Dan = My own sense is that the Gitane Tour de France is put in the same "bucket" of value as the Peugeot PX-10, its main competitor here. The Gitane was not as widely distributed and there aren't nearly as many of them (I think), but locally they are said to have been fairly common. There seem to have been lots in the Washington DC area, from Mel Pinto Imports. I came close to buying a TdF in 1963 from Mel, but ultimately chose a Swedish Avanti instead, for its Campag. record kit and unusual round forks.
My own memory was thinking that the biggest difference from the PX-10 was Campag. Tipo hubs on many of the later TdF, which I felt were likely to be better than the Normandy Luxe on the PX-10, but that is very impressionistic.
harvey sachs mcLean va +++++++++++++++++++++ Dan Evans asked:
i would like to ask everyone about there thoughts on an early 70s gitane" tour de fance" frame. 531 frame and forks with some intresting square looking dropouts which are chromed. i'm just wandering how these frames are viewed around the world. are they respected, collected or rejected? they seem quite fond of them in the US.