Oldanalogbonniefrump
New in Town
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These are my four most recent jackets. The first is a Natel motorcycle jacket--very heavy leather. It required reapplying color, filling a road burn. I'm generally a 44 but I got a 46 as this will be my winter (as long as I can bear it) jacket. Buying larger meant it can accommodating wearing a tank top, long underwear, sweater and then jacket including the liner. The photo made it look gray but it's as black as the other two jackets pictured.
The second is a Walter Dyer jacket--very similar to the Natel--it also required significant recoloring as it had faded to light gray (not anymore). It is a 44 and fits me perfectly with a T-shirt, and a hoodie under the coat. It has a liner in great shape. The leather is a tad thinner than the Natel but not by much. The leather is also thick.
The third jacket is a Lesco size 44 , required some touching up but is amazing. The leather is incredibly thick. It fits wonderful--has a non removable liner and takes whatever I have on to wear for the day under it.
The last jacket is a Flight Suits Ltd jacket out of El Cajon California. It is in excellent condition --looks like it sat in someone's closet for years. I'm full up. I chased a few vintage real flight jackets but they require tons of restoration and I was looking for something to throw on, get out and have a bomber jacket of very solid manufacture. Got it.
The three riding jackets can be worn when I'm tooling about on the Bonneville around town but I have a proper riding jacket with armor--these aren't for highway riding in this day and age. The Flight Suits Ltd. jacket is an amazing reproduction. It's well documented on here and I underscore it as Flight Suits Ltd as it predates the jacket before Flight Suits Ltd. changed their name to Gibson and Barnes.
Restoration notes---I used Clydes on the jacket that had a major fade (the Walter Dyer). It's a great product and the leather soaked it up well and it blended the faded parts with the non faded with all color matching. I took a few days allowing the jacket to dry fully between coats. I finished the coat with leather honey conditioner.. Cleaning the jacket--say what you will -I used Isopropyl alcohol that was diluted
The Natel and Lesco I used Leather Honeys recoloring product -in a few coats, drying rubbing with cotton rags. I finished both coats with Leather Honey conditioner. The Natel had road burn that had broken through the jacket (not visible, not photographed). I used Angelus leather patch in slow coats to fix the hole , patching the holes, patching some of the thin leather. I used their flat black to color the patch. The flat black turned out a tad blacker than the rest of the coat. As my grandfather said, leave "well enough" alone. The coat has no holes now, the paint will fade with some time and usuage and Leather Honey will eventually match the existing black.
The exciting part. Each jacket was bought for $50 -$90 dollars give or take a bit for shipping. Not bad for $350 dollars total--4 coats.
