Regular CC followers may recall that back in July I posted a piece on a Peugeot 404 Cabriolet that had been used for a support role in the 1993 Tour de France cycle race, and linked it to the start of 2014 Tour de France in Leeds, in Yorkshire.
I also mentioned that I would not only be watching the Tour in Yorkshire, but also helping when it reached south east England on the third day, from Cambridge to London. Inevitably, for something like the Tour de France, there are not only bikes but a whole host of support vehicles of one sort or another. But there was nothing like this.
This a Peugeot 203 saloon that has been modified for use on the Tour de France cycle race in 1958, as a support car carrying team officials and spare bikes, and makes an interesting pairing with the 404 convertible I saw earlier in the year.
The Peugeot 203 as the first monocoque Peugeot, offered with a 1290cc, 4 cylinder 49bhp engine. Production ran from 1948 to 1960, with around 700,000 produced.
Transmission was a four speed, column shift to rear drive, and it was good over 70mph. Front suspension was independent using of a transverse leaf spring, while the rear suspension was coil springs with a Panhard rod. The styling had clear references to contemporary North American trends, and a rear end that looks very Volvo PV444-like.
It also makes a strong contrast also to the support cars used on this year’s Tour de France, which were all estate cars with roof racks for the bikes, and no doubt communication and data logging equipment the 1958 team members could only dream off. Each team seemed to have made a choice from a range of Citroen, Peugeot, Skoda, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz esates, or Jaguar XF estates for the British based Team Sky.
I noted in the previous post about the 404 cabriolet that I would be involved in helping on the Tour this year, and watching it at close quarters during the first 2 days in Yorkshire.
These shots of this year’s cars were taken then, as the Tour had a very successful trip through Yorkshire, organised by the regional tourist and development agencies. Competition to host the start of the Tour, known as The Grand Depart (French for the main start of the event) is always keen, with the organisers frequently going outside France for the Grand Depart.
Yorkshire’s Grand Depart achieved all anyone could have wished for in terms of spectacle and public involvement. Indeed, five-times tour winner Bernard Hinault said it was the first time in 40 years that he has seen such crowds on the first weekend of the Tour. “What you did was good for Yorkshire, for sure, but what you did was also good for the Tour. When you said you would deliver the grandest Grand Départ it was the truth. You have raised the bar for all future hosts of the Tour de France.” That’s Yorkshire for you – nice people who’ll help you out.
A great success for Yorkshire, even if pre-race favourite and local rider Mark Cavendish crashed out in Harrogate, his home town, in front of Prime Minister David Cameron. That’s sport, I guess!
In 2015, the Grand Depart will be in Utrecht in Holland, and the mayor of Utrecht was in Yorkshire to share the experience and the lessons of the event. He was reported to have said ‘So I have to get 250,000 people into the city centre to see a bike race that hasn’t started, yellow bikes in every hedge for 200 miles, pubs renamed, a Lancaster bomber over the Cathedral, 10,000 volunteers in blue t-shirts, sunshine, polka dot sheep, and a bunch of royals? You’ve set the bar pretty high! Oh *%$*^&, is that the Red Arrows? I give up!’
And when the Tour got to France, it rained.
Nice looking car. I can see shades of the Morris Minor and early 50’s American cars in its styling.
+1 thanks for another fine read Roger and another car I never knew about.
I am also a big fan of vintage bikes, assuming of course that its a period correct racing bike, could I have a better look at it please?
Cool version of a very cool car! I’m no expert on these (nor on cycling, come to that), but it’s a pre-1957 model for sure: it has the old-style “trafficators” and no turn signal lamps, unlike the black sedan.
1940 saw a few changes
Tough little cars they did well in the Ampol round Australia reliability trials in the 50s.
Here’s another 203 that participated in races of a different sort: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/trackside-and-curbside-classic-1951-peugeot-203-racer-worlds-fastest-203/
Fascinating. The Tour is one of the few things I watch on TV (the others being being F1 (hope Bianchi is OK) and some baseball (except none of my teams did well this year)).
Even though I am a typical American who has left our continent exactly once, I actually rode a section road used by the Tour.
In 1992 my wife and I did our grand tour. We hit London for a few days, the Edinburgh for 5 and then after an overnight train, Paris. After 5 days of Parisians, we were ready for a calmer place so we went to Tours. I’ve always been a bike, so we found a local bike shop, rented bikes and asked for a suggested route. The proprietor sent us out a road towards a chateau, which sounded great until the trucks started blowing by us on the narrow highway. Once we got to our destination, we found a large sign showing the tourist attraction and a beautiful small road to town. Classic France ,with fields of sunflowers and cute little barns. The bike shop guy had been too lazy to explain how to find the better road. But 2 summers ago, I was watching the Tour and thought that a road looked familiar. Sure enough, it was the highway outside Tours , though without the trucks.