(also posted at oldroads.com) Last weekend I trash picked an odd branded bike, the headbadge says Jacques Anquetil Bicycles, France. It's missing it's handlebars and wheels, but looks to be in fair condition otherwise. It has red label Simplex Prestige derailleurs, Mafac center pull calipers, Solida steel cottered cranks, Stronglight headset, and uses French threading throughout.
The forks are chrome tipped, with a cast and somewhat decorative chrome crown, semi fancy lug work, white paint with bright orange, chrome, red, and yellow decals with a black and white photo of Jacques Anquetil himself on the seat tube. The headbadge is a foil decal type as are all of the decals.
I trial fitted a set of both 700 and 27" wheels, and it appears to have had 27" rims.
The only info I have found online so far is a pic of a 20" folding bike with the same decal set and another one on ebay that was similar but appears to have different style lugs and forks, that one may have beeen a little newer. It looks comparable to a Peugeot U0-8 and by looking at the components, I would guess mine to be from around the mid 1970's. I have compared the lugs and the fork to a Peogeot I have here but they do not match, I am assuming that it was probably made by one of the larger French manufacturers for a smaller company or distributor? It just seems that a Jacques Anquetil branded bike in the mid to late 70's would be unlikely due to the fact that his winning streak was in the late 50's/early 60's? I would have thought that his name would have been somewhat unknown by then, especially to a somewhat entry level bike buyer? Especially if these were produced by someone other than Jacques Anquetil.
Has anyone here heard of or maybe have any info on these?

What I seem to recall being posted on CR site is that
the JA frames were actually british built, or imported
by Ron Ketchings (?). mostly 531 tubing (on better models), run of the mill components.
You can check bikelist.org (if thats not correct let
me know) or CR.
Marty

To address the second part of your post; while JA was unknown to most potential US buyers in the early 70s (or even now for that matter) they still would have been imported. During the early days of the "Bike Boom" importers were trying to get hold of any and all the "10 speeds" they could as they were flying out the shop doors. Since the Japanese hadn't jumped into the pool with both feet yet Europe was the only source available, save Schwinn. All sorts of Euro makes were available in the early 70s that would be pushed out by the Japanese later in the decade.

Besides a good shopowner could use the relatively unknown TdF champ to add some "cache" to the bike and make the sale.

I searched CR and bikelist.org, but there's no real definite info there that I have been able to find. There is a reference to some JA bikes being built by Ron Ketchings, and posibly of Reynolds 531 tubing, but mine is a Tour de France model and doesn't feel like a 531 frame. It's a bit heavier than say my Raleigh SuperCourse frame which is even a larger size. However, this info does support my thinking that these bikes were probably not made by JA, but rather by other established builders. What I'm trying to find is whether or not they were officially imported to the US or if they were brought in privately as well as how many of these there might be. I must say, this is the most elusive brand I've seen yet when it comes to information or pictures.

I've seen pictures (e-bay auctions?).
Here's what I've been able to further ferret out.
The british build Anquetils had english threading.
imported/exported etc. by Ron Kitching. There were
french versions (french threading) believed to be built
by Gitane. One collector and keeper of list of builders/bikes made some mention of Belgian origin (not
sure why, will try to contact him).
Many different levels of bikes, mostly gas pipe frames with ok parts (Campy Nuovo tipo, Gran sport etc.) but
some were very good bikes (like rare pista models).
Very little info out there on these bikes.

Marty