The Stratoliner Society

[PutALidOnIt]

Since we now have a well established and popular Open Road Guild, How about a Stratoliner Society??? Maybe the Whippet Breed? A lot of pics and info on style-specific threads??:eusa_clap

 

[Baron Kurtz]

So long as there's no hazing :beer:

Seriously, though. Sounds like a good idea. Because i can join in. I'm currently an Open Road virgin (I just rejected a filthy, moth eaten one in a local store), but i have both a Whippet and a Stratoliner. It would be good to have a thread where we can talk Stratoliner subtleties or Whippet wonders.

bk

 

[Hemingway Jones]

I was at a vintage shop today where there were several Open Roads, some in the cowboy style and some with the fedora style. There was also a Whippet. They were all in rough shape, too rough for me and some were too small, but it was a thrill for me to finally see one. And the ones that fit, looked great. They are very good looking hats.

So, I hope to join your club one day.

 

[WEEGEE]

BOXED

I have a silver sratoliner box...alas no hat.

One day.


Stratospheric idea!!!

 

[maintcoder]

I have two Whippets (well, three if you count the one on the way, but it might not be here for long!) and two Open Roads, but still looking for the elusive Stratoliner.

Sign me up for the Whippet Breed and I aspire to be in the Stratoliner Society one day!

 

[RBH]

Sounds great!

I too am on the lookout for a Stratoliner.
Hopefully soon.......

 

[GA Wildlifer]

Stratoliner v. Open Road

My understanding is that ORs and Stratoliners from the same vintage are very similar hats just blocked differently. What are the differences between the two if you were to have the OR reblocked? I hope not much because the Strat is what I really want, but I have an old OR that I will be sending to Art shortly.

Robert

 

[Johnnysan]

Count me in...

I have one Whippet and one Stratoliner and love both of them!

 

[tonyb]

Put me on the roster, Lid. The dewy-eyed bride bought me this one

at Christmas last year. It was unbashed and I doubt it was ever worn before it came my way.
As I have lamented here before, I once had a pair of Strats--a blue one and a tan one--that I bought more than 30 years ago at the Goodwill store. I still kick myself for letting them get away. My sweetie had heard that story before, so she knew I wanted a nice Strat or two and set a maximum bid on this one high enough to see to it I got it, perhaps in the hope that I'd just shut up about it. She ended up paying $79.50, which is higher than I would have gone, but I'm happy she did.
My long lost Strats were both unlined, and the lettering on the sweatbands was of a swoopier style than what I see on my "new" one and every other one I've seen either "live" or in photos.
GA Wildlifer raises a question I've long pondered: Is there anything, other than the name, that absolutely distinguishes a Stratoliner from an Open Road? Brim widths and bow styles and wind strings (or lack thereof) vary quite a bit on Open Roads, but so they also do on Stratoliners. That has me thinking that a Stratoliner essentially is an Open Road, and vice-versa. It appears that Stetson made the same hat to market to two audiences: Rural westerners (and wannabes) and dashing air travelers (and wannabes) with a somewhat more "casual" style than their immediate predecessors in the business world. Both models were shipped to the retailers open-crowned (I'm pretty darned confident of that), so the bashes don't tell the story.
However, Stratoliners were commonly available in a wider array of colors (I think). I had never seen a blue Open Road (looks to be the same color as my old Strat) until I saw photos of the one Dusty Rhodes recently acquired. Maybe it's something like that unusually narrow-brimmed Open Road listed on eBay a couple of weeks ago: an anomaly, and desirable for that reason alone (not to suggest that it isn't a very nice hat anyway, even if it weren't such an uncommon one).
By the way, has anyone ever seen a dark brown Open Road? My Strat is a quite a bit darker brown than it appears in the photo. I've yet to see an OR in that color.

 

[PutALidOnIt]

Compare and be befuddled...

We have a wealth of images here at the lounge (thanks everyone!), and from what I have seen, my Stratoliner looks more OR-ish than most of the pics I have seen of Strats. The brim is wide (3") and the crown is relatively tall. I have not changed the original blocking and the felt is almost cowboy-stiff but lightweight. My semi-strat (A 50's Royal Stetson with no model name on the band) looks more like the majority of the pictures, though it seems a bit conservative of brim (2 ¬?") compared to some; maybe a result of brims going stingier in the late 50's? I remember seeing a mention of a "Stratoliner II" of the 60's and wonder if this one may be from that stable...hmmm.

I would like to see other makers' hats that compare with the Strat and Whippet styles. It's one thing to see the artists' conceptions in the old ads (thanks to our ad colleccionados), but to see them as they really are on heads of real people seems to bring the stylistic differences and similarities into focus, at least for me.

As an aside, I have a Mallory Dallas in a chocolate brown that is an OR contender. Could I impose upon our historians to offer a clue as to the fur/quality level of the so-called "Mallory Pliafelt" used in the Dallas?? It compares favorably in feel and appearance to the medium weight to my Royal Stetsons.

 

[PutALidOnIt]

The light gray is a Stratoliner - 3" brim. To my eye it has Open Road dimensions.
The slate blue-gray is the so called semi-Strat with 2 1/2 brim and my own teakettle-steamed sharp pinch...whaddya think???[huh] Both are 7 1/4 from one eBay seller from same estate...

 

[GA Wildlifer]

Knox Southern Colonel

Has anyone heard of a Knox Southern Colonel? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8255593987&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&rd=1 I don't know if it is a Stratoliner immitation, but it is similar. The brim is about 3" with a high, unlined crown. I need to take a better picture of it.

 

[tonyb]

Got some pictures of the interior, GAWildlifer? Looks like you got a great deal, by the way.