Steve McQueen's B-3 from The War Lover

[FlakMagnet]

Came across this today on the "Suit Up! The Flight Jacket" group on Facebook this morning. (Original link)

Bonham's Auction listing

A fascinating specimen for sure!

 

[Dumpster D]

Thanks for posting this. Was just thinking about how cool that jacket is, just the other night. Augh! That looks like a plastic zipper!!! AUGH The cuffs and shoulder patches!!! ...of course no picture of the tag either. Of course it needs shoulder patches look at the hanger!!!! AUGH!

What have they done to those sleeves!?!?? Why would they bother to do work on it, and THEN sell it?

 

[ties70]

If you do a quick check on Google about McQueen and War Lover, you will see that McQueen had several B-3 jackets to choose from.

Some were in worse shape than others (cuffs, heavy wear to the sleeves) but none of them shows the same collar...they are full and fluffy, while the Ebay jackets seems to have been shaved at some time.

The torso of the Ebay jacket is in bad shape compared to the movie jackets....

Bonham's acknowledges that the Jacket was not used by McQueen, but kept in the costumes' department...

That's a steep price tag for

- a messed up unwearable jacket
- which was not worn by somebody famous
- might have been kept on a film set one time

Well, maybe I should offer my RMNZ B-10:

- it was made for Red Tails by G. Lucas
-never worn by anyone but me
- is in great shape

;-) Ties

 

[Micawber]

The key word in the description is…

“Reputed”

Traceable provenance is one thing, “reputed” is another.

 

[Griffon_301]

looks a bit like my more than 25 years old ELC B-3 now

reminds me to watch that movie again sometime now...

 

[Dumpster D]

...I watched the movie last night, some of the scenes look based on the film 'target for today'. Has some good action, bad love interest plotline, and a dumb ending, but otherwise watchable.

 

[FlakMagnet]

So, a reputable source messaged me last night to chime in regarding this jacket.

Here's what John Chapman (yes, The John Chapman (aka @buzzthetower)) said:

"Hello FM,

I'm John Chapman of Good Wear. I saw this post, and the post on the FB page about the B-3. It's definitely a different one than the one used in the movie. McQueen wears a Version 3 B-3 which has a three piece back, while this one is the later model which has a four piece back. The later model has a panel under each arm between the front and back pieces, while McQueen's original only has the small triangle in the hip area, which Version 3 jackets have.

It's a bit sad how jackets are sold without doing some sleuthing to see if it's really the same thing. The details are obvious enough that one can catch when comparing images of the jacket he wore with this sale jacket. It's also sad when people are shown why a jacket isn't what they say, and are then told "Well, I know it was, because I bought it from the estate." or something like that. I hope the guy takes the news well.

It may have been a part of the movie, as I'm sure a number of originals were acquired for everyone on the set, but McQueen appears to have not worn it.

Thanks!
John"

He also added:

"Anyone staring at the jacket is going to see that it's a Version 3 model, though most won't look if they aren't really that interested. We all love to see stuff that's vintage, even if it wasn't in a particular movie. I know a bit about vintage B-3s, but I can't tell which company made that one, just by what I see so far. It's a jacket from the period where Version 4 panels were cut, but redskins were still being used.

If a jacket could be had from that movie, Robert Wagner's B-3 looks like it's almost new condition. I bet that one was cool.

Thanks!
John "

 

[Enigma1938]

Hmmmm... there are two different B3's in this offer - look at the cuffs. Which one may be the one you get?

 

[FlakMagnet]

update: it appears the original post on the Facebook group has been deleted by the poster.

press to pay respects

Womp Womp Womp - Sad Trombone at its best

The internet’s HTML5-iest, responsivest, auto-playingest, saddest trombone

wompwompwomp.com

 

[FlakMagnet]

...I watched the movie last night, some of the scenes look based on the film 'target for today'. Has some good action, bad love interest plotline, and a dumb ending, but otherwise watchable.

It isn't my favourite movie either, but I love the first 20 mins of it, and the scene of the B-17 flying crazy low.

 

[Dumpster D]

Hmmmm... there are two different B3's in this offer - look at the cuffs. Which one may be the one you get?

I think it looks like the same Jacket, someone's patched the cuffs and done something with the finish on the sleeves.

 

[Micawber]

Filmed at Bovingdon, not far from where I grew up...

The Story of the Filming of The War Lover by Jake Jacobson

www.pbase.com