Picked up a Fatboy!

quattrojames

quattrojames

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1,274
Fatboys seem to have an almost mythical status on here, few people have much bad to say about them. The prices on ebay seem to vary from £30 ish to £150 plus, anyway I picked this one up for £13. It's not perfect, but it all appears straight and true although there is some plating loss inside the head, and the black numbers seem to have come off. I'm quite happy though, do you think I did ok?

Its marked as date stamp 4, but I'm struggling to find exactly what that means. According to THIS they were only produced between 1958 and 1961, is that right? I'd be interested in anything anyone can tell me about this one.

Anyway here's some pics for your honest opinions ;)

(This forum seems to chop the sides off my pics for some reason...)

Fatboy003.jpg


Fatboy008.jpg


Fatboy007.jpg


Fatboy005.jpg
 
they were only produced between 1958 and 1961, is that right?
Click to expand...

That's correct yea. The Date code should have a letter - D for 1958 then upwards to G for 1961 followed by a number between 1-4. The number indicates the quater of the year it was manufactured.
Code - D1 would indicate production during Jan - March of 1958.... and so on.

£13 isn't bad given the going rate of the things IMHO. It looks in serviceable condition. You wont really notice brassing under the head to much. The numbers can be re-blacked very easily (i use black nail varnish).
TBH the prices on E-bay always surprise me, becuase collectible aside and despite its mythical standing amongst some - it is at the end of the day - just a Razor.
Its not a bad one for sure, Chunky and solidly built - but shave isn't what id call Extraordinary...

At the end of the day its a nice razor to have, and i suppose its one of those Gillette's most Wetshavers would like to own - Just becuase.
Congrats on the score.
 
Looks clean enough. If you're not a Goth, plain old enamel will be fine for renumbering.

I do enjoy using and owning mine but there are arguably far more desirable and better razors out there. Mythical status? No. They made a bucket load of them and it has a catchy nick name.
 
Attero said:
That's correct yea. The Date code should have a letter - D for 1958 then upwards to G for 1961 followed by a number between 1-4. The number indicates the quater of the year it was manufactured.
Code - D1 would indicate production during Jan - March of 1958.... and so on.
Click to expand...

Ah, thanks. Late 1960's model here then.

antdad said:
Looks clean enough. If you're not a Goth, plain old enamel will be fine for renumbering.

I do enjoy using and owning mine but there are arguably far more desirable and better razors out there. Mythical status? No. They made a bucket load of them and it has a catchy nick name.
Click to expand...

Lol I'm not a Goth :lol:

Tbh I don't even know if I'll bother renumbering, as long as the shave's ok I'll keep the settings stealth ;)

I'm so impressed with the shave of my Superspeed, I can't see this will beat it. The simple effectiveness of a DE razor some 60 years old compared to a cartridge razor of today is amazing :cool:

Maybe the mythical status was started by the sellers then :lol:
 
The head isn't that different from a Superspeed.

It won't be late sixty's though, you'll either have E4, F4, G4 on the base plate. Denoting manufacture in the fourth quarter of '59, '60 or '61.

I thought there were some late 58 D' models though?
 
antdad said:
It won't be late sixty's though, you'll either have E4, F4, G4 on the base plate. Denoting manufacture in the fourth quarter of '59, '60 or '61.
Click to expand...

Sorry I didn't word that very well :oops: By "Late 1960's" what I mean was the fourth quarter of 1960 - ie F4 - I knew what I mean't :lol:
 
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