Passport to Paris

• 

It’s Rétromobile, and all the boys and girls who know their classics travel off to the heart of France this weekend. But oh la-la, what ‘ave we got ‘ere? These two ladies flew to the City of Light back in 1958.

Well, we are pretty positive they did not drive that little Isetta all the way from the US of A as we understand they were air hostesses from TWA - photographed for a feature story in Life Magazine at the time. That little purse on wheels never the less was - and is - an ideal means of transport to cross both banks of the Seine, speed the Champs Elysées and get dizzy doing the Place de la Concorde. You may squeeze it into the tiniest parking spot available and even attract admirers (but then bubble cars can be pretty romantic). But wait a minute, this picture throws another light on the subject. This is not a BMW but a much rarer Vélam Ecrin – a French version of the Isetta built at the old Talbot factory at Suresnes - Paris for you and me. These girls, who must have been used to drive American iron at its insanest back in the late 1950s, were going local. Chapeau! When in Paris…

(Words Jeroen Booij, picture courtesy Loomis Dean / Life Magazine)
 

Plaats een reactie...