oneclick, FEI (For Everyone's Information) looks great but...For the sake of historical accuracy, with the exception of a few silver painted frames beginning in 1974, Gitane didn't start using "metallic" paint until at least the late 70's.

From at least the early 60's until about 1977 their metallic looking colors were "Flamboyant" aka Candy Apple. That is they used tinted transparent lacquer applied over a white, silver or gold base coat. The dye was UV light sensitive and easily faded in direct sunlight.

It's difficult to get uniform colors with flamboyant style paint because the thicker the coat the darker the color comes out and vice versa with thinner coats. Aside from fading, that's one reason for so much variation in colors.

This is the color chart from the 1970-73 US Gitane catalog. It's not very accurate!

The flamboyant colors Gitanes brought into the US from the late 60's through the end of the bike boom fad in 1973 were red, turquoise blue, dark green and dark purple and gold. There was another blue that I call Gitane Team Blue that was rarely seen on any Gitanes in the US during that era. See photo below.

This turquoise blue 1970 Super Corsa spent most of it's life in storage so the paint is very close to as new color.



This is the color of my 1974 TdF that I call Gitane Team Blue. It was reintroduced in 1974.(Note: the tires don't have orange sidewalls. They're 45 year old Michelin Elans for display only)



In 1974 Gitane changed from the Mylar foil stickers that they had used since 1968 to clear plastic stickers. They also improved the UV resistance of their flamboyant colors.

Here a 1962 Gitane Competition in flamboyant lime.



Gitane used colors for the European market that never made to the US. For example, I've only seen one black Gitane from the 70's "in the steel" and that was a European model that someone brought home with them from France about 1973.


verktyg