Commissars' cars - they don't make 'em like they used to...
Discussion
Apropos of nothing, really, but I was mourning the failure of one of my riding goals this year when I started to do a little research.
You see, August 13th 2018 was the 70th anniversary of the 1948 London Olympic Games Cycling Road Race. And I'd (loosely) planned to go up to Windsor Great Park on the anniversary, to at least ride half-a-dozen laps of the course. Ultimately, I'd have liked to have ridden all 17 laps for the full 120 miles experienced by the 28 finishers from that day. Sadly, I broke my leg in May and I'm still not back on a bike yet. But that's by-the-by.
The real reason for the thread was the car used by race officials during the 1948 Olympic Road Race. I'd seen it before, but searched out the Youtube video from the Newsreel footage of the original race again. I was trying to "sell" the idea of riding the route to a Strava buddy. As I watched it through I was struck by the grandeur of the big Rolls-Royce being used as the primary course car.
Youtube video here... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPkCQU8qKqo (the car in question gets decent screen-time around 2'53")
I took a screenshot of the car...
...from Youtube, with the best view of the plate I could get.
It struck me that such cars are seldom ever left to rot, often ending up in the collections of wealthy individuals. so armed with the partial registration number, I thought I'd take a punt at finding out if it did indeed still exist.
The registration number I had was 'xx 1671'. A quick Google of "Rolls-Royce 1671" brought up this image...
...which led swiftly to an RM / Sotheby's auction result, Paris 2018, the car selling for €201.250... https://rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/pa18/auction/lo...
The auction listing mentioned some of the car's history, but not it's involvement in the 1948 Olympics. But aside from the deletion of four additional driving lamps from the front, and a different trunk strapped to the rear end, it looked like I'd found the right car. I found one additional image by narrowing my Google search to "1929 Rolls-Royce Phantom"...
Link/picture credit stuff... https://www.deviantart.com/rogue-rattlesnake/art/1...
..which is from a similar angle to the screenshot image.
Anyway. Aside from a self-congratulatory post bragging about my Google detective-fu, I thought it might be interesting to share in the cycling corner of a petrol heads' web forum.
You see, August 13th 2018 was the 70th anniversary of the 1948 London Olympic Games Cycling Road Race. And I'd (loosely) planned to go up to Windsor Great Park on the anniversary, to at least ride half-a-dozen laps of the course. Ultimately, I'd have liked to have ridden all 17 laps for the full 120 miles experienced by the 28 finishers from that day. Sadly, I broke my leg in May and I'm still not back on a bike yet. But that's by-the-by.
The real reason for the thread was the car used by race officials during the 1948 Olympic Road Race. I'd seen it before, but searched out the Youtube video from the Newsreel footage of the original race again. I was trying to "sell" the idea of riding the route to a Strava buddy. As I watched it through I was struck by the grandeur of the big Rolls-Royce being used as the primary course car.
Youtube video here... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPkCQU8qKqo (the car in question gets decent screen-time around 2'53")
I took a screenshot of the car...
...from Youtube, with the best view of the plate I could get.
It struck me that such cars are seldom ever left to rot, often ending up in the collections of wealthy individuals. so armed with the partial registration number, I thought I'd take a punt at finding out if it did indeed still exist.
The registration number I had was 'xx 1671'. A quick Google of "Rolls-Royce 1671" brought up this image...
...which led swiftly to an RM / Sotheby's auction result, Paris 2018, the car selling for €201.250... https://rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/pa18/auction/lo...
The auction listing mentioned some of the car's history, but not it's involvement in the 1948 Olympics. But aside from the deletion of four additional driving lamps from the front, and a different trunk strapped to the rear end, it looked like I'd found the right car. I found one additional image by narrowing my Google search to "1929 Rolls-Royce Phantom"...
Link/picture credit stuff... https://www.deviantart.com/rogue-rattlesnake/art/1...
..which is from a similar angle to the screenshot image.
Anyway. Aside from a self-congratulatory post bragging about my Google detective-fu, I thought it might be interesting to share in the cycling corner of a petrol heads' web forum.
Additionally, it got me thinking about team cars over the years.
The Jaguar F-Type...
...Team Sky ran in support of Time Trials was relatively well known in recent years.
But there have been some pretty cool team cars in the past too. Some cool because of the car, some because of the sponsors colours, and some because they belonged to legendary cycle racing teams of the time.
It brought to my mind a few images from over the years.
One was the Tour de France Jeeps in the post-war years...
...and the orange/blue of the Holdsworth team's Cortinas and Corsairs of the 60s and 70s...
Being a car enthusiasts' forum, does anyone have any other suggestions of cool and/or interesting Commissars or team cars over the years?
The Jaguar F-Type...
...Team Sky ran in support of Time Trials was relatively well known in recent years.
But there have been some pretty cool team cars in the past too. Some cool because of the car, some because of the sponsors colours, and some because they belonged to legendary cycle racing teams of the time.
It brought to my mind a few images from over the years.
One was the Tour de France Jeeps in the post-war years...
...and the orange/blue of the Holdsworth team's Cortinas and Corsairs of the 60s and 70s...
Being a car enthusiasts' forum, does anyone have any other suggestions of cool and/or interesting Commissars or team cars over the years?
A bit of silliness perhaps? The team certainly isn't "period" for the car...
...but it's a cute, and highly impractical little car to use for a cycling team.
Used, so far as I can tell from the (mostly foreign language) websites I've seen it on, during the 100th edition of the Giro d'Italia.
Possibly an Abarth 595...
...but it's a cute, and highly impractical little car to use for a cycling team.
Used, so far as I can tell from the (mostly foreign language) websites I've seen it on, during the 100th edition of the Giro d'Italia.
Possibly an Abarth 595...
..."He's won all three Grand Tours - you tell him to get off the Alfa!"
Bianchi/Campagnolo Alfa Romeo (1750?/2000?) Berlina. Oh, and Felice "The Phoenix" Gimondi, who, in 1968 at the Vuelta a España, became only the second man to win all three Grand Tours. He's probably earned the right to sit on the car...
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