V-37J Day! Buzz jacket now fits!

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After some wizard-quality work from STEVE S, my Buzz Rickson 37J1 has grown 3" and I am enjoying it just as much as I had hoped I would. Here are a few pictures.


Note especially the reconfig of the Hookless zipper and front seams, which gained 2" all told. This was a field mod seen on pix of original 37Js, which I encouraged him to try if there was extra in the seams and width in the zip tape.

Steve made a very neat fix to remount the zip grommets inboard of where they'd been before, applying thin strips of cloth that cover the original grommet holes. The heavy thread leaves stitch lines but they will go gradually as hot water is applied.


The only other mods were 1/2" out of each side seam (all the selvedge allowed) and bigger buttons - these are 3/4".


Coming soon is my Cockpit 37J brought to original spec by Steve, and my Headwind A-1, which he's changed to "Admiral" style (call it a 37J1/2).

 

[B-Man2]

Congrats Zoomer!
I know how long you’ve been trying to come up with a way to re-configure a 37J1 so that it would work for you. Your tenacity paid off... it looks great as does the fit !
Cheers

 

[ausreenactor]

Nice... Embiggenated!

 

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Too late I saw fine print someplace that Buzz might have made custom sizes...but what might that have cost? Steve's mods were a grand total of $125.

 

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Turns out the collar buttons made the front buckle, so I moved ‘em 1 1/2” to the right.

The other impression: if you have what I had done, the 4-5” taper is still a fact of life with this jacket. This leaves a nice fit thru the midsection and some extra thru the chest. The zipper sides may crash together up top when unfastened and remain separated below - suggesting your true shape even tho you now have plenty of room. There isn’t the length to take in the sides under the arms, so just roll out the storm flap and seams and enjoy the anti-fit - it certainly isn’t inauthentic. These babies were meant to get salty.

 

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I also sent my Cockpit 37J1B to Steve, with parts to get it closer to 1936 spec. You can see the results here.

 

[Silver Surfer]

steve, our resident jacket magician.

 

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One point to note if anyone ever has this mod done: part of the look of the A-type collar is the way it "squares away" when zipped and folded down. Because most of the extra room has to come out of the zip area, you will lose that look.

Steve added 2 1/2" in front, so the two halves of the collar moved 2 1/2" apart. (It still buttons, altho I had to move the buttons out some.)

Before

After

 

[Silver Surfer]

yup, ole sellers is a genius at figuring shit out. like it says on the money, "in steve we trust".