# MG145375 in Normandy Museum: Really??!!??



## johan willaert (Jun 9, 2022)

In 1975 a French Normandy based farmer, Seraphin FRANCOIS, donated the WW2 era US Army G519 Columbia MG145375 bicycle to the Airborne Museum in Sainte Mere Eglise where it has been on display ever since.
Over the years it was restored and except maybe for the tires it doesn't look half bad....
During the Covid lockdown, the museum's halls were refurbished and the bicycle ended up in a separate cabinet.
so far so good....
BUT what do you do when you realize the display cabinet isn't deep enough???
No, you don't cut a hole in the rear panel... You just cut the handlebars with original OD torpedo style grip off...

I had to look twice, but yep, that's what they did....


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## Mercian (Jun 9, 2022)

I wish I could say I was surprised. 

But I'm not.

Best Regards,

Adrian


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## leo healy (Jun 9, 2022)

Are those people for real !!!!!!!   .😠


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## DaGasMan (Jun 9, 2022)

Merde! C’est incroyable! Je déteste le français! Pitui!


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## Iverider (Jun 9, 2022)

Must have been the B-squad. Non-driveside facing is dorky for a display.


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## Trail Rider (Jun 9, 2022)

Beyond a disappointment, it’s a disgrace.


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## catfish (Jun 9, 2022)

Iverider said:


> Must have been the B-squad. Non-driveside facing is dorky for a display.


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## phantom (Jun 9, 2022)

I wonder if they thought about maybe tilting the bars forward.


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## HUFFMANBILL (Jun 9, 2022)

Thats the problem they were not thinking !!!  I thought that a museum was suppose to preserve and protect the historical contents of the artifacts, which it housed ?  Evidently not in this case !  No pun intended.  Disgraceful !!!


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## DaGasMan (Jun 10, 2022)

Iverider said:


> Must have been the B-squad. Non-driveside facing is dorky for a display.



Oh my gawd! Don't tell them to turn it around with the chain guard facing out!
They'll cut the other handle off too!! 😲 😜


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## frankenbike (Jun 10, 2022)

Adrian x 2. Ron White said it best- "You can't fix STUPID". More proof that stupidity is world wide. As for the bike, I hope they kept the piece they cut off. It should be welded back on as a footnote to the bike's history.


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## phantom (Jun 10, 2022)

frankenbike said:


> Adrian x 2. Ron White said it best- "You can't fix STUPID". More proof that stupidity is world wide. As for the bike, I hope they kept the piece they cut off. It should be welded back on as a footnote to the bike's history.



They might weld it back on the wrong side.


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## Gully (Jun 10, 2022)

Pretty sad.  An example of preservationists forgetting values and changing it to fit their personal convivence.


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## fat tire trader (Jun 11, 2022)

For a while, NOS handlebars were still available and not too expensive. Perhaps they have a spare bar.


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## DaGasMan (Jun 11, 2022)

fat tire trader said:


> For a while, NOS handlebars were still available and not too expensive. Perhaps they have a spare bar.



True. But the root of it all is that the "original, original" handlebars that were on there for
nearly 80 years have been cut. Forever altering the integrity. I'm not a purist by any stretch,
but to witness the French Bubbah Works in action, even I'm offended.


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## FreedomMachinist (Jun 13, 2022)

This bike slipped through the bombs and bullets of a world war to be cut down by clueless curators, who were actually entrusted to preserve  it  - ignorance beyond believe - even my girlfriend - who is kind of clueless, thought this to be very rude...


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