If you’re into the whole ‘mod’ thing, this iconic item of clothing is a must have, especially if you ride a scoot. After posting about the “Being” movie, I received a few queries asking ‘where can I get those coats?” Well as many of you know (just skip this post if you do!), it was the coat of choice for the original scooter-riding mods, mainly worn as a functional garment to keep their smart clothes clean. It’s been years since I’ve worn one myself, but they were a pretty decent overgarment, tough, reasonably waterproof while you were wearing them, your body heat somehow keeping you fairly dry in all but torrential downpours. Once you took it off though, it the whole coat became sodden!
If you’re going to wear a parka, how you ‘dress’ it is up to you, but IMHO, less is more. Just because you can get a bunch of target and union jacks patches on t’interet, doesn’t mean you should. Beware the whole ‘comedy mod’ tag! This, by the way, isn’t a modern phenomenon. We took a very high handed attitude to kids (the same age as us) in the early eighties wearing patches that said “Remember ’64” (you don’t!) and “We’ll fight them on the beaches” (you won’t!).
The one pictured above, US hooded shell M51, is available on Amazon here
lambrettista.net 
i used to pay between £5 and £8 for 51 parakas, we used to call them Korean parkas, after the war in Korean, i used to leave them at rallys and service stations when they were soaked through after riding in the rain,it took me a few years to get some water proofs, bright yellow ones with NCB on the back, free of charge as i worked at the pit, finish on Friday morning night shift and off to a rally or wigan or manchester to see mates in my yellow NCB waterproofs,,they were warm and dry,,but how much for a parka now,,lol,comedy paying that for one of them,,stupid patches or not,,my parka had club patches on it no paddy patches cos i hated them and thought they were for comedy scooterists on their PX125s
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I think I used to pay a bit more… £10 to £12 from an Army Surplus store, but I’m ‘down south’ and things were always more expensive! I actually think the Amazon one isn’t too bad at £80, it looks pretty authentic… I saw original ones going a few years ago for a couple of hundred quid… used to always keep mine in the boot of the car as an emergency coat!
Once thing I can’t abide is the “designer parka” each to their own… but not for me.
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