Cars of Paris
French cars; some say they’re ugly, some say they’re beautiful, all agree that they’re unreliable. However, there is something about them that makes you want to look. These pictures were taken in March of 2007, my wife’s and mine last trip before the birth of our daughter. Selected for your viewing pleasure are not only pictures of cars in Paris, but also the environment in which they’re in.
There are no highways going through Paris itself, only around it. What you see in Paris are just old city streets and no highway ramps or overpasses. Because of Paris’ awesome metro system and its connection to airports and train stations, there is very little need for people to drive into town for the purposes of commuting. Unlike the United States, European cities are much more densely populated, with majority of people living in the cities as opposed to the suburbs which further reduces the problem of out-of-town commuters.
That being said, many Parisians still seem to own cars and parking is definitely a problem. Generally cars are much smaller than in the U.S. (d’uh), and there is plenty of street parking available with no-nonsense rules. Scooters and motorcycles are also very popular.
Much like in the rest of Europe, most new cars tend to be small displacement turbo-diesels, however there are a few unique French gems to be found. American cars are few and far between, but I did see a guy driving a Mustang GT while wearing a baseball hat! Other cars such as Minis, old and new, were plentiful. Smart cars are all over the place, the 3-cylinder diesel versions which actually make sense.
I always like to see base versions of BMWs and MBs only because they’re such a novelty to me; no sunroof, manual cloth seats, no cup-holders, etc. Delivery vans and similar vehicles are essentially FWD cars chopped after the front doors a big box attached, sort of like the Ford Transit Connect which is soon to be offered in the US.
About the cars seen in these photos:
- The most stunning one is the mid-engined Renault Alpine. See here for more details.
- Older French-market BMWs had orange headlights. Why? I don’t know. Typically orange lights cut better through fog, which is why proper fog-lights illuminate in orange, but I’m really not sure if that’s the reason .
- Citroen DS – you’ve seen them before and they are quite the marvel of engineering for their time.What happened to the car industry? How come only risks being taken are the design ones, and not engineering ones? Boo. Learn here more.
Enjoy the pics…
