If your in Toronto and in the market for a size 48 M-422A...

...I found an original Willis and Geiger example, tagged 48, in a shop in Kensington Market called Exile. Leather in excellent shape, liner in good shape, mouton pretty good with a dime sized bald spot on one collar tip, bar-style Talon zipper. Bi-weave waistband in great shape, cuffs need to be replaced. Tagged price was 800.00 CND, but within 10 seconds the guy was offering it for 400 and I'm sure with a little work I could have gotten it for less. However what with my recent Aero boots purchase, Im saving for an Eastman Irvin and the fact that I'm temperarily out of a job, I had to pass. So if any of you guys are in the area, check it out. He also had a small assortment of late 60s, early 70s G-1s for under 100 bucks each, and another M-422A with a beautiful working conmar zipper, but the entire linings been replaced.

Hey Hawke,

Any large sizes among the G-1's? I'd be looking for a 46 or 48 depending on the maker. What's the name and address of the shop? It might be worth a trip to TO if he has some good stuff.

Brian

the largest G-1 was a 42, and it had really damaged leather around the cuffs. The G-1s were nothing special, certainly nothing to make a special trip to Toronto for. Depending on how much you like M-422as however, it might be worth a trip

He's also got a killer CBI A-2 that has appeared on Ebay a few times already then been pulled on the last day.

I'd take a M422A in a hart beat, if the size and price fit. What's the name of the shop? I haven't been down to Kensington in years, so I don't know the place. I'll likely be down around the EX for bike show in a few weeks, it's not a long haul from there.
On a side note, there used to be a couple of vendors at the Harbour Front Antique Mall that usually had A-2's and other military gear in their booths. When the mall moved up to King St. they didn't go with it. Any idea where these guys may have ended up?

Brian

interbak said:

What's the name and address of the shop?

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Exile. location: 20 Kensington Ave phone number: 416.596.0827 ..

Hi Guys,

Say no more as I purchased that size 48 M-422A Willis & Geiger this evening. I appreciate all.

Dave

Re: If your in Toronto and in the market for a size 48 M-422

Hi Everybody,

After a few problems with the customs paper work I have received the Willis & Geiger M-422A. The jacket is just fine and I am very happy to have it and upon receiving the jacket it exceeded my expectations. This jacket exhibits no opened stitch holes from patches or even prior identification tags having been removed. The sixty five year old leather on this jacket is still supple and in fantastic shape. However, for the sake of auathenticity this jacket exhibits some but very little "cockpit" wear to the sharp edges of the shoulders. In addition, what pleases me the most is that there are no unwanted holes visible in the leather what so ever.




If there is any wear it is on the back of the jacket and to the shoulders. But, I would attribute this worn look more to the different shades of aging on the grain of the leather visible in the separate pieces of leather that make up the back side of the jacket. This jacket exhibits a tremendous grain throughout.



The most significant problem with the jacket that concerns me is the zipper. The original zipper appears to have been replaced with a more modern Talon. I knew this going into the deal and I anticipated changing it out along with the knits. I will be on the look out for a NOS tripple marked Talon for a replacment. I originally thought that the jacket was missing one of it's pocket flap buttons but this missing button was found in the inside map pocket. A noteable difference, these buttons are smaller than the buttons used on my other G-1 jackets.





I must admit that while over the past two weeks that while this jacket was in transit to me I constantly worried about the length of the sleeves. This worry was initiated after reading Zoomer's rendition of the need for gauntlet glooves while wearing the M-422A. After trying on this jacket this worry proved unfounded. I was rest assured that the length of the sleeves on this Willis & Geiger M-422A are plenty ample and there is a great deal of "tunneling" going on.

The dimensions of this jacket are more than ample and this is the largest jacket that I have by far. From armpit to armpit at the front is 26 1/2" and at the back 26". The shoulder to shoulder measurement is a full 22 1/2". The sleeve leather length is 24" with a total of 27" to include the cuffs. The length of the back of the jacket from the nape to the end of the waistband cuffs are 26". I could have used a much smaller size jacket but it is nice to have a flight jacket that I can wear multiple layers of clothing under.

Im glad your happy with the jacket, and that a forum member picked it up.

Sid Vintage said:

He's also got a killer CBI A-2 that has appeared on Ebay a few times already then been pulled on the last day.

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what's the item number/ebay link? or maybe his seller id on ebay will be useful.

cheers

Maverickson said:

[I must admit that while over the past two weeks that while this jacket was in transit to me I constantly worried about the length of the sleeves. This worry was initiated after reading Zoomer's rendition of the need for gauntlet glooves while wearing the M-422A.

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Nope, that's the original M-422, no A, I was talking about.
The sleeves were deliberately speced too short so the knits wouldn't bunch up under the gauntlets.

Sure is a great looking piece - enjoy it.
I myself emailed them a few Qs about it, but they don't answer email. Vintage sales technique!

Re: If your in Toronto and in the market for a size 48 M-422

Two years and a few months later I have finally completed the jacket I purchased in Toronto. This has turned out to be one fantastic jacket! You may not be able to tell from these pictures but the leather is ultra heavy with deep graining throughout.





Something else you may not be able to appreciate from these photos is the true dimensions of this size 48 jacket. The shoulders are truly 22" across with full 26.5" pits. This has got to be one of the most generously proportioned M-422A ever made.

After a seven month long wait Aero completed the work. Not to mention, it took quite some time to source all the necessary parts to make what I had hoped would be a successful refurbishing.

To begin, the knits were supplied to me by Gibson & Barnes. Then, last year I had purchased a mouton garment and let the sun do some work viewtopic.php?f=15&t=5124 as I wanted the jacket to retain that vintage look. The most time consuming and difficult part to source was finding a original Deco style Sunburst Talon zipper as I felt it would be the heart of this jackets restoration as seen below.



In spite of me supplying Aero with the original Talon zipper seen above they failed to attach the zipper. Insult to injury they did a fantastic job with all the associated work. Attaching all knits, mouton, lining, and reproduction zipper assembly as well as could have been expected. This failure on Aero's behalf to attach the correct zipper was a great disappointment. Although not exactly clear, this zipper seen below is a reproduction and not what I had originally sent to be attached.



Now I am going to find out what really happened.

Cheers, Dave

Re: If your in Toronto and in the market for a size 48 M-422

The jacket looks just great, Dave, so I wouldn't be too disappointed with the zipper. Can you change the slider to the original?

Re: If your in Toronto and in the market for a size 48 M-422

deeb7 said:

The jacket looks just great, Dave, so I wouldn't be too disappointed with the zipper. Can you change the slider to the original?

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Hi Dave,

Well I think that they at least attached an original slider to the assembly. It looks as though it was the one viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2969 I changed out on the brass Talon that came with the jacket as a replacement. What bothers me to begin with is the original hold up in sending the jacket out to be refurbished was locating the correct zipper assembly. It took me over a year to locate the one I found.

After checking with J.C. he indicated that this W & G M-422A was an early model and did in fact come with the Sunburst Deco Talon. In addition, Since sending the jacket out I have seen several same model jackets come and go through eBay with this same original zipper. So it was in fact correct to the jacket.

To begin with this zipper was so important to the project, I was very specific in my instructions in the package sent to Aero. Within the package I included detailed written instructions, photographs & illustrations of exactly how and exactly where the zipper should be attached. Those instructions were in fact followed very well but they simply attached another & wrong zipper assembly!

The jacket only arrived yesterday so this morning I inquired with Aero as to the whereabouts of my original zipper that I had intended them to use!

Cheers, Dave

Re: If your in Toronto and in the market for a size 48 M-422

Sorry about the zipper frustration, Dave, but the jacket came out extremely well - congratulations!

Re: If your in Toronto and in the market for a size 48 M-422

Maverickson said:

The jacket only arrived yesterday so this morning I inquired with Aero as to the whereabouts of my original zipper that I had intended them to use!

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Oh I see, it didn't come back with the jacket ..... I hope it turns up.

Re: If your in Toronto and in the market for a size 48 M-422

I'd be cranky too. Hope you get it back and a good explanation- that's crazy.

Dave when you get too frustrated with it let me know.

Re: If your in Toronto and in the market for a size 48 M-422

Wow, it looks great, what a difference. So when can I expect the finders fee? :lol:

Re: If your in Toronto and in the market for a size 48 M-422

Hi All,

It looks as though I have solved the mystery of the lost Sunburst Talon. It turns out that the fabric tape was fragile. When the zipper assemblies were initially attached and even before topstitched it was test zipped and it immediately failed. In the end, Aero was generous enough to have supplied me with a reproduction zipper to complete the work.

Cheers, Dave

Re: If your in Toronto and in the market for a size 48 M-422

Dave,

Very nicely done. It looks great!