Talk about being fickle! On March 31, 2011, I posted an article to TTAC about MB-Tex guitar straps and wallets. In that article, there are pictures of five guitars, all made by the Heritage Guitar Company of Kalamazoo, MI. In the past three years, I’ve sold four of them. (The H-170 is still with me.) But I’ve purchased something like two dozen Couch straps since then. And now they have a fascinating new product for those of us who like Malaise accoutrements.
The Charger Wallet is made of “recycled 1970 Dodge Charger vinyl”. As amusing as it would be to think of the guys from Couch stripping the vinyl right off the seats of Crusher-bound Chrysler Company Creations, in general they source their products from the replacement vinyl furnished by the OEMs and suppliers to upholstery shops.
According to Couch, the wallet is
Made in USA, handmade by dudes in California on some serious heavy duty machinery who drive motorcycles and scooters and old American Vans and Japanese hybrids and listen to King Tuff and play guitar after work.
I don’t even know who King Tuff is. I know King Tubby was the remix “selecta” whose low-production vinyl LPs were the undisputed favorites of leather-jacketed British Trotskyites during the Thatcher years. And I know that Tuff Gong was Marley’s record label. So I’m assuming that there’s a connection.
I’ll probably buy one of these wallets — I already have the MB-Tex Red and Jet Age models, and more wallets means more chances to lose my wallet. But I’ll wait until the B&B take their shot at it.
(Disclaimer: We received no free wallets from Couch for posting this. But if a free wallet were to show up at Derek’s house… well, that would be a mistake. Derek doesn’t need a wallet. He’s transitioning to Bitcoin, because the heavy-duty financial transactions required to drive an Aventador would raise the eyebrows of the Canadian Government were he to use their Monopoly Money with pictures of the Queen and whatnot.)
I wonder: Would this company of hipster-biker-steelworker-Buffalo Bill-collectivist-musicians make a wallet out of the seatbelt material of these old vehicles? The vinyl would probably be pretty pokey with those sharp edges, whereas seatbelt material is nigh-invincible, and has a rather nice texture.
Good on you for getting rid of the Heritage guitars. It doesn’t matter how well-made an inferior (albeit pretty) 62 year old guitar design is – it can never be better than its inherent design flaws allow it to be.
I’ve got a Couch wallet and passport cover made out of maroon MB-Tex, and the edges aren’t actually that pokey. I’ve carried them in font and back pockets without noticing any poking. They make a great product that I’m really happy with, even though I have very little in common with the people who make them haha.
I have a couple of their wallets. I like them. They’re different and well made (in America using recycled materials). The car connection is a bonus.
If they’re using the same crappy vinyl used on the seats of any Chrysler of this vintage it will wear out in about a year causing you to lose your money twice on this purchase.
The VW vinyl never dies. Both of my Couch wallets are made of that.
I know, some of those wallets are pretty cool, makes the Charger wallet appear as a parody
Indeed they do.
You must be thinking of the original 1960s vinyl. There’s a company that makes handbags out of the left over rolls of vinyl from 1970s Chrysler products. I think TTAC covered that, but I’m too lazy to look it up.
Judging by some of Murilee’s junkyard finds, not only did a lot of vinyl of the era hold up, the crushed velour seems to have been nearly invincible. I doubt we’ll be seeing any of that made into handbags, much less wallets, but I’d like to see some of the velour interior colors make a comeback.
+1. Maroon Colored Interiors are Awesome!
I have two Couch wallets, and they are excellent. I bought my sister their camera strap, made out of Mustang vinyl, before she went into the peace corps. It has held up quite well. I highly recommend their products.
Their guitar straps look really nice.
Jack – could you elaborate as to how well they distribute the guitar’s weight? I’m 36, 6’3″, and my back hates my 8 1/2lb walnut 8 string.
No better than a Souldier or Jaykco or any other seatbelt-width strap. But better than the old-school thin straps with a pad.
When my back hurt right after my crash, I went with a wide Levy’s leather padded strap.
Edit
My GMC vinyl wallet is holding up pretty well after 2.5 years. It’s getting a little worn in the corners where it folds – mainly from me having to carry around way more stupid plastic cards than I would like and overburdening it.
So do they have “chained” models for true rednecks?
True rednecks use rubber bands.
My dad used rubber bands, but he was an old New England farmer.
1970 was *not* during the malaise era. A true malaise era wallet/guitar strap/codpiece would be made of crushed velour.
..or rich Corinthian leather.
thank you bunkie. It is getting a little OLD to see “Malaise” every time TTAC commenters and writers, who might not be old enough to remember the Nixon/Ford/Carter presidencies, try using it as a reference to all of the 70’s.
This is “Seventies” vinyl, not 1970 vinyl. They’re careful to say that.
You say 1970, hence the confusion
“The Charger Wallet is made of “recycled 1970 Dodge Charger vinyl”.
That’s why I made the comment. The inaccuracy particularly ticked me off since my very first car was a deeply-loved ’69 Charger with white vinyl seats, no less.
To me, the “malaise era” meant that *nothing* offered to the public was worth celebrating. It must be mentioned that the Hemi ‘Cuda and Challenger didn’t even exist until the 1970 model year. I would also not describe my ’71 Challenger 440 as suffering from “malaise”.
I hope it has a change pocket.
I need a change pocket because I live my life a quarter at a time.
Don’t your pants have pockets?
Who wears pants?
I don’t want to know where you keep your wallet
In a European shoulder bag?
He keeps it in his sleeve pocket.
C’mon, it’s a Fast & Furious reference.
The pockets thing? I had no idea.
Where’s my blue-hued crushed vinyl family-crest-of-Ransom-Olds’-valet-embroidered BROUGHAM SUPREME wallet for the true Malaise Aficionado?
This would be amazing.
Is that a 1970 Dodge Charger wallet in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?
Bitcoin? What about the Mt Gox fiasco?
Not that I’m a big bitcoin fan, but The MtGox fiasco is more like a bank robbery than a failure of bitcoin. If MtGox had better mgmt the fraud would have been caught early and stopped in its tracks.
> Not that I’m a big bitcoin fan, but The MtGox fiasco is more like a bank robbery than a failure of bitcoin.
It’s different in that due to the lack of legal visibility the robbed have no real recourse.
> If MtGox had better mgmt the fraud would have been caught early and stopped in its tracks.
It’s pretty funny that despite all these bt “bank robberies” no robbers have ever been caught. The tale of nebulous hackers is quite convenient.
Speaking of caught early, a charitable narrative:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=497289.0
Lookit dat pitcher!
Dat car’s wenis done punched clean thru it’s hood!
Dang, dat like ol’ Petey when he come ta town once a munf.
Talkin’ uh dat, we got ta load up some rock salt ’cause he ain’t too choosey an’ it ’bout dat tahm agin.
There is always the Mopar shoulder bag
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2012/09/chrysler-fabric-and-vinyl-from-the-seventies-now-in-convenient-shoulder-bags/#more-461983
Thanks for the link. I remembered that (above), but was too lazy to look it up.
I actually saved the link. My sister wants one for her birthday in 1972 Dodge Dart Swinger blue. It matches the interior of our moms car back in the 70’s that she learned to drive on.
I’m shocked to learn that they expect to fool all of the people all of the time after all. I guess nobody ever went broke underestimating the rube mentality. I’ve been told I’ll get the joke soon. I actually hope not.
They don’t expect to fool ALL the People All the time, but you can make some serious money fooling SOME of the people ALL of the time.
@Jack
Don’t feel so bad. I had to sell my 40th Anniversary Strat, so I could put down a concrete slab for my house in 1996. It had a maple neck and sunburst paint job. Didn’t like the sound as it had a light body, a very sharp sound. My Silver Series II is much more mellow, it’s more of a vintage style Strat, blonde with a rosewood fret board.
Since, you are into muscle cars here are two very interesting links. We had a Charger here in Australia for Valiant (Chrysler), call the E49.
It ran a 265 with triple Webbers. Even quicker than a 911. It was the quickest 6 cylinder in the world, until Porsche was able to best it.
http://www.chargerclubofwa.asn.au/media-detail.asp?iMediaID=7
http://www.uniquecarsmag.com.au/news-and-reviews/article/articleid/81040.aspx
If they aren’t giving you any kickbacks for these endorsements they certainly should consider it. I’ve bought wallets and some camera and guitar straps from them right after your last mention.
And they make great stuff. I heartily endorse their products as well. I’ll definitely be back for more.
I really like their guitar straps, but for some reason, just could never find anything that quite goes with my guitars. This reminds me I need to search again; I got a dark walnut Gretsch 5122DC that is begging for something Western themed.
Although I will say I’m pretty happy with the levy strap I got my Fender Super Sonic. A sparkly flake orange guitar was a challenge to find anything that looked right.
I’m going to file their press release under “worthless hipster crap”.
I have one made from the camera car in Bullit. I will sell it for $300,000.
I have a toaster that is made from genuine ground-up LTDs, Toyota Corollas, Plymouth Horizons and clapped-out Chevy vans. Does that somehow qualify as cool?
Well, if you had a toaster that visibly had an “LTD” badge melted into it, then yeah, it would be!
Big Deal. They gave me one with my checking account!