Portlandjim

Bill Woodul, who was instrumental in bringing neutral technical support to bike racing in the USA, worked for Campagnolo USA starting around 1974. He wanted to get ideas for how to set up a support vehicle, and took these photos at Pro races during various trips to Europe. Enjoy! Click this link to see the photo set:

https://goo.gl/photos/ZwjWfwkkgh1F7ViB7

Jim Merz

repechage

Always surprised me that the Campagnolo technical support vehicle had the Campagnolo logo mark so poorly rendered, note the Molteni car is much more true.

obrentharris 

Thanks for directing us to these Jim!
Definitely gives me ideas for a future project.
Anyone have an Alfa Nuova Super sitting around unloved?
Really any European car from the seventies/early eighties could be fair game for a fictitious recreation!
Brent

repechage

Be sure to buy the proper horn.

https://www.hornwarehouse.com/tourhorns

has sound effects on the site too.

note Bianchi also cannot render Campagnolo very well either.

Mr. Spadoni 

Great post. Thanks for sharing the link.
Some of the photos, like the one where the bikes are stacked with brake levers on the ground, or the one with the mechanic climbing around on the rack, make me remember how differently bikes were treated then. They were like any other tool. Meant to be used, and then replaced. Somehow, I don’t think today’s carbonis get the same treatment.
And I have share wisdom passed on to me by Bill Woodul…” There are two types of people in the world: those who talk about doing things, and those who get things the **** done. You gotta decide which one you’re gonna be.”

lasauge 

These are amazing pictures. I'm not a car person at all and not old enough to feel any nostalgia for this era, but all of these cars and vans are more visually appealing and look nicer to drive (big windows!) than anything available today. What happened?

stoneageyosh

Back then logos or signage in larger sizes was hand painted and even smaller ones were sometimes done by hand if only a few were needed. Regular text letters are easier to replicate consistently. Script takes a real skilled sign artist to get it right once much less repeatedly. It is easier nowadays with the equipment and techniques available.

tiger1964 

Gawd, even for a Volvo that's a horrid color; officially "I Ate Too Many Molteni Sausages and Vomited" Yellow?

Then again, the only place on the internet where I can post "nice rack" and get away with it...

himespau 

That looks like the color of the appliances of my youth.

repechage

oh, I know. but for the parent company’s tech support vehicle to lack fidelity to the Graphic standard? A limitation of awareness.
Decades ago I had a boat name painted on the topsides of my sailboat, the reference was from a binder for a Lotus repair manual.
terrific job. Much closer to now it needed renewing, no one could be found, I went to one of those vinyl sign providers, asked that they provide a paper plot first. Adjusted the kerning, gave instructions and they cut a good product.
hand lettering has all but died out, the way of things.

the Molteni vehicle Campagnolo script was a pretty darn good rendition. Campagnolo should have sought that source.

bulgie 

Mark Pringle, once one of USA's best road racers, went to Europe around then and brought back ideas for Euro-pro style car roof and trunk racks. He started making and selling them in the late '70s I think, in Seattle. When I got to Seattle in '79, all the cool kids had Pringle racks.

They were hand made one at a time out of steel tubing, very robust but expensive. He used real Campy front dropouts for the "fake forks" that hold front wheels, assuring the QRs would be adjusted correctly to be put in a bike with Campy dropouts. Which was virtually every bike in the peloton.

I finally gave away my Pringle rack after maybe 30 years, at which point it was quite rusty and obsolete, requiring rain gutters (remember those?) to attach to the car. But I was sad to give it away. I remembered back when owning one was like a secret handshake or shibboleth, proving you were one of the tribe.

Pringle, BTW, is still the answer to "What American got the best-ever placing at the Senior Men's Amateur World Road-race Championships?" Mark's 10th in '77 in Venezuela just nips Lance Armstrong's 11th in Japan (year?) before he turned Pro. Americans of course have won the top podium step in Women's, Pros, Juniors, Masters, Track, MTB etc. But that very specific niche record will forever belong to Pringle, since there isn't an amateur world championship anymore! It's kinda like they retired his number.

Mark is humble about it. He sorta pooh-poohed it, the couple times when I mentioned it on rides, to introduce him to people who didn't know they were riding with royalty. OK tenth at amateur worlds might not sound too impressive nowadays, but remember that was in the era before Greg Lemond, when our expectations for Americans at the highest levels of racing were pegged at a pretty low level.

bulgie 

I made a pretty pannier rack for my wife's touring bike, bright chrome plated, and of course posted pictures of it. The comments it got were predictable, but very funny anyway.

repechage

I think that was a stock Volvo paint color.

Nissan, (Datsun) had similar hue in 1979.
I looked at one, was very vary basic, the 210 sedan, black vinyl seats, rubber flooring.
I found a slightly up spec model with cloth seat faces, carpet, hubcaps! Drove that for 175k miles. Would have kept it but it was a target of hit and run damage while it was parked.

stoneageyosh

The blue Campy van was more of a parts hauler as actual race support was by the team cars. In Europe, Campy used Mercedes cars for at least some neutral support in the 80’s. Probably the best bet to find in decent condition today.

Buick was the “Exclusive Supplier” of cars for Campagnolo USA back then. The four all white Buick wagons they provided for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics had modified suspensions and were delivered from the GM testing facility in Yuma, Arizona. We had two others that were painted with world champ colors, one for the eastern US and the other for the west. Yakima supplied the roof racks.

Used on Campy tech support Buick wagons in the mid 80’s.

FrejusFlyer

Great photos! Thanks for posting the link. I can't help but think my old, now long-gone Fiat X 1/9 would've looked great decked out like a team vehicle.

nlerner

I like that Volvo color! Kinda reminds me of @VRJAKE's Ebisu:

Maxey

Credit to the Gitane team for using a Peugeot automobile for their race team. Surprised they didn't use a Renault or Citroen!

Chuck Naill

Love the old Volvo.

RCMoeur 

My recollection of the official colors of US appliances, 1968-1975 was as follows:

• Harvest Gold
• Copper
• Burnt Orange
• Avocado Green

(This appliance-related list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items.)

We were just discussing this at Rusty Spoke the other day.

madpogue 

Make that Coppertone.

And no, that vomited-mustard color of the Volvo doesn't look anything like a Harvest Gold Kenmore..

SurferRosa

I also like the diffused warmth of this old processed film. There's probably a digital filter that can reproduce this. Or maybe you can desaturate a photo and then add back warmth (red).

madpogue 

Nikon has a number of "picture control" post options that mimic the color effects of various films. You can even make your own.

Portlandjim

I received these photos as "drug store" 6" x 4" prints, they had not fared well with age and poor storage. I have a professional quality scanner, which works well. I also have Photoshop and sort of know what I'm doing with it. Some of these photos had major problems, I spent many hours fixing some of them. White balance choices were one of many details I fixed. This is something that most computer monitors reproduce with poor accuracy. Jim Merz

madpogue 

Jim, if you have the negatives, and would trust me and the US Postal Service, I have a Nikon negative scanner that scans 35mm negatives / slides to 24MP digital files. I don't remember offhand; it might even scan to a Nikon raw format.

Portlandjim

As I mentioned in my earlier posts, I bowered these photos from the guy who worked for Campagnolo USA, as 6" x 4" prints. Neither this guy or I have the negatives or transparencies, these are long gone. I also have a professional film and print scanner that can also do negatives or slides with high resolution. Jim Merz