Swiss M62 with 1990s upgrade

[Greg Pickersgill]

Here's an unexpected thing. Which should have been posted here last year, but Warrelics hasn't let me create a new thread since November. No, I don't know why. Anyway, I saw this on Ebay and didn't really believe in it. I don't think anyone else did either as it went through three sales cycles with no bids. Then I had the sense to check the WWH website and was astonished to find it was really real, and not something some biker had bolted together in his garage. Not only really real, but actually genuinely uncommon, so double fun.

What we have here is what is essentially a Swiss M62 which has had it's leather chinstraps removed and replaced with a new improved and modern rig. And more than that, even though the four-lobed leather liner is exactly as normal, the simple oval foam-rubber pad in the crown has been replaced with a three part foam-rubber liner with a nicely durable plastic facing which simply clips in and covers the entire interior of the helmet above the normal liner band. Quite how much more comfortable or protective it makes the helmet I am unsure, but I feel certain a lot of work went into it in the Swiss armouries. As you can see from the interior shot without the new liner the mark left by removal of the original pad is clear. I'm also assuming the new pad should have been firmly glued in, but that obviously failed. I had been rather wary about taking out the liner but a few experimental tugs proved it wasn't firmly fixed. Now all I have to do is get it back in...

The motorcyclist ear and nape shield is exactly as normal, simply clipped on with the usual press-studs. Everything points to this being a perfectly normal out-of-the-stores helmet that has been given a bit of new kit. It's interesting, and unusual, and to an M48/62 fan it's a wonderful thing. I doubt I'll see another any time soon as WWH has it that this seems to have been part of a modernisation programme in the 1990s that actually turned out to be quite limited, with only a small number of chinstrap sets issued despite there being more ideas planned and even tested.