Where to buy Vintage (looking) crew uniforms

I work on a vintage modified team and I got to thinking this morning it would be really cool if we could have crew shirts made that looked vintage. I don't really want or need it to be authentic, our car isn't very authentic either! I do want it to have the old vibe and be able to customize it to match our car. Any ideas? We are just about to repaint the car for the 2024 year and it is going to be white with blue and orange accents. The guy that owns it has been running race cars on and off here for 30 years. It may end up as a homage to his racing past, his colors, number, and maybe one of his old sponsors. 

Here is a link to some random site that has the kind of vintage I am thinking. I don't think we would get pants, just the shirt.

https://raceused360.com/archives/vintage-nascar-stp-richard-petty-race-used-pit-crew-uniform-shirt-pants-%F0%9F%94%A5%F0%9F%94%A5%F0%9F%94%A5/

The Petty shirt in your link is from 1990, is that the vintage you're talking about or are you aiming at some other year?

While doing some research for a Classic Motorsports piece on vintage crew gear, I came across a place called Stellar Apparel. I don’t know anything about them, but this page on their site showed some old-school crew shirts. Looks like you need to call them for more info. 

In reply to stuart in mn :

I don't have a year in mind, just not modern. My jam is 80's into early 90's so I am good with that vibe. I have a navy blue Dickie's work shirt that I like but wrong colors, I see it offered in white. I wonder if I buy it in white if I can have someone sew stripes in orange and blue on it and then just go at it with some patches? One of my clown costumes is made like that, started as coveralls and it has a bunch of logo's and patches sewed on. 

In reply to David S. Wallens :

Nice find, I like the Cobra style, I'm thinking that, just different colors (hard to find vibrant orange or a bright blue in a vintage feel).

You can find one-off vintage crew shirts over on eBay and Etsy. I was surprised how much trouble I had finding a modern source for the generic blanks, though. Totally get what you’re looking for. 

You mean like these?

The 1960s Smokey Yunick look wouldn't be too hard to replicate, you just need to find some white pants and someone to sew some stripes on the sides.

By the way, the May issue of Classic Motorsports has a little piece on retro crew gear. :) 

stuart in mn said:

The 1960s Smokey Yunick look wouldn't be too hard to replicate, you just need to find some white pants and someone to sew some stripes on the sides.

Those look like the pants my marching band used to wear.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

I think the dudes working at Hess also shopped at the same place. 

In reply to stroker :

were those guys being punished for slow tire changes?

Some good ideas here. I like the Smokey's idea. Our car is going to be white with bright orange and bright blue accents (like half the car will be orange and blue). I was thinking white shirt because of that but you can get orange shirts, including high vis, which will match this car. Maybe I can start with one of these and add some flair for that vintage crew feeling. I found some cool old looking snap on patches. Thanks for the ideas. Glad to not wear the STP racing uni! I found an equally ugly Coca-Cola printed pants on another crew! 

Do bowling shirts still  have stripes etc ?

And do they need to be all cotton for fire safety ?

stroker said:

You mean like these?

I love these uniforms, if I had money I would get one made for myself. 
 

As for a period uniforms in the early 90s we got ours made by Simpson.  They may still make similar ones to order. Where are you running?  The past couple years the vintage class at Accord has been growing, if my schedule allowed I would be going more. 

We run with a couple of different vintage groups, ACOT and the other one is called Classic Asphalt Modified Series. 
We run Evans Mills, Oswego, Adirondack International Speedway, and we are supposed to (not verified yet) go to Chemung and Thompson. 
I will check out Simpson, I suspect that will be more than I want to spend but definitely a good suggestion. 

In reply to NY Nick :

That sounds like fun, I've seen vintage asphalt cars At Thompson and Riverhead a few times. 

I picked up one of the safety orange Red Kap shirts. That's about how bright the car will be. I made a paper cut out of the car numbers with an outline. I think that looks vintage and says I'm with this car. 

Next I think I will looks for the right color fabrics and see if I can get this sewn on the back. For the front I'll probably just have my name embroidered on one side in old looking script. 
we are repainting the car this week so after that gets done I can take a pic and see if I can (or should) get it embroidered on the opposite side as the name. 
 

No track I have ever been to has any rules about crew attire (I've never done live pit stops, that may be the differentiator). 
5 weeks until race 1. Trailer should be all done by the weekend and the car shouldn't be too far behind. Paint this week, adding 3 bars to the cage for safety while the body is off, then nut and bolt and fluid change and it's go time. It may take longer for the body to get lettered then to paint it. All of the lettering is hand painted. 

Looking good. 

In reply to NY Nick :

Hand lettering looks so much better than vinyl, especially on a vintage car.
 

The orange shirt with the number and a couple patches looks good.  I always liked matching uniforms, they look sharp. Mario Fiore's teams had matching everything everything when I was a kid and seemed much more professional than everyone else. 

1980s Reggie Ruggiero/Mario Fiore team:

Mike Stefanik's less matchy team:

Another fast orange team, with obligatory satin jacket. What happened to those jackets? All the cool kids had one. 
 

In reply to Wally (Forum Supporter) :

I agree with the hand lettering for sure. I didn't think about the satin coats, that would be cool!

I also never thought about the Richie Evans deal, he hails from just a few miles from where we are, Erik has always run #41, and it has usually been orange, he grew up in the Evans era.

Syracuse ~1994 ish

This one is even older, I think around 1990. This is his only car that was red instead of orange. Note the matching crew jackets.

Last pic. He went south at some point before I knew him, it must have been mid 80's and "worked for the Allison's", he is a fabricator and painter, has this pic on his wall, not related to this thread but cool none the less. 

Love the simpler, old school driver suits, too, with the blue or red stripe down the side. 

I'll try to find some links for you, but I remember that sometimes Hollywood studios had big "yard sales" from their costume shop.  They obviously didn't sell things like Julia Roberts' dress from Pretty Woman, but they maybe sold the suit coat from "background waiter #36" or the t-shirt from the "random boulevard skater."

I recall being at one that had a truckload of racing stuff with a bunch of fake names, and it looked suspiciously like Days of Thunder.

This was all before online stuff, but I'll see if I can find a link.  Many of the smaller studios try to sell stuff to recoup costs.  Some studios hoard everything in case they need it, some just throw it away, some donate it, and some have yard sales.