Anatomy of a Photo: Campagnolo Candy Van

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Every night I pray to Merckx that in the morning when I wake up I’ll have a Campagnolo Free Candy Van with a Super Dome.

And every morning, its a fresh disappointment that it didn’t come true.

This photo also serves as further evidence that Cool peaked some time around the summer of 1977.

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123 Replies to “Anatomy of a Photo: Campagnolo Candy Van”

  1. @Tobin

    I just watched “It Might Get Loud”, Page makes playing air guitar look fucking cool.

    HAH HAH HAH HAH….

  2. Let’s get BACK ON TOPIC.

    This photo.

    Why is there a spoiler on the front of the van?

    Why a bubble? Did riders stand up to look out the top?

  3. Thanks Christ for you guys. Every time I start feeling old, you make me realise I’m not as fucking old as the rest of you…

  4. @G’rilla

    Let’s get BACK ON TOPIC.

    This photo.

    Why is there a spoiler on the front of the van?

    Why a bubble? Did riders stand up to look out the top?

    It was the 70s.  The question is not why.  The question is, why the fuck not?

  5. @G’rilla

    Let’s get BACK ON TOPIC.

    This photo.

    Why is there a spoiler on the front of the van?

    Why a bubble? Did riders stand up to look out the top?

    How should I know? I wasn’t going to be born for YEARS. THe curse of youth, you could say.

  6. i caught a contact high just reading through this article and subsequent replies.  Always a first time for everything it seems.  Likely i also caught an std which won’t be given a name for aNother decade or two.  Filthy Internet.

  7. @minion

    Thanks Christ for you guys. Every time I start feeling old, you make me realise I’m not as fucking old as the rest of you…

    Or as cool. Or strong. It must suck getting your ass handed to you by old guys all the time… probably why you moved to Aus.

  8. With the bikes on top, plus the bubble, what sort of kpg does the Candy Van get? Or, is that not a concern because two dudes on rollers in the back turn a fly wheel that makes it run.

    Speaking of vans & cars that won’t die. A dude I knew had a van he hated so much he’d leave it in the grocery store parking lot, unlocked, keys in the ignition, hoping someone would steal it.

  9. I’d like to weigh in but I was born in the 90’s and I don’t drive – I was given a princely sum for my 17th birthday for driving lessons, went out and came back with my first road bike. Seeing that Campagnolo van though I can help but feel as though it’d be a far more effective P Wagon than my current steed.

  10. @PeakInTwoYears

    @Daccordi Rider

    @PeakInTwoYears got a utube for us? I’m prepared to be swayed.

    Fuck Santana. He has enough money. Here’s Bill Nelson live in 1977:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjiArdooBi4

    If you can be unmoved by his re-entry at 6:10 and all the beauty that follows, I don’t know what to tell you.

    Sorry to get off topic again but I didn’t know how to send a message (is that possible here?)

    PeakInTwoYears, have you heard of this event??  http://www.nelsonica.com/

  11. @PeakInTwoYears

    @Sauterelle

    HUGE BeBop Deluxe fan here! Bill Nelson was amazing, way ahead of his time.

    This makes me happy. The owner of the head shop slash record store who sold me their LPs in the backwoods of Oregon, USA in the mid-70s is the only other person I’ve ever heard from who has ever heard of them.

    His playing on “Adventures in a Yorkshire Landscape” on Live! In the Air Age can still reduce me to tears, sentimental idiot that I am.

    So gents, do you dream in colour?

  12. @markpa

    @PeakInTwoYears

    @Sauterelle

    HUGE BeBop Deluxe fan here! Bill Nelson was amazing, way ahead of his time.

    This makes me happy. The owner of the head shop slash record store who sold me their LPs in the backwoods of Oregon, USA in the mid-70s is the only other person I’ve ever heard from who has ever heard of them.

    His playing on “Adventures in a Yorkshire Landscape” on Live! In the Air Age can still reduce me to tears, sentimental idiot that I am.

    So gents, do you dream in colour?

    Not only colour, but 3D. No funny glasses required.

  13. You guys have it all wrong. When it comes to the 70’s it’s all about The Band. End of. Speaking of which, I havnt watched The Last Waltz yet this year

  14. @G’rilla

    Let’s get BACK ON TOPIC.

    This photo.

    Why is there a spoiler on the front of the van?

    Why a bubble? Did riders stand up to look out the top?

    Aero deflector for the bikes promoting fuel efficiency. This would be just post Oil Crisis.

    Those big bubbles looked great for about a week and then the sun would make them opaque and cracked. We used to have smaller versions as ventilators on the buses where I used to live. One suspects that this particular bubble did nothing for the structural integrity of the van and was likely inflammable to boot. Also without air conditioning the designers of the van were committing the occupants of the van to death by heatstroke whenever the sun shone.

    Fortunately Campagnolo were and are rather better at designing cool bits for bikes.

  15. @markpa

    @PeakInTwoYears

    @Sauterelle

    HUGE BeBop Deluxe fan here! Bill Nelson was amazing, way ahead of his time.

    This makes me happy. The owner of the head shop slash record store who sold me their LPs in the backwoods of Oregon, USA in the mid-70s is the only other person I’ve ever heard from who has ever heard of them.

    His playing on “Adventures in a Yorkshire Landscape” on Live! In the Air Age can still reduce me to tears, sentimental idiot that I am.

    So gents, do you dream in colour?

    I’m not a gent.  Never was crazy about that song either.

    We need a random/no topic section here!

  16. @unversio

    Their shorts have officially reached ridiculous lengths.  Might as well wear baggies.  This season is looking to be entertaining.

  17. Half of that entertainment will probably come from the ongoing Schleck antics.  Can Andy finish a race?

  18. @Sauterelle

    Looks like a fun event. Did you see the guitars he painted? Very cool. I read that he wanted to be a painter when he was young.

  19. @DrewG

    @Pedale.Forchetta

    I like/want everything plus this buckle, 1975 circa.

    They also made commemorative belt buckles for Tullio Campagnolo’s 80th birthday…

    I could rock the one on bottom left. Its all about having the right ‘tude.

  20. @G’rilla

    Let’s get BACK ON TOPIC.

    This photo.

    Why is there a spoiler on the front of the van?

    Why a bubble? Did riders stand up to look out the top?

    My theory for the bubble. An always up, aero version of the pop up roof on the ubiquitous VW camper van. Occupants could stand up in that section while cooking or as has been pointed out, being cooked. It was probably considered space age at the time. I’m a teenager of the 70’s but I don’t recall a vehicle like this or liking much music of that era at all save a bit of punk and Queen. Then Debbie Harry and Blondie came long. Class.

  21. @frank

    I could rock the one on bottom left. Its all about having the right ‘tude.

    Can you rock it like she can?

    (Form CampyOnly)

  22. The guy in the orange with the white cap. Definition of “casually deliberate.”

  23. there was a time when campy was the only thing hat worked. and it worked for years and years. and it was beautiful. it had true class.

  24. @brett

    @minion

    Thanks Christ for you guys. Every time I start feeling old, you make me realise I’m not as fucking old as the rest of you…

    Or as cool. Or strong. It must suck getting your ass handed to you by old guys all the time… probably why you moved to Aus.

    Ouch. Either my memory is going or you’re fucking delusional – and since you’re older than rocks I’m gonna put my money on the second one.

  25. It’s very not rock’n’roll but as a 10 year old in Australia in 1976 everyone had ABBA’s album Arrival.

    900,000 sales in country with 4.1 million households.

    I tried explaining this to my wife but it wasn’t until she visited and heard ABBA tracks on a constant loop in supermarkets, malls, elevators etc that she came to understand their god-like status.

  26. @ChrisO

    It’s very not rock’n’roll but as a 10 year old in Australia in 1976 everyone had ABBA’s album Arrival.

    900,000 sales in country with 4.1 million households.

    I tried explaining this to my wife but it wasn’t until she visited and heard ABBA tracks on a constant loop in supermarkets, malls, elevators etc that she came to understand their god-like status.

    I remember the movie!

  27. Its not right to celebrate the 70’s without mentioning Bon. Nearly 33 years to the day. Ride On:

  28. Since this thread is all over the place, check out what Hubble found.  The V has gone galactic:

  29. A year earlier, 1976 was an Olympic year.  The racing season entailed a series of Olympic qualifying races that Bill attended in that Campagnolo station wagon we saw in pictures in an earlier post.

    Prior to the start at the Berkeley Hills RR my buddy comes back from the station wagon, “Bill went over my derailers and made sure everything was adjusted right.”  I was like, “really?!”

  30. @Jim  – Bill was in and out of Boulder a lot in those days (Red Zinger etc). I went to a party he was at once and met the guy but don’t remember all that much more about it or him (it WAS the ’70’s, if ya know what I mean).

  31. @Harminator

    Its not right to celebrate the 70″²s without mentioning Bon. Nearly 33 years to the day. Ride On:

    From Kirriemuir he was – “the self styled flu capital of Scotland”

  32. @ PeakInTwoYears

    Love Neil Young. Still don’t quite get why people are so in love with hating Santana. Is it some sort of “I’m not gay” thing?

    I don’t know about anyone else, but for me its just that all he does is play leads over songs non-stop. We get it. Play a chord occasionally.

  33. @G’rilla

    Let’s get BACK ON TOPIC.

    This photo.

    Why is there a spoiler on the front of the van?

    Why a bubble? Did riders stand up to look out the top?

    Was the spoiler to deflect the airflow over the bubble to prevent it collapsing into the van at speed which would have displace the air inside the van with sufficient force to pop the windscreen and windows out?

  34. @Chris
    The spoiler is just there to throw the Shimano guys off track.

    Note Mr brown slacks – that’s the Shimano R & D guy heading over to take some snaps of it.

    That spoiler is what caused Shimano to resolve to only ever compete with Campag on price – because they could never match on cool.

  35. @Chris

    @the Engine, @Harminator, @ChrisO Surely this was the perfect antidote to Abba for a ten year old in Australia in ’76.

    It was my first album and there are still bits of it that’ll lift a hair or two on the back of my neck.

    I got several chills looking on youtube for a live clip of Ride On. Couldn’t find one but there’s plenty of other gold on there. Some of the stadiums shows they played in the late 70’s look insane. USA, Europe, Australia. So raw.

  36. What a sweet ride. I suppose every decade can claim coolness on some level but the 70’s is clearly the peak. Take the the Campy Candy Van for instance. That aint happenning in 1987 or 1965 or 2002 Because that is a 70’s Chevy Van. 1000’s of tricked out vans roamed the streets then sporting shag carpet and blaring 8 track music. If you were alive during that time you know what i’m saying. If you were born post 70’s watch some Scooby Doo to get the Vibe. Now that van probably wasn’t as much fun as your big brother’s Good Times Van (unless you were a bike nerd) but damn it looks good.

    if we’re talking music, its a no brainer. The 70’s was  so talent rich. The list of kick ass bands is long but Led Zep was the shizzle through the decade With 1977 being their biggest, baddest tour.

  37. Love it!

    in what can only be described as a huge coincidence I was on the M6 yesterday near Preston and we passed a lovely old VW panel van painted up with Campag logos. Very nice indeed!

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