Monday 21 January 2019

Big Yellow Headlights

Both of our cars have the traditional (for France) yellow headlights. But why yellow??

In 1936 the French government were becoming increasingly concerned about Germany - in March 1936 German forces reoccupied the Rhineland in contravention of the Treaty of Versailles in which it was agreed that the Rhineland would remain a de-militarised zone.

In response a slew of new laws were introduced, one of which was concerned car headlights. In future they were to be yellow so that even if they couldn't do anything about German incursions into France, at least they could tell (by headlight colour) when they were happening. This law lasted until 1992, when an amendment allowed headlights to be either yellow or white.

Tour the Loire Valley in a classic French car

To tour the Loire Valley in a classic French 1950s car contact us by email or use our contact form. More tour ideas can be found on the Loire Valley Time Travel website.