Powered by Butagaz (Upd. Sold!)

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As already mentioned in last Sunday’s article the Tour de France started on Saturday. Before the cyclists go on their way, they are always preceded by an enormous caravan of advertising vehicles, some more strange than the other. Seen here is one that was used by Butagaz, a French supplier of liquid gas in bottles, still much in use in French homes. Seven of these moving gas bottles were built by Rotrou, using a 1962 Simca 1000 as the basic car, specifically its chassis, engine and some interior parts. This one will be up for auction at Artcurial’s sale of Sports and GT cars during the Le Mans Classic on July 7. How much we do like strange or exclusive cars, we don’t picture ourselves crossing the Pyrenees Mountains in a moving gas bottle. But perhaps there are collectors who like this sort of thing. Tell us if you know of such a collection. And what happened to the other six Butagaz Simca’s?

Update by editor: On July 7th the SIMCA 1000 Butagaz advertising vehicle for the 1962 Tour de France sold for €23,800!
 

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