You’re kind of helping make our case here. Yes, Bogart the actor was famous for his characters in trenchcoats to “us” the viewing audiences, but you would never hear a character in one of those movies say “Look, there goes Sam Spade! I’d recognize him anywhere in that trenchcoat of his!!”
In my opinion, the “yellow” was meant to represent the normal “canvas” type color of common trench coat (think of Humphrey Bogart movies.) I don’t know if the yellow was a result of more limited printing processes of the 1930s and 40s, or if the bright, primary colors were used to attract eyes to the funny pages in the days of pre-TV, b/w movies, and b/w photos and illustrations in the rest of the newspaper. Either way, in my opinion, this is a common trench coat and fedora that Tracy wears; it doesn’t fit his character that he would be wearing a gaudy, bright yellow coat, or plastic yellow raincoat. Unfortunately, some modern writers and readers seem to think of it as some kind of superhero costume.
Further, at least in my observation, there is no way Tracy would have been wearing his trenchcoat in strips that ran in August. Tracy’s wardrobe kind of followed the calendar, much like in real life, and in the summer, Tracy may be in his suit coat, but just as likely may just a dress shirt, possibly with a vest and rolled up sleeves.
In short, Tracy’s “yellow” coat is just a coat… it is not a superhero “costume.”
By saying “the real one,” I would prefer to think Tracy is talking about the car actually used in the filming of the tv show. Unfortunately, Mike has always subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) beat around the bush that everyone from Batman and Superman to Popeye and Walt Wallet, and who knows who else, all exist in Tracy’s universe, and of course they all know each other. Unfortunately, we will likely have to endure these fanboy fantasies as long as Mike writes the strip
I do like the old- school notation pointing out the 2- way wrist radio