Earliest Wested Replica Jackets Sold?

Gater · Post by **Gater** » Sat Sep 20, 2003 6:10 pm

I am curious. Like many, I was on the search for a 'close-enuff' Indy jacket since day one! (1981, that is)

A few bomber jackets, and 20 yrs later, I had my first Wested. So here is my question(s)...how long have you had a Wested Indy jacket and/or when did Peter first offer/receive orders for the Raiders jacket??

The internet has made a HUGE impact on the Wested Indy jacket market, but did someone like Lee or another dedicated Indy fan find Peter before the Net was common place, and order a replica of the jacket? if so, when?

Fedora · Post by **Fedora** » Sat Sep 20, 2003 6:13 pm

I think Lee Keppler was involved in acquiring the jacket from Peter in the early days before the growth of the internet. Michaelson, or Lee himself could probably set the record straight. I do recall one of the first jackets being compared to a bellhop's jacket. Fedora

IndianaJames · Post by **IndianaJames** » Sat Sep 20, 2003 8:46 pm

Good question there gator! Bet Michaelson would know!

I J

Post by **Michaelson** » Sun Sep 21, 2003 10:14 pm

Lee was actually the first to get the Wested on our shores when they were called Leather Consessioner's, as far as I can remember.

The oldest one in my clan dates back to 1996/97, and is definitely pre-modification. There are several older ones out there on the backs of some of our older crew, and I'll let them chime in. Regards. Michaelson

Gater · Post by **Gater** » Sun Sep 21, 2003 10:15 pm

When Lee has the time, I'd love to know when he got his first one

LNBright · Post by **LNBright** » Mon Sep 22, 2003 4:00 pm

.... what about the oldest FS?

I'm sure there are some older than mine, but, not a lot of 'em.....

Hmmm............ I can figure this out, would've been, September of 1988 when i got mine.

Any others?

-Leslie

Post by **Michaelson** » Mon Sep 22, 2003 4:22 pm

The oldest FS's belong to _, Lee Keppler, and me, and were the final cuts for production after the prototytpe had finally been approved after several iterations. I believe that was in the Spring of 1998, but it's been a while.....

Regards. Michaelson

Indiana Texas-girl · Post by **Indiana Texas-girl** » Mon Sep 22, 2003 7:08 pm

Is it just me or are others confused. If LNBright got an FS Indy in 1988, how are Lee Keppler's, _'s, and Michaelson's FS jackets (1998) the earliest ones?

Post by **Michaelson** » Mon Sep 22, 2003 7:14 pm

His was a one off custom, made from his points required to make his jjacket. The production FS was patterned directly from a known Raiders stunt jacket in a private collection, and placed into production. There have been quite a few privately made custom jackets over the years. Are we talking about them, or the production versions? If we're talking about privately owned customs, then Lee's is the oldest I know of, and dates to about 1985 or so. Regards. Michaelson

LNBright · Post by **LNBright** » Tue Sep 23, 2003 12:49 am

I'm pretty dang close on the date.... it may have been as early as August that mom picked up the phone and ordered it, but I think September was closer. I seem to remember it arriving in late October, but, hey, that's 15 years ago, maybe it was early Novermber... I'm sure I had it before Thanksgiving, though....

I really didn't describe what I wanted in great detail, per se..... When I met the folks in the booth, they had their flightsuit catalogs, that contained the A2s, G2s, etc. While standing there, looking at them on the racks, and seeing that they said they could make any custom modifications, those little gears in my head started whirring, the light went off, and I piped up and asked the fellow standing there... "Could you make a jacket like an A2 without the elastic or epaulets? What I want is an Indiana Jones jacket." And his reply was "Sure! We've got that!" Acutally, I was under the impression, until I found this site years ago, that they were the ones that actually made the jackets for the movie... I think that was an assumption on my part, given that they're in El Cajon, and since I'm on the East Coast, I assumed that "hey, Cali is Cali, they're friends with everyone in Hollywood".....

Anyway, if I recall correctly, what he told me that I would need to do is to call and tell them that I needed to order an Adventurer jacket, an Indiana Jones jacket. I *know* it wasn't called an Expedition jacket at that time, or at least, I don't recall anyone calling it that. Anyway, I didn't really give 'em any specs, other than size. Oh, they asked if I wanted lamb or goat, and I was really clueless at the time, so they basically explained that lamb is dressy, goat is rough-n-tough, so I went with goat. And, this may have been my mistake, I said I didn't want it to be "blackish", but instead I wanted it to be dark brown, like chocolate.... I just wanted a tough jacket like Indy's.... I suppose, that's why mine actually came out a lot lighter than I meant for it to, because it really is a lighter brown than the usual Indy jacket that most of the rest of you have.

So, yes, my jacket pre-dates the Expedition by a decade, and it was made when all they did was made-to-order, but, it wasn't custom in the sense that I directed pocket-placement, dimensions of the length of the back, etc., etc.; they made it and sent it and I wore it....

-Les

Post by **Michaelson** » Tue Sep 23, 2003 10:56 am

I'm willing to bet you that they were willing to do it since they had the experience of creating the original on Lee's. When Lee approached them first, they didn't want anything to do with the project, but Lee's kept at them, and they finally got into it. Once they had patterns, all they had to do was crank one out, if asked for one. They never advertised they had them. Regards. Michaelson

Rundquist · Post by **Rundquist** » Tue Sep 23, 2003 1:26 pm

The first Flight Suits Indy jackets were made in the mid eighties (85' or 86'). I've seen Lee's receipts for them. They were designed pretty much entirely from Lee's memory and photographs. Because of the period in which they were made, they had a lot of TOD influence because that's what was fresh in his memory (he also examined a TOD jacket at some sci-fi show). At the time he didn't distinguish between Raiders & TOD. Anyway like Michaelson said, he had a time convincing them to make the jacket. Lee sold these jackets for a few years until Flight Suits changed ownership. At that point, the new owner didn't want to make the jackets anymore. At that point Lee had to find a new jacket supplier. As luck would have it, he found Peter at Leather Concessionaires. Lee was floored to find out that Peter had made the jackets for the movies. Unfortunately Peter could only make the jacket from memory. What Lee got was the so called "bellhop" jacket that came down to the waist and sported shoulder pads. At that point Lee sent Peter one of his FS jackets to use. Proof of this is the fact that today's Wested still has the same inside pocket design as the original FS jackets from the mid eighties. At this point I want to go on record as saying that I'm not disputing or commenting on whether or not Peter since then, has found and (or) is using his original patterns or not. Today's Expedition is a totally different jacket than the ones produced in the eighties. The Wested has changed significantly over time as well. Both are far more accurate than earlier models. Cheers

PS- To answer the original question, Leather Concessionaires was making replica jackets for consumers on a limited basis before Last Crusade came out.

Post by **Michaelson** » Tue Sep 23, 2003 1:34 pm

THANK YOU ADAM!!! I could remember bits and pieces, and knew I was on the right trail...I just couldn't see all the trail markers! (grins) I appreciate you clearing the fog. High regards. Michaelson

LNBright · Post by **LNBright** » Tue Sep 23, 2003 3:01 pm

Seriously, I was just a kid wanting a jacket, stumbled upon FS, and ordered one... Very true, it wasn't advertised at the time at all, I was just lucky.... Really makes me glad that Lee had done a lot of the legwork, eh? lol.....

I'd have to agree, I wouldn't necessarily think of mine as accurate, especially considering the color. But, it's very much unlike all of the regular leather jackets out there, the A2/G2 variants, etc.

-L

Post by **Michaelson** » Tue Sep 23, 2003 3:14 pm

My friend, accuracy isn't the point here, or in my opinion, not it your case. You have a piece of history from our collected hobby, as you have one of the few one-off jackets made before internet got the word out to folks they could get them, as well as the only original FS made not owned by Lee Keppler that I know of, so it can be as inaccurate as it wants to be. It is one of the first. Condition that thing, and wear it again....proudly! High regards. Michaelson

Gater · Post by **Gater** » Tue Sep 23, 2003 3:22 pm

Thanks for the info, guys. That's very edumacational. I was very interested in knowing how we, the consumer, came to finally be able to own a piece of covetted and sought-after cinema history.

LNBright · Post by **LNBright** » Tue Sep 23, 2003 4:13 pm

lol, I like that POV....

So, I'm off to see if I can find Pecard's locally.... if not, phone calls will be made (hands shaken, gifts exchanged, etc.....) lol...

-L

Rundquist · Post by **Rundquist** » Wed Sep 24, 2003 5:43 pm

LNBright wrote:

Seriously, I was just a kid wanting a jacket, stumbled upon FS, and ordered one... Very true, it wasn't advertised at the time at all, I was just lucky.... Really makes me glad that Lee had done a lot of the legwork, eh? lol.....

I'd have to agree, I wouldn't necessarily think of mine as accurate, especially considering the color. But, it's very much unlike all of the regular leather jackets out there, the A2/G2 variants, etc.

-L

That's an awesome piece of Indygear history that you own. Cheers

Earliest Wested Replica Jackets Sold?

Earliest Wested Replica Jackets Sold?

Along the same lines.....

Well......

Thank you, Lee!!!

LOL!

Re: Thank you, Lee!!!