help vintage datsun race suits!

[aceofspades]

ok i'm trying to clone

vintage racing fire suits

i have photos of the off white creamish bob shap suit

but more photots help!

any BRE photos?

[aceofspades]

also any good place to get vintage patches?

[cbudvet]

Check on ebay. There are a few different patches for sale. I don't know how many are period correct but you should check them out.

carl

[Mike B]

i have photos of the off white creamish bob shap suit

The only photos of Bob Sharp's racing suits I have seen were gold with black cuffs and stripes. There is someone on ebay that has been trying to sell one that he says is original for months now with no luck http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-Datsun-BOB-SHARP-Racing-FIRE-SUIT-SCCA-RaceMark-/200507420101?pt=US_Racing_Fan_Shop. The B&W photo from the ARRC shown in the ad, shows Bob's name under the Datsun patch on the right side, instead of on the left side as the one on ebay has, so I'm not totally convinced it is original. Maybe it is a later suit? The period photos I have seen of John Morton show him in a similar gold suit.

By the way, why are you trying to "clone" one these vintage suits? What do you plan to do with them?

-Mike

[gnosez]

What's your timeline for this effort? I will be going through all the paperwork and pictures from the BSR file cabinets in September in the hopes of digitizing anything related to Zs, Datsun/Nissan and BSR history.

[aceofspades]

well lets just say i like the vintage look and i would like to make them for vintage racers

I got time but the first jump suit i wanna make will be white with a blue strip and cuffs and the old school datsun patch as well....

I'm making a datsun competition patch with the carbs logo and racing flags as well

best pics I got so far

[aceofspades]

If you look at the Ebay suit its real!

its a got the right racemark tag in it also if you look at these pics and other you can see on the arms racemark patch. sadly racemark just makes car carpets now but still uses that logo =(

[Mike B]

So it looks like you have all the photos you need to start the cloning process now. Are you hoping that vintage racers will actually wear these while racing? If so, are going to be making these out of Nomex or whatever the modern fire resistant material is? Do you have any prior experience making racing suits? If I was racing I would be much more concerned with the safety protection the suit provided than what it looks like.

-Mike

[cbudvet]

Ace,

Are you planning to make it from scratch or purchase an aftermarket "vintage" race suit and try to Datsun it up a bit. I have seen several different styles available that are nomex and meet all the requirements needed to race. Unfortunately they are not exact. Some of them have colored stripes and other patches already on them. I don't know how hard it would be to remove some of the patches etc. to start off with a more basic look. I have only limited experience with sewing in general (from 4-H as a kid) and it can be really difficult. Not having worked with other materials such as Nomex and other fire retardant materials I don't know how hard it is. Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

carl

[cbudvet]

I was just thinking about this again. When it comes to the patches and emblems on the suit, one thought would be instead of reproducing a patch and then sewing it on a suit, there are sewing machines that you can embroider with. You can download the image onto the machine and it will do the rest. I have known some people that do this for dog shows and make custom shirts etc. for people. The one thing I don't know is what this would do to the fire rating ability of the suit. Because it is a sewing process and would compress the fabric, it might weaken it. Anywho, just some thoughts.

carl

[aceofspades]

plan is to buy one after market and put the patches on its strip it. Gold is a hard color to find.

as far as burning goes patches are the way to go. embroider burns funny on the suits i have to call around to the company who make suits and see if they can help out this is just a starter one off deal for now for a celeb to be named later