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Thread: What is the allure of "old tat"?

  1. #1
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    What is the allure of "old tat"?

    Couldn't resist these old boxed Edward Lewis Westover nomex racing boots as worn by msny of leading drivers circa 73>
    image.png
    image.png
    Hunt wearing them inspecting his RHD first series RS before the repaint
    image.jpeg
    Joest 73 RSR...
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    Stewart on two wheels...
    image.jpeg
    Fittipaldi in championship year...
    image.jpg
    Sheckter..
    image.jpg
    Peterson too
    image.jpeg
    image.jpeg...
    Hunt being a freewheeling sort used to cut off the toe sections...
    image.jpeg
    Last edited by 911MRP; 05-15-2018 at 04:40 AM.

  2. #2
    Xavier Petit-Jean-Boret Xavier PJB's Avatar
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    Very cool !
    Is there any continuity in production like or some repro ?
    X
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    No these are vintage originals ...old racer said he'd only used them to set up a race car and had taped up soles and heels with masking tape to protect them. Can't see me ever wearing them but seemed too nice an item to junk. Nicer than the modern vintage style stuff but obviously not got approvals. Got old school 70s race suit and nos Nomex socks that I won't wear either.

    Redman at Sebring in March 72 looks to be sporting a pair of these boots while soaking up the sunshine
    image.jpeg
    Last edited by 911MRP; 11-18-2018 at 05:05 AM. Reason: Add new photo to old post

  4. #4
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    ...
    .while I'm sure Mr Redman has latest approved footwear and always uses them when racing interesting to see him still sporting a trusty old pair of Westovers in the paddock at Goodwood today as he wore nearly fifty years ago. He too seems to find allure in old tat

    IMG_20190704_164016.jpg

    Steve
    Last edited by 911MRP; 07-04-2019 at 01:15 PM. Reason: Better picture

  5. #5
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    They were pretty much the only game in town back then, very comfortable, suit for purpose. Who made the all leather booties like Pedro Rodriguez wore? I've never been able to find out, maybe custom?
    David

    '73 S Targa #0830 2.7 MFI rebuilt to RS specs

  6. #6
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    Hi David

    Looks like Pedro Rodriguez also wore Westover by Edward Lewis but the leather driver version with just couple of lace-hole version rather than the nomex full lace-up race version favoured by most drivers shown in the many earlier posts above.

    Pedro Rodriguez choice of footwear is fairly clear in this photo with the distinctive lighter shade ( possibly tan? ) leather heel cup
    93FA6CF5-B7D3-463E-9214-A6EC2B8E5929.jpg
    FFADF09F-5094-41AB-8F4D-F0502126A39F.jpg
    Seem very similar to this example in particular that heel pivot usually being a contrast colour and distinctive shape designed for driving
    83A52D20-B6FA-484F-A479-AAC81CC594F8.jpg
    The trademark cup shape heel is referred to as a functional point for drivers by Jenks in this Motor Sport article.

    810D6AE6-BE40-4DF2-B9C4-08BEF4090584.jpg
    The above appeared October 1965, it says “ Those readers who scan the advertisements in MOTOR SPORT before they read the editorial matter, and who doesn’t, will have seen frequent advertisements for Westover Driving Shoes, but do not suppose many will realize that the man behind Westover is not only an established shoe manufacturer in Northampton, but also one of the regular racing crowd on British circuits. Edward Lewis has been in club, national and International racing for many years with saloon cars, and various models of Lotus (not the shoe manufacturers, but the Cheshunt cars.) and developed the current Driving Shoe, as well as Grand Prix driver’s racing boots, while racing himself. Apart from its reasonable price and soft leather the Westover has a crafty wrap-round heel that makes a good Pivot for the heel when driving and does not dig holes in the carpets, as my present normal shoes have done to the carpets on the E-type Jaguar in 20,000 miles. Due to various big business deals in the shoe industry Lewis is having to re-organise his shoe manufacturing and intends to concentrate on footwear for motoring people, so it is nice to know that there is a manufacturer of a non-mechanical article amongst us who can look after our needs. You don’t have to drive all the time, when wearing Westover’s, as I have found, you can sit about in them and even walk in them as well! – D.S.J”

    Westovers were made in county of Northamptonshire U.K. long famous as quality footwear centre for decades
    D370F8AC-9704-451E-BDB8-570A7F0C1895.jpg

    These are Westovers but the distinctive heel shape and colour is not clear from this angle although ther might have been variations?
    18E44235-7A0F-41EB-88A3-7E3253A511B6.jpeg

    I have two versions both the blue Nomex racing boot shown in my OP and a pair of leather driver style like Rodriguez — what you call booties — also Westover by Edward Lewis. My leather ones have a big label like the drivers boot. I’ll post picture of these leather ones when next to hand.

    As you say they and were the only game in town for a while until the Italians but that started which was around 1965 according to this article. A bit of a false start with glue rather than stitched but soon modified:

    https://www.hagerty.co.uk/articles/t...de-for-racing/

    While period photos do show drivers did indeed wear regular shoes as stated in the Hagerty article I don’t think the narrative in this article is balanced in timeline. I believe Westover were around from the early sixties.

    Certainly the Jenks article (reproduced above) stated the Westover adverts had been appearing in MotorSport some time before October 1965 do we’re commercially available that year.

    From the article in the link the Italian race boots didn’t seem to have got going in any commercial quantity beyond the initial glued then modified three prototype for 1965. Sernd not really offered in any commercial scale until after Elford was offered a free pair for event of 1968? The Hegarty article says:
    “though he’d have to wait another few years for his big breakthrough. That came thanks to some fleet-footed marketing in the Targa paddock, as recalled by veteran road racer Vic Elford: “In 1968, Ciccio came round to all the drivers saying he’d like to make a special pair of racing shoes for us” he says. “Everyone else was dismissive, but I took him up on his offer.

    Probably fair to highlight out the chronology from the two narratives. Particularly in light of the dismissive spin on the Northampton made driving footwear 1965 in the Hagerty web link. I don’t doubt the Italian ones are wonderful but to dismiss the Northampton race boot offerings as “ clodhoppers” when still adorned the feet of so many driving greats for another decade into the seventies ( as evident in some the photos in prior posts) is not balanced reporting by Hagerty article. Lewis died a few years ago so can’t tell his story.

    It is correct period photos show dome drivers did wear regular shoes back then but equally clearly specialised driving product Edward Lewis branded also existed and was being offered commercially in motoring magazines as far back as 1965 it seems! Not just a few samples.

    In addition to Lewis another BRDC member Les Leston in U.K. also made racing lace up boots Protex brand in the 60s
    93149A47-C04F-4B11-98E7-598A950CAA60.jpeg
    As well as leather lace up driving boot and slip on shoes in the sixties as featured in catalogues and adverts for accessories in Motor Sport.
    32A8C82A-C449-4A43-989A-C57DD8EA67BB.jpg
    Also around from roughly mid 60s but while some similarities they are different style to Rodriguez leather ones in photo above. They had a more pronounced and angled heel on the leather ones when compared to that of Westovers and dint seem to have the contrast cup shaped heel.

    Not FiA approved today obviously but if Brian Redman still occasionally wears his Westover vintage Nomex pottering around historic event paddock now then that’s good enough for me to kick around in too

    A81CB806-B9C4-4839-8D8E-182E57621506.jpeg

    When I spotted him in them them at the goodwood FoS paddock and had a chat about them he said although he has an wears current FiA approved ones to comply in events he really prefers these vintage nomex Westovers — pair which maybe even date back to this photo in 70s
    556F1C3F-A79F-4A56-9596-412A88EA61A0.jpg

    Steve
    Last edited by 911MRP; 01-05-2022 at 07:32 AM. Reason: Spelling and timeline

  7. #7
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    Very cool !!!
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  8. #8
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    This pair a bit more colourful said to be worn by racer who was stunt driver on the Italian job movie with its fun car chases
    2FF6E826-093F-468D-8113-ECFABAD5D0C1.jpg

    A few more photos of Rodriguez in that footwear. Design of boot seem consistent with Westover driving boot with couple of lace-holes although the heel area is not always in a typical contrast colour.
    639C2F23-797F-401F-BC88-9604A6C785E3.jpg
    B4F8918A-9534-4380-BE23-6AA61CE27010.jpeg
    8ACE6D6D-EE54-4EA7-9276-7A7DDDDFC250.jpeg

    For comparison a pair ( image below ) of period what David calls “bootie” that are known to Westover by Edward Lewis these may not have the light tan heel contrast either. Possibly some were all black without the tan or with useable the tan got dirty or polished black?

    489A00CE-9045-4561-8579-40507D46E5EB.jpeg

    Jim Clark driving boot taken in 1965 at Brands Hatch (possibly the March RoC?) appears to Westovers (pictured above) they have the cupped heel but usual Westover lighter (tan) contrast not so apparent

    BD6A3A5C-7BE4-4CD8-9928-B2D55DB3260E.jpeg

    EDIT: with other photos emerging of Clark wearing boots with the distinctive tan heel in 1965 it seems highly likley these are Westover GP boot ( see later posts where the tan heel is visible in colour photos of Jim Clark possibly as early as 1963 )

    Either way obviously quite different style from (and almost certainly preceding) the Ciccio production which in 1965 were made as a glue prototype and do-over three pair only commission for drivers in the May Targa of 1965.

    The Hagerty article says Fittipaldi was a Ciccio customer which I don’t doubt but he must have worn other brands as this picture clearly shows him wearing Westover nomex version in one of his championship winning year 1974 — drivers may have switched supplier.

    49901E37-33FB-46F2-A24C-10639B8DC37A.jpeg

    Been interesting to look into this equipment detail — there us a lot of coverage of period wheels here probably because they are attached to car and visible always touched but less for period footwear for another important contact point. I understand why as a second hand wheel is very different appeal to second hand footwear but having a couple of different pairs of Westovers piqued my interest.

    Having read the Jenks’ article from 1965 and the recent Hagerty web article it seems a shame the Hagerty authors felt the need to knock Northamptonshire products by calling them “clodhoppers” and implying the products of Northampton such as Westovers were immediately superseded by Ciccio. Hmm? It is true drivers had worn “regular” shoes (which is a valid point they tried to make) but in overstating that their narrative loses credibility when it completely overlooks the existing specialised driving footwear products that were no doubt available commercially in market and in use at some scale before the Ciccio even “dipped a toe” in these waters with unsuccessful glued prototypes and the enterprising (freebie?) bespoke sample he offered to the toeless Quick Vic at the Targa in May ‘68. I applaud his initiative to make something of the one off commission of several years prior when the targa was on tbe island ; also Jenks piece has a whiff of journalist appreciating a freebie product . However from that Jenks article we learn Westovers by Edward Lewis made in Northampton were evidently already on the market in 1965 and the brand evidently remained racing footwear of choice for many F1 world champions plus other notable drivers long after Ciccio got going and clearly thrived well into the mid (and even later) nineteen-seventies. Not quite the demise in the www piece would have us believe. It seems the demise of Northampton (Westover etc) didn’t happen following the Ciccio launch sometime after 68 targa. Still thriving apparently based on just a cursory glance at all the photos of them being worn as seen throughout this thread. Rather insulting to Edward Lewis and Les Leston who were drivers of standing sufficient to be invited to be members of prestigious BRDC that requires success in the sport not just selling accessories. Possibly the use of Nomex material was a factor in the evident adoption by many of the distinctive blue or red Westover full lace up with that tan heel (vs Rodriguez style leather driver “bootie”). Understandable assuming drivers were seeking to get some better flame resistance by using the available materials of that era. I’m not knocking Ciccio or his product as they are fine product but question the web article’s spin in the narrative.

    Steve
    Last edited by 911MRP; 01-09-2022 at 06:25 PM.

  9. #9
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    For folks who like authenticity detail pretty sure Pedro Rodriguez wore The GP Boot Westover by Edward Lewis made in Northampton.

    Since it is weekend I had an opportunity to take a photo of mine to allow comparison with a fairly clear shot of Rodriguez:
    5426032D-0239-4C2E-ACCF-CA415FAC4FC1.jpg
    Clicked black & white effect to facilitate a comparison to this old photo
    9693BC2D-53BB-4ABD-9854-C5883D10F336.jpeg
    B3BB480A-C644-4568-9D44-DF5A72FF7DC5.jpg
    55648539-FE20-4271-9626-373FCC068F6B.jpg
    Many similarities with the photo of Rodriguez. I imagine he had small feet compared to mine but otherwise seem to be many design similarities: the distinctive shape of the lighter colour heel cup, the lace, general shape.

    I noticed today that my Edward Lewis GP Boots had a Patent No (photo below) so presumably some of the design features were relating to innovations on them for driving and more specifically motorracing use; rather than just being regular footwear.

    C7EEF89C-84D5-49A0-9393-B68120AE0CDC.jpg

    The leather around the inner and outer sides are cut different shape presumably the lower outer than inner is for comfort designed to fall below the outer ankle bone. Also DSJ or Jenks article dated 1965 does point out the benefits of that “crafty” wrap around heel as a pivot so maybe that was subject to a patent — possibly why feature is made more noticeable by using the contrasting lighter( usually tan) leather on some Westovers?

    36879681-E897-4455-949B-D2CD08D72FCF.jpeg
    Source: Denis Jenkinson Motor Sport Magazine published 1965

    The fact these Grand Prix Drivers boots were purpose designed race boots with innovations for driving and available in 1965 seems to question the claim in the Hagerty article about the early days of Ciccio that drivers only had regular street shoes until Ciccio was approached and glued three prototypes of 1965 and then his Elford bespoke pair for the Targa Florio in 1968 that later launched his racing boot business!
    I’ve not checked for a Patent No on my blue nomex Westovers in OP but they have the same tan heel feature.

    Some of the branding info on my pair — small “authenticity” details matter so it is interesting to note that Jenks’ article specifically references Edward Lewis as making Grand Prix Driver’s Boot; this abbreviated form is what my pair are labelled on the inner lining:

    8E1A6B34-A6C5-4077-B51B-CB5FD2417AA3.jpg

    6C616FC6-F4EA-4C0D-9895-652B6C99573F.jpg

    I suppose Rodriguez wore other types and brands of shoes snd boots at different times during his career but the distinctive (possibly patented) features help identification in the photo I attached. Seems more than likely case proven the “booties” David was interested in we’re Westovers GP Boots made by Edward Lewis in Northampton U.K.

    Possibly enough of the distinctive tan heel and lace suggest Jim Clark wore the same style of Westovers of so no higher endorsement needed on my book
    9618C55C-C871-437F-8E90-DDD227595E59.jpg

    Those who know about quality footwear will already know Northampton is a historic footwear centre dating back for over a thousand years. Some of the best shoes in the world come from there including ones I’ve worn for year’s who published this history for folks interested in such stuff:

    https://www.trickers.com/trickerpedi...making-history

    Not knocking Italian footwear craftsmen or Ciccio who no doubt makes fine boots but on other hand irritated the Hagerty authors felt the need to have a go at Northampton product especially when the chronology from Jenks’ article and adverts in quality specialty press like Motor Sport he mentions in 1965 seem to disprove the Hagerty www article’s spin that implies that until Ciccio invented the racing boots top drivers only had available “clodhopper” regular everyday shoes. Some drivers did wear regular street shoes but evidence of the existence of Westover GP Boots in 1965 seems to suggest that the claim is not entirely correct. Or should that be as they say in Cockney rhyming slang “a load of old cobblers”

    Steve
    Last edited by 911MRP; 01-08-2022 at 10:35 AM.

  10. #10
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    Didn’t Moss wear boxing boots?
    David

    '73 S Targa #0830 2.7 MFI rebuilt to RS specs

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