road! What a fantastic hat this is. It's so soft and pliable and light, it makes my Akubras seem cheap. It needs a little work, though. A cleaning, and if the brim and crown could be reset I'd like that. There's nobody around here I'd trust to take care of it, so if there's anybody here who knows how to do it and maintain the hat's buttery softness, I'm prepared to seek services by mail.

As for pictures, I'll post some with me wearing it soon, but here is what I have so far. The first is how the hat arrived - center crease only. Then two views with the crown opened by me, an inside shot, and a quick fedora bash that I'll aim for after it's cleaned. The real color is light gray (the box has "caribou" written on it). The top of the liner has plastic, and the leather sweat is dark brown with gold letters. Any idea on age?

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/michaelgarcia13/album?.dir=/ae0a

So, I'm sure there are may wondering how the Open Road compares to the Akubra Campdraft. Since I now have both, here's my assessment;
The crown of the OR is so soft, it makes the CD seem like cardboard. The OR is also lighter weight and feels thinner overall. The brim stiffness is similar. I don't know much about leather sweatbands, but they feel the same. However, the CD's band is already a little wavy, the OR's is not. Vital statistics: OR's brim is 2 3/4, the CD's is just over that. Crown heights are the same. The OR has NO wind trolley. The ribbon and brim binding is slightly narrower on the OR, and seems like greater care was taken attaching it. Still, to the observer, they look like the same hat, maybe made in different years.

So, how'd I do for my first?

 

[Solid Citizen]

Nice Stetson

Yes, that a nice looking hat if its labeled as a Stetson "Open Road" you have changed the shape into "Stratoliner". I like what you have done to it, which is what I would have done. Enjoy! Peter :cool2:

 

[Hemingway Jones]

I think you did very well, my friend. That is a beautiful and elegant hat. I love the color. Is it really that bluish in person? I think it is a great color, a great topper for a suit. I wish you good luck with it.

I'm sorry that I don't know anything about its age or who to send it to. I am sure that others can answer much better.

All the best,
HJ

 

[Art Fawcett]

Bravo NB!!!!
From the black leather and this logo style on the liner my guess would be '60s but take comfort that first, it's a quality hat, second, the style didn't change since the '30s, and finally, it's YOURS!!!!
My shop will be re-opening in the next couple of weeks so when you are ready for that clean & block just let me know & I'll get you the info to make it happen. From the pics I can't tell that it needs it though.
Enjoy

 

[scotrace]

Just what I wanted to see!

A direct comparison.

That's a SUPER hat - you did very well, regardless of the price paid.

 

[Johnnysan]

NB,

Wow...nothing like hitting a home run first time at the plate! Absolutely beautiful. I recently picked up a Stetson Stratoliner that is very similar to your Open Road and shipped it off to Optimo Hats in Chicago for some refurbishing. With any luck, it should be back home before Thanksgiving. I'll post a few photos and a review of the work upon it's arrival.

I was never a big Stetson fan, but most of my experience with them was with a couple of stingy brims from the '60s. After acquiring an older Stetson Whippet from another member of the Lounge and then finding a vintage Stratoliner - I'm sold on them!

Nice find! :cheers1:

 

[Victor]

Good choice! I am personally a big fan of the vintage Stetson Open road. I own two (one in the silver belly color like yours and a less common tan) and have them both shaped in the classic fedora bash. They are among my favorite hats. These hats came open crowned at least in teh earlier days and are a nice soft and easily shapeable felt.The more recent versions appear to have a stiffer more formed crown in the cattleman crease which doesn't appeal to me so much. This hat style is a good way to get a hat that is not terribly difficult to find that has a fedora shape as well as a wide brim without looking too cowboy. Many stingy brim fedoras out there that again don't appeal to me.

 

[Not-Bogart13]

"Home Run" huh? That's nice to hear. Thanks guys.

Hemingway, Victor; The gray isn't light enough to be Silverbelly (I missed out on one that color), and it's not as blue as the pictures show. Still, it has a blue tint to it that is more obvious in certain light, yet is dominantly gray. It's a very nice color that I haven't seen before.

Art; The sweat isn't actually black, it's very dark brown. Is that what "black" means in the world of sweatbands? At any rate, if this is 60's work, I can't wait to get my mitts on something older! Would a picture of the box help with dating the hat?

Johnnysan; I look forward to your service review to help make my decision.

AS for the hat needing a cleaning, the dirt is apparent when viewed up close, and there are a couple of dirt spots. The worst soiling and shape issues (neither that bad) is at the peaks and edges of the center crease, which has probably been there since the hat was new. Also, the front brim don't stay snapped down correctly for very long.

I tried a couple of different bashes (this hat is easier to shape than play-doh), including a center crease with front pinch, and the cattleman look, but the Stratoliner clone looked best.

 

[riccardo]

Simply wonderful.

Hi NB, hi to all,
I've bought a Vintage OR 7x beaver on e-bay some weeks ago,it's really a great hat, I sent it to an italian hatter to cleaning and reshape it, I've asked him to shepe it in the same choice that you made, like a fedora.
Now I'm waiting that it come back to me.
I've worm it under a sunny day, and I feel it very cool, I'm amazing of it...really a great hat.
I like very much your hat's colour, mine is differnt is light brown...sand I say.
Enjoy it, NB.
With compliments.
Riccardo.

 

[Art Fawcett]

Hi NB, on my screen it looked black, but if it's dark brown it might be earlier than '60s. the problem with dating an Open Road is they made them for SOO long it could be anything from 30s to 60s. If the leather had been changed during it's life by an authorized Stetson hatter ( allowed to use the Stetson name on their leathers) then really, who can know? Whatever the true age it's a great hat so enjoy it for what it is. The box might help if we could be certain that it was the original to the hat.

Have fun

Art

 

[Uncle Vern]

Art, I own three Open Roads, and two of them have stitched-in headliners. Do you know when Stetson switched to glued headliners? One of the hats is actually a Penny's Towncraft, but obviously an Open Road. The price tag says $8.98.
There must be many models of Open roads out there. Of the three I own, no 2 are alike. The Penny's hat has a 2.5-inch brim and 4.5-inch crown, a wind trolley and a stitched-in headliner. I have a taupe model with a 4.5-inch crown and a 2.75-inch brim. The third, with a stitched in headliner, has a 5.5.5-inch crown and and a 2.75-inch brim. I love them all equally.

 

[gcollins]

From the pics, it looks exactly the color of my Stratoliner. Pretty bluish mine is..highlights those eyes!

Well done, nice brim.

Hey Art!

 

[Matt Deckard]

Very nice... With the plastic in the liner and a brown leather sweatband I'd venture to say 1950's. As stated above by Art, it was a style that was around since the 30's. The current version of the hat that is put out by Stetson is a shadow of the one you and comes pre shaped. The beauty of recieing open crown hats like they sold many in the 30's is that you truly make the hat you own.

Congratulations on your new Fedora, and good luck finding more.

My favourite part about them... No (if any) taper!

 

[K.D. Lightner]

NB -- that is a stunning hat. I love those vintage pliable hats you can shape anyway you desire. Thank you for your description of the caribou color. I had seen it on hat seller's sites and now I know it is a light gray.

Can't wait to see photos of you in it.

karol

 

[Not-Bogart13]

The Pictures

OK, I've expanded the album with me wearing the Open Road. It's still pre-cleaning, but I got the brim to behave. The "secondhand steam" rolleyes: ) actually firmed up the crown slightly, but not much.

http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/micha...=&.done=http://photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos

 

[MattC]

Its the liner

A simple Stetson seal in the liner says early 60s to me (the liners used to mention the grade or style). But the liner could have been replaced. I think they hept using brown sweats in open roads and Stratoliners into the early 60s. But whatever, its a buet.

 

[Johnnysan]

Johnnysan; I look forward to your service review to help make my decision.

My Stratoliner made it back from Optimo last week and given the holidays, I'm a bit behind on my review.

Unfortunately, in my haste to get the hat cleaned & blocked, I failed to take some "before" photos for comparison. The hat was in fairly good shape when I purchased it, but the crown had been mistakenly bashed into a porkpie. As a result of being improperly stored, a fair bit of dust and dirt had accumulated around the bash and had left a noticable dark ring around the crown following a brushing. That's the condition it was in when I shipped it off to Optimo.

It was returned to me a little over a week later. In speaking with Graham, I had requested the following things be done: clean the hat, block it into a C crown with a bit of slope in the crown front to back, and replace the existing narrow light colored ribbon with a wider dark brown ribbon. Graham also warned me that although the original sweatband looked OK, it might need to be replaced following cleaning as the older sweats will sometimes crack.

Optimo did a fine job with this hat as the photos will show. Here's how it looks today:

As this was going to be one of my dressier hats, I wanted to dress up the ribbon a bit. The dark brown grosgrain is 1½" wide and set off with a standard bow.

Once I got the hat back and tried it on, it was a bit "blah" - though no fault of Optimo's. I added a feather that I stripped off one of my Biltmore's and viola! I'm not big on feathers, but in this case, I think it adds a bit to the hat. I'm very pleased with the block...4½" at the front of the crown sloping to 3½" at the back.

You can also see evidence of the former bash lines in this photo near the pinch in the crown. While I was hopeful that they would have come completely out, this is the risk you take with light colored felts.

The liner was very clean and did not need to be replaced.

Sadly, the sweatband did...it did indeed crack following the cleaning. The folks at Optimo put in an excellent quality replacement that I am very pleased with. It surpasses other replacement sweats that I have received from two other hatters. As you will note, the stitching is also excellent.

The total cost of the refurbish was $95, which included $15 for shipping & handling. On a scale from 1-100, I'd rate this job as a 90, taking a minor deduction for the fact that the original bash marks didn't come out of the crown. As my experience is limited though, I have to say that a) they're much less noticable than they were and b) my guess is that this is as good as I could have gotten from anyone barring possible damage to the felt.

My only other disappointment was with the "hat box" it was shipped in. Although carefully shipped, box-in-box, the internal hat box was very cheap. Not a good quality hat box at all, but rather, something akin to a cake box with a loose piece of cardboard bearing a circular cutout in it to support the crown. I've seen the Optimo boxes that come with their custom hats and this wasn't anywhere close to being one of those. I'm hanging on to it as a shipper, but won't be using it for storage. I'll buy a $3 box from Levine's for that.

Customer service was excellent and all the positive things that I've read here about Graham were bourne out by my experience with him. He's a real gentleman, an outstanding businessman, and real source of information about hats. Glad to know that their are folks out there who are keeping the art of this trade alive.

Hope that you'll find the review helpful and by the way, NB...you're Stratoliner is magnificent! If mine would've looked like yours...I'd have saved myself a few bucks!

:cheers1:

 

[Not-Bogart13]

Thanks for the review... and the compliment. The pics don't show it, but the old bash lines are highlighted by dirt on mine, too. I really like what the dark band does for the light tan Strato. The pinch is just right be my reckoning, but I prefer the "home-made c-crown" look that comes from an open crown. Did the hat stiffen up from the service, or is it still as soft as when you sent to Optimo?

 

[Johnnysan]

Did the hat stiffen up from the service, or is it still as soft as when you sent to Optimo?

The felt is just the same as when it left...only cleaner!

 

[Not-Bogart13]

Johnnysan...

I forgot to ask; you mentioned getting a hatbox for $3 from Levine's. Is that on-line or someplace local. I could use an extra hatbox or two.