French pumps usually don't have a head, but a short hose, stored on the top, that screws in the bottom of the pump and onto the valve, connecting the two. Whether Ad-Hoc, Zefal, or others.
All the pumps on cheap 1970s Peugeots were like that - nice alloy pumps, but usually quite short. Maybe those were left-over stocks of Ad-Hocs? :) (Even late-1980s Peugeot pumps had the hose.)
Modern French pumps like the Zefal HP series are different.
Jan Heine, Seattle (who doesn't mind narrow bars, but most of the French randonneurs used wider bars even in the 1950s. No sprinting through gaps in the peloton for them!)