France has several land borders; when the legislation was enacted (1936, for new cars built from 1937 onwards) they will have been aware of risks of the rise of German aggression, and the Spanish civil war was in full swing.
It probably was a basic early-warning system to identify foreigner drivers from a distance.
The law was repealed in 1993 when the EU standardization made all headlights white.
If the yellow tint actually improved visibility, they might have made all the other countries change to match France!
Thank you David!
the above is a Renault Nervastella, a smaller brother to the Renault Reinastella. I'm not aware how it related to the Monastella
It's one of theory (that was actually Army demand) but there is also other, they apparently were better visible in fog. And not only French cars had them, other manufacturers also used such system, maybe to sell cars in France without such problems?
ReplyDeleteAs it happens, my family lived in France for an academic year, 1951 to 52, while my dad studied for a PhD, and we bought a US model Hillman which was delivered to France. At the time, France required yellow headlights (presumably for fog), and because the US model Hillman had clear sealed beams, we had to cover the headlights with yellow cellophane. For many years after, and long after the wheezy little Hillman had been freighted home and been traded in on a succession of other cars, there was a half-used roll of yellow cellophane kicking around the garage. I'm actually a bit surprised I didn't keep it somewhere, but I lost track of it some time in the early 1970's.
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