The Tour de France mystery UPDATE: Fiat 1400?

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Don’t worry, this is not PostWarBicycle. But with the Tour de France having started this weekend and the above picture in our files for a long time now, this just seemed like the right moment to post it here. It’s a bit of a mystery to us. So far we found out that it is Italian rider Gino Sciardis who’s chain is lubricated here on the Tour of 1949 by his service crew. No spray cans available at the time, so they just had to throw it on!

What interests us though, is the service vehicle from which this rather dangerous job is carried out. We searched and searched but couldn’t find anything close. There was a service car (this one – what on earth is that?) on the Giro d’Italia of the same year with similar low doors and lay-out, but that clearly is a different car with separate wings. And is this the same car? Fact is that these do look a lot less modern than the one above. Could this be it, perhaps? We have no idea what it is at all. A 6C Alfa or a B52 or B53 Lancia perhaps? And who could have been the coachbuilder?

UPDATE: Mike Schellekens found another photograph (here) and thinks it is Fiat 1400 based. But is it the same car?

(Words editor, picture Pinterest)

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