The good people at Cold Splinters (which is fantastic and should be on your daily reading list) put me onto some amazing digitized vintage Backpacker magazines. More than the articles, I was drawn to the old-school ads for some of the same outfitters we are still talking about today. Companies like Sierra Designs, Danner, The North Face and Woolrich. It is cool to see the look and feel from the late seventies and early eighties. I especially love the illustrated ads. I remember reading magazines and catalogs like Campmor as a kid and dreaming over kick-ass camping equipment.
Note the price of the Quoddy mocs! 19.98…
Christina
on May 12th, 2009
@ 9:23 AM:
Wow, I love that man’s mustachio in the second image.
plaidout
on May 12th, 2009
@ 10:08 AM:
Google Books is the best. I’m on January 1979. In my spare time, I’ve been reading these cover to cover for the last several months. Great post!
Randall
on May 12th, 2009
@ 10:32 AM:
Aaah, the days when The North Face and Sierra Designs were still in Berkeley. I remember Gore-Tex ads the most since family friends were involved in Patagonia and Black Diamond in their Ventura and SLC offices ages ago, it was an intense rivalry for Patagonia, they hoped their H2No system would be the Gore-Tex beater. Didn’t turn out that way. Good stuff here ACL.
ruby
on May 12th, 2009
@ 10:51 AM:
thanks for the tip. cold splinters is amazing.
Ivan
on May 12th, 2009
@ 10:53 AM:
That bit about Campmor catalogs is right on the money. Takes me back.
andrew
on May 12th, 2009
@ 11:46 AM:
the Wilderness Experience ad is a hammer
sam
on May 12th, 2009
@ 12:39 PM:
oh man – i also had a bunch of well-thumbed campmor catalogs – and u.s. cavalry also – anything with pocket knives will definitely keep a 10 year old’s attention for hours
The Look
on May 12th, 2009
@ 1:07 PM:
Great stuff. Back in the early- to mid-70s it was REI, Eddie Bauer and cycling parts catalogs for me.
The Ancient
on May 12th, 2009
@ 1:12 PM:
I really object to the use of the word “vintage” to describe things from the day before yesterday.
OTOH, I remember being similarly offended, 20 years ago, when a shopgirl examined a wristwatch I had taken in for repair and exclaimed, “Oh, an antique!”
(I was going to say, “No, it’s something my parents gave me when I graduated from high school” but I caught myself in time.)
Jeff
on May 12th, 2009
@ 3:40 PM:
Those old Wilderness Experience packs are great. Bummer they’re so damn expensive on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-WILDERNESS-EXPERIENCE-BACKPACK-DAYPACK-LEATHER_W0QQitemZ220409262736QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item33516a7290&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A570%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50
Michael Williams
on May 12th, 2009
@ 4:11 PM:
The Ancient — if you had a 30 year old car would it be safe to say it is vintage? Or just not new? Maybe slightly old…
Jeff — We’ll posting a link like that is only going to make matters worse.
ACL
robbo
on May 12th, 2009
@ 6:22 PM:
are you vintage m.wils
Michael Williams
on May 12th, 2009
@ 6:23 PM:
I’m slightly old.
ACL
Paco
on May 12th, 2009
@ 6:30 PM:
Some of the “good old brands” really aren’t anymore. I used and eventually wore out several Woolrich woolen products from the mid-70s (Alaska shirt, whipcord pants). The wool they use in their products today is unbelievably poor quality; must be from recycled Chinese army blankets.
Bemidji Woolen Mills still makes a reasonably good quality 85% wool Alaska style shirt and other products.
The quality of wool that C.C. Filson uses – especially in classic items like #110 Mackinaw Cruiser and #90 vest – is equal to or better than it was 35 years ago.
The Ancient
on May 12th, 2009
@ 9:15 PM:
MW –
When someone with a blog puts up a set of pictures from an old JPress catalogue, or something from Brooks or The Andover Shop, or Chipp or Tripler, and pretends they’re Howard Carter peering into Tutankahmen’s tomb, I find it deeply unsettling. (I had those clothes. I do not miss them.)
As for your question — one of my cars is a 1956 Willys, and I am pretty sure I think it’s merely very old and an annoyance to keep in repair.
(Strictly speaking, the answer to your question — in most states — is a matter for the DMV when it passes out license plates to cars that pass for “antique.” Bureaucrats in most places seem to put it at about 30 years. As in “never trust anyone over 30.”)
Paul
on May 13th, 2009
@ 11:13 AM:
Thanks for reccommending Cold Splinters… it’s one of my new favorite sites to visit
Bruce J
on May 13th, 2009
@ 11:43 AM:
I enjoyed the article but, as a researcher and writer in the area of “vintage” or “classic” outdoor gear, I was amazed to see the definition of “vintage” pushed up to that later 1970s and early 1980s! The really classic gear innovating companies were such illustrious names as GERRY MOUNTAIN PRODUCTS and HOLUBAR MOUNTAINEERING, which began right after World War II. There were a goodly number of very classy innovating companies ‘way before the later 1970s!
Michael Williams
on May 13th, 2009
@ 11:45 AM:
Oh god, enough with the word vintage. You people are nuts.
ACL
Bruce J
on May 13th, 2009
@ 11:46 AM:
If folks would like to view my 40+ pages of web coverage about classic outdoor companies, just Google a company name like “Holubar,” and my site comes up at or near the top.
Paco
on May 13th, 2009
@ 3:23 PM:
Like Bruce J, I’m quite familiar with the innovative pre-WWII and early post-WWII American mountaineering/backpacking equipment companies. Perhaps the most innovative was Berkley’s famous Ski Hut – the role model for North Face, Sierra Designs and other Bay Area manufacturers in the 60s-70s – which originated, like REI, in the 1930s. Other pioneers were the Himalayan Pack company in Monterey and, of course, Kelty, originally in Southern CA and later Squaw Valley.
All are long gone except for Kelty. They had innovative products and great technical skills but, more typical than not of small manufacturers, eventually failed as marketers and distributors.
Paco
on May 13th, 2009
@ 3:26 PM:
“Vintage” is in the eye of the beholder. In an era when most people have little or no historic memory – “educators” know that it’s easier to manipulate people when they know nothing of their history – some folks consider the 1980s to be “vintage”.
And consider: for today’s teenage boys the 1965 Mustang that debuted when I was a high school sophomore is more distant from their high school years than the last Model T to roll off the assembly line in 1927 was to me at the time the Mustang debuted.
Michael Williams
on May 13th, 2009
@ 3:32 PM:
I was born in 1978. If shit was around before me I consider it vintage. Also, this puts a close to the vintage discussion here. No more comments on the matter. (I can do that because I run the joint.)
ACL
Stephen
on May 18th, 2009
@ 1:07 AM:
I love campmor for it illustrations. It’s a shame that it’s such a rarity to find illustrations in catalogs.