When I raced in the 50's, the jersies had the club type collar, we thought ( and were probably right) that the design stopped the chafing of the neck by the spare tubular that we carried around our shoulders...also the pockets in the front and back were because we needed to carry everything with us since there was no petrol to waste and very few motor cars to aid the race directors....after all, the only people who owned cars were the toffee noses and they wouldn't even talk to a cyclist let alone help at a race.
COLIN LAING. CHANDLER, AZ U.S.A