The Barça bus, the yellow model with the Blaugrana flag that was installed on the outskirts of the Camp Nou with a series of mannequins inside, was moved more than ten years ago to the Ciutat Esportiva de Sant Joan Despí and was left semi-abandoned. . Currently, while the remodeling works of the Estadi continue, the bus is on the grounds of La Masia, devoid of the figures and awaiting its destination.
Seen this way, it could be thought of as a betrayal of the club’s history, but in reality the bus that has served for years as a decoration for the photographs of tourists who visited the facilities has almost no historical value, beyond being a Chevrolet 6700 model. , commonly used as school transportation in the United States. Although it was presented in some journalistic report as “the Cinc Copes bus”, the relationship of this vehicle with Barça history is null.
According to sources consulted by FC Barcelona, ??the coach was a special piece of the Futbolart collection, which was temporarily integrated into the Barça Museum, with other pieces with an exotic touch such as a supposed office of Joan Gamper. This museum expansion, certainly spectacular, was presented on March 13, 1998, by the collector Pablo Ornaque and with the assistance of president Josep Lluís Núñez and the president of the International Olympic Committee, Juan Antonio Samaranch, also a prominent sports collector. Figures, statuettes, table football, medals, boots and old balls made up the collection donated by Ornaque, as well as other reproductions: an old office, some old changing rooms…
Did the Barça team ever travel in this Chevrolet that was presented with the Museu Barça license plate? Absolutely. It was simply an attractive object for tourists with the figures, inside, of Barça historical figures such as Kubala, Ramallets and César, but also other famous footballers such as Eusebio, Pelé, Bobby Charlton, Zarra and Helenio Herrera, in a mix from different eras and clubs.
Specifically, the images that are preserved of the buses that did transport the Barcelona players allow the differences to be certified. On this same page we see the coach that began to be used in the 1930s (by the license plate B-62746 it can be said that it is a vehicle from 1935) and other later models. They do not look alike.
It is also important to note that in the 1951-52 season, that of the Cinc Copes, Barcelona rarely traveled by coach in the League. A review of the trips confirms that they were made by plane or train and in some cases, such as the trip to A Coruña, in a combination of both. A bus could be used to connect Madrid with Valladolid, or to travel from Bilbao to Gijón. To play in Valencia, Bilbao or San Sebastián, the train was used, usually in a sleeping car. They were times of long trips, which in extreme cases began on Thursday, to play on Sunday and then return. Almost a week for a game.
A flight to Madrid then took 1h40m or 2h, depending on whether it was a DC-4 or a DC-3. They were small-capacity planes and it was not strange that the Barça expedition, less than twenty people including football players, coach, masseuse, kit man, doctor (not always) and some directors, was divided into two or three different flights, which also did not They were the same day. At the time we are referring to, the air connection between the capital and Barcelona was already extensive. To travel from Madrid, in 1953 Iberia offered six options on Mondays and Fridays, five on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, seven on Wednesdays and four on Sundays. 38 different flights and the corresponding ones in the opposite direction. At the time of the famous Cinc Copes, the Barça coach was hardly used in official matches. And it certainly was never a yellow Chevrolet made in the United States.
