Peter Jourdain wrote:
>
> Hi, All---
>
> Don't know how I could have spaced it, but as my wits
> came back to me I realized I COULDN'T leave AuTomoTo
> off my shot list, so I guess I'll leave my Saxon Twin
> Tube on the cutting room floor for an extened close-up
> on AuTomoTo. Would love one like Jay Van de Velde's
> 1927 Tour de
> France on the CR site---
>
> http://www.classicrendezvous.com/
>
> ---or the '52 or '55 models hanging in the Rydjor Bike
> Shop---
>
> http://www.rydjor.com/
>
> The mauve color, jeweled clover headbadge, the
> Brothers Pelisser , Ottavio Bottecchia "riding" the
> logo with the two towering T's...those bikes
> just stink of tradition and cool....Would be happy as
> heck to ride one of those into the sunset...then FADE
> TO BLACK.
I was the owner (for a little while) of Rydjor Bike's '55 Automoto:
http://www.rydjor.com/
The color wasn't mauve originally, it's just a drastically faded violet/purple. Violet/purple was the team color for Automoto and is unfortunately a very fugitive color (prone to fading). Automoto was one of the powerhouse teams in the first half of the last century and one of my personal favs for the same reasons you outlined above.
Chuck Schmidt South Pasadena, Southern California
.