Autocars, Autobus, Trolleybus de France: 1950-1980

In the summer of 2011, the Internet bus and trolleybus fan community got all excited when they discovered some extraordinary slides of these vehicles of which the oldest, taken in 1961, are therefore more than fifty years old.

When you discover these treasures, you can’t help remembering the remarkable books published in the UK – “London Coach Operators in Colour 1950-1980” and “London Buses in Colour:1960s”.

What were the features of these books which had no French equivalent? Large-size photographs which enabled the reader to enjoy the vehicles and their surroundings to the utmost, but above all there were color photographs, which were almost unheard of in the fifties and the sixties.

Taking up this concept, French Coaches, Buses and Trolley buses is a book to the glory of French road vehicles used for public transport in the marvelous context of the fifties, sixties and seventies. This book is the first of its kind in France and gathers together 371 unpublished snapshots taken on the spot by Jean-Henri Manara in the most beautiful French towns, with captions by Nicolas Tellier.