Vintage Pan Am Bags

Reproduction vintage Pan Am travel bag, wash bag and passport cover

Flying High
Established in 1927, Pan American was at one time the largest international air carrier in the States. The airline began as a  began as a mail and passenger service between Florida and Havana and grew to be an innovator and major International force in the airline industry.

Peaking in the 60s and 70s,  the airline boasted millions of passengers, flying in 150 jets to 86 foreign destinations. Its slogan was The World's Most Experienced Airline, designed to instill confidence and familiarity in passengers.

Back in the days when air travel was largely the province of the affluent, possessing an airline bag was something rather special - it meant you were an air traveller and thus one of the fortunate few who could afford to fly. After the arrival of the jet age in the late 50s, the first Pan Am airline bag, the Orion (above), was given away to jet -setters in the 1960s. The perfect size for on board travel.

Chesty Bond

Bonds Underwear Icon

Chesty Bond

An icon of Australian manufacturing, the fictional Bond's advertising model, Chesty Bond, is a nostalgic testament to notions of mid 20th century machismo. With his tanned torso, rippling chest muscles, over-size chin, wavy blonde hair and confident, white-toothed smile, his image spelt out T-E-S-T-O-S-T-E-R-O-N-E...the not so sub-text reading 'real men wear bonds'.

Chesty bond was created by the Ad men in 1938 -chesty because singlets were Bond's thing and they needed a great torso to show off the wares. When Aussie men slipped on a Bond's singlet they could feel powerful by association. The original Chesty model was professional wrestler, Max Whitehead, who died in 2010 at 87.

Chesty's branded logo

Vulcanised rubber models, which are now collectible,  graced the underwear counter of major department stores. Vintage Chesty's are identifiable by a raised logo across the chest, which is absent from modern reproductions.

In 1940 a cartoon version of Chesty Bond (by Syd Miller) began to feature regularly in newspaper advertisements and for the next few decades as well. Australians became as familiar with the jaw jutting man in the singlet as they were with Waltzing Matilda.

Max Whitehead, the original Chesty

Disappointingly, in 2009, the underwear company (Pacific Brands) that was an Australian-made fixture for so long moved shop offshore, closing 7 manufacturing plants in the process. Ah well, as Ned would say...such is industry.

So chesty....Chesty Bond