The Royal Enfield dealer in the 1930's in Paris, France was Pierre Psalty, of 271 Boulevard Pereire. Today that place is a restaurant, the building looks old, so it may be the same one the dealership occupied. 
Mr. Psalty moved in the later 1930's to 80 Avenue des Ternes, 
which is a real estate place nowadays, but probably in the same building, 
Pierre Psalty and his brothers which were of Greek origin and the pioners of motorcycling in France and in particular the English brand Royal Enfield. In this same place (80 av. des Ternes) after Pierre Psalty, the husband of his daughter Michel Marchand was the first importer of the Honda brand in France in the 60s, this visionary man impulse the use of Japanese motorcycles to a growing audience. He also diversified its products to other brands such as Yamaha, and also promoted the famous Honda electricity generators which for years he was the biggest seller in France.
ReplyDeleteHello Mendoza,
DeleteSince 2007 I have been researching the military Royal Enfields. During my research I have discovered that in 1937, the Royal Enfield factory delivered 1.000 motorcycles to the Spanish Republican Army through their Paris (France) dealer Pierre Psalty. At the same time, the Norton factory (another British motorcycle manufacturer) delivered 500 motorcycles to the Spanish Republican Army through their Paris (France) dealer Lucien Psalty (is this Pierre's brother?), and the BSA factory delivered 750 motorcycles to the Spanish Republican Army through a mysterious "Captain Ball".
Would you have any information on these Spanish Civil War contracts Mendoza? Did the Psalty family have contacts in Spain? Anything you could add to this research would really make my day! :o)
Thanks for your help with my research!
Kind regards,
Jan Vandevelde
wd(dot)register(at)gmail(dot)com