Originally Posted by
Artkansas
I disagree. It's an important historical display. And a fascinating window into that time and place. When Rick told Ilsa, "We'll always have Paris." in Casablanca, this is exactly what he was talking about.
I hope that people can keep it to history and avoid the politics of the situation. We all know they were bad. Duh. This exhibit is an eye on the people trying to survive back then.
What impressed me were the tandem taxis. And I noticed that because of their cooperation, Parisians had rubber for their tires. The dutch did not and rode on bare rims if they had to.
Gasoline was the hard to get commodity. The cars may have been on blocks in the garage for the duration. It's not shown.
vol, thanks for sharing it. It certainly was time when bicycles were taken seriouslay.
Did you notice the cars modified to run on natural gas? But there were very few cars in the photos. In most scenes, the streets were literally filled with pedestrians.
Also, one bike appears to have a rear derailleur. I always thought that these weren't used until after the war. (The derailleur I thought I saw is on the bike belonging to the "shapely woman leaning over a bridge.")
i was in France for a few months in 1973-74. I bought my first "serious" bike there. It was a French built 10-speed. I don't remember the brand. I believe it cost about 100 or at most 200 dollars--much cheaper than it would have been in the US. It would have been considered a fairly high end bike at the time. The plan was that I would use it for transportation and touring in France, then have it shipped home. I was a participant in the "Golden Age" of bicycling at that time. Unfortunately, the bike was stolen in France and I didn't have the money to replace it.
At that time, in 1973, bicycling was very popular in France, both as sport and as basic transportation. By no means did all the French people give up their bikes as soon as the war ended. Motor scooters were also extremely popular, although virtually unknown in America.