The Swiss Army Ammo Box Pannier Project.
I fell in love with the look of these Swiss ammunition boxes. To think that a country would have a string of saddle shops stitch together some incredible twill fabric, thick leather, aluminum rivets and build them into some pretty smart looking boxes to carry their maschine gewehr ammo around–instead of stamping out some cheap metal boxes–is beyond me. It seems like a strange venture and why? Were they quieter when carried? Lighter weight when loaded? Contractual in some uniquely-Swiss military requirement?
Whatever the reason, I’m just glad they were made at all. Back in the 1960’s and into the early 70’s and not used all that much. I bought a whole bunch of them and I’ve been selling them here.
I’ve experimented and seemingly perfected how to mount a pair of them to my bike’s rear rack. They work really nice, don’t hold that much (around 3 liters a bag capacity), but just enough for a few errands, they are quiet and they stay put. They look very nice with a black bike. Or some color that has some: grey, olive, slate or mustard color to it. I know they would look special with a burgundy or deep red colored bike. Right?
I like those bags a lot. They are harder to find now, as they were replaced by these rubberized cover versions instead of the perfect salt and pepper Swiss army twill like these. People used to complement me a bunch when I had those on one of my bikes. Thanks for the link! Steve
Forgot; inside, the bags measure 8″ tall, 11″ long and 3.5″ wide. Probably won’t fit your A4 needs.
Thanks, Tyger! They’d look very sharp on a Beemer. Thanks for spreading the word too. What’s up with you?