I agree that many colours were available, but I don't think it was gravitating to vibrant, striking, hues so much as gravitating to lightfast hues. I've spent a lot of the past decade at or over 1'500m in a relatively sunny area, and even with modern colours, anything that's outside for several years tends to wind up looking like someone selected a single channel in Photoshop: faded to either red/white or blue/white.
