Manufrance - the sales catalogue from France

Le chasseur mécanicien français

Everyone knows the catalogue Manufrance, we all have relatives, who leafed through it or were even regular customers of Manufrance.

The history of Manufrance is long: it was founded around 1895 and for almost 100 years, their sales catalogue was a kind of Bible of commerce in various households. Madam could find the latest pots and pans for her kitchen, while Monsieur was passionate about the technology, the tools, fittings and the two-wheelers: bicycles and motorbikes, own brand named Hirondelle. In 1936, with the Front Populaire (Popular Front), paid holidays for employees were introduced and since then, various camping items were also offered in the catalogue Manufrance. In peacetime, one could even find articles for leisure activities, such as weapons for hunting, bird whistles and fishing rods. Beside this catalogue, Manufrance published the magazine „Le chasseur français“. Since the First World War, this monthly magazine has been bought, not only because of those fascinating items for partridge hunting, but also because of the personalized ads.

It is estimated that after 1918, about one hundred thousand war-widows found love again thanks to „Le chasseur Français“.

When Christian, a client from South of France told me that the CiPeRe catalogue had somewhat the same value as the Manufrance catalogue for him as well as the club mates, you can imagine how flattered I was! Being compared to Manufrance is like being figuratively put on the top of the ladder, not far from the Bible! Perhaps, we should consider publishing a magazine „ads for lonely hearts! Got a title in mind; „Le mecanicien français“. Sounds good, doesn’t it?

Back to the catalogue , Manufrance was known for its diversity, but also for, what is often missing in the virtual world: TRUST. Even in the seventies when Manufrance seemed „old-fashioned“, the customer was hardly ever disappointed. The customers had almost unlimited confidence in the quality of the products. The only competitors who offered the same products, were the hawkers, especially in rural areas. At that time, there were still many traders traveling from place to place, selling their goods whatever the quality, from good to very poor. A great-granduncle of mine was specialized in lamps in shape of dolls - there’s no accounting for taste. He sold them in the villages on small markets. I know a street vendor, who was selling anvils, imported from Spain. He went from door to door - a very tough job.

It was not uncommon for these vendors to have a very miserable reputation, whereas Manufrance was extremely trustworthy.

Our goal at Der Franzose/CiPeRe is to never disappoint you. We are doing our best, allowing you keeping your classic car running while providing you with articles of good quality. Day after day, for actually 34 years, we have been looking for manufacturers, who produce spare parts for your vehicles. From the smallest screw to the whole body, we want to have the possibility offering you everything that Citroën, Peugeot and Renault no longer supply, but which is essential for maintaining your car. You will quickly realize the diversity of the parts when browsing the catalogues of CiPeRe/Der Franzose.

As conclusion, I’d like to seize this opportunity of this new catalogue to thank Christian from the bottom of my heart, telling me that our catalogues are comparable to Manufrance, is a huge honour.

And last but not least, thank you, our trustworthy customers.The trust you have in us, is a particular motivation for our daily work.

Frederic Duforug (CiPeRe - Der Franzose Paris)