Originally Posted by
bikemig
Yeah but that Mercier rocks in pink. That would be a totally cool bike to own.
Pink was the factory colour used on the pro team bicycles during the 1960s & 1970s. I did some more looking through old race photos and it looks like the multiple banding of the seat tube came into effect in 1970, when Spanish cookware manufacturer Fagor took over prime sponsorship from Mercier. GAN took over the team in 1972 and the multiple bands are evident through 1975 but disappear in 1976. So, it should be 1970-1975 (unless it's a repaint) but I'm still leaning towards the earlier years based on the wingnuts, assuming they're OEM. Most manufacturers eliminated wingnuts in the mid-1970s, in anticipation of proposed CPSC legislation.