Real McCoys UK made B-3

[Roughwear]

At the request of John Lever here is a thread on my duo tone B-3. This jacket is a bit of an enigma. It has a RM label in it along with a Made in the United Kingdom label. The fleece was from the Fenland tannery, which could account for the made in the UK label, but there is no proof it was actually manufactured in the UK. BTW it is a superb B-3, the best repro that I have owned. It is a very comfortable jacket and has been worn a lot over the last few months. I'll post some wearing pics shortly.

 

[John Lever]

Thanks Andrew, what a superb jacket. If you ever decide to sell ......
Seriously though this could be a very early jacket from the 1990's before RM split into RMJ RMNZ and Toys McCoys. Paddy did once tell me that there was once a UK agent,so perhaps the jacket dates from that time. I offered to buy the jacket the first time it came up for more than the second owner sold it for. Funny how things are sometimes.

 

[John Lever]

Real McCoys had a factory here in 1996 for one year so that is when it was made.
A rare beast.
Paddy asked Masa for me.

 

[Roughwear]

Thanks for this John. Any idea where the RM factory was located?

 

[John Lever]

The late Andrew Tinnion at Fenland tannery used to make jackets with the Moorlands label so assuming the skins were from Fenland I would say that they were made there. The current jackets are made of skins from Mattes Germany.

 

[PaulGT3]

Looks very much like the Goodwear I have.

 

[Roughwear]

Do you mean the one with the white fleece?

 

[PaulGT3]

No I got one with much more honey colored fleece. Might have been his last test jacket.
THe Fleece is almost identical to yours but mine is almost an inch instead of 3/4.
Beautiful

 

[John Lever]

No I got one with much more honey colored fleece. Might have been his last test jacket.
THe Fleece is almost identical to yours but mine is almost an inch instead of 3/4.
Beautiful

Hi Paul,
It would be informative to see some photos and a review if you have time. I think there a many here who plant to buy one of JC's B-3's.

 

[PaulGT3]

I will do that this weekend

 

[Anonymous]

Andrew, the Talon looks like repro. Is it?

 

[Roughwear]

Original M42 puller/slider on repro Talon track.

 

[sg1011]

How can you tell if it is a repro or original? I also have a RMNZ with the same type of Talon but I wouldn't know if it was an original or not.

 

[John Lever]

RM do that, my Anj-4 has a WW2 Conmar zip...just fitted it because it was there. It works perfectly.

 

[Roughwear]

How can you tell if it is a repro or original? I also have a RMNZ with the same type of Talon but I wouldn't know if it was an original or not.

They can be hard to tell apart. when you have seen most original zips you get a feel for what is original and what is a repro. As far as repros are concerned the precise shape, choice of metal and detail on the stopper box can be a give away as can the teeth, which are often more robust looking on original Talons. Very often repro Talon have rounded corners on the slider, where as originals like on my zip were angular. The devil really is in the fine detail.