Delahaye Automobiles

Delahaye Automobiles - Random Listings From Our Picture Gallery

1946 DELAHAYE 135MS	1946 DELAHAYE 135MS 149,000.00 USD 1946 DELAHAYE 135MS 1946 Delahaye 135 type M. We have extensive documentation of this car on file. Not only is it extremely rare but it is extremely authentic. For example the car has 3 (Solex carburetors) which are the original carburetors. This in itself is really rare to find the 3 original Solax carburetors still with the vehicle. Chassis Delahaye Type 135MS. 800429. Engine type 6.S.103, Engine no 800429. Research and progress car may have racing history. Please call for details. Price: $149,000 Offers always considered For Sale by: Barton's Classic Cars Marietta, GA 30062 Phone: 678-662-3356 Email: dansoldcar@comcast.net Website: www.bartonsclassiccars.com Dealer: dlr00118 by barton
1947 Delahaye Type 135M Cabriolet	1947 Delahaye Type 135M Cabriolet 1947 Delahaye Type 135M Cabriolet Coachwork by: Secheron, Switzerland Blackhawk Auto Museum in Danville, California. Photos By: Douglas Wilkinson by Douglas
1949 DELAHAYE 135MS SELBORNE ROADSTER	1949 DELAHAYE 135MS SELBORNE ROADSTER 1949 DELAHAYE 135MS SELBORNE ROADSTER 1949 Delahaye 135MS Competition Roadster The coachwork is by Selborne the English Concessionaires for Delahaye. The concept for this car was conceived before the war and completed afterwards. The car was created to be a factory demonstrator, or a gentleman's racer. The car is on a standard chassis, the engine is similar to the factory 135MS race cars. It has the competition type solex side carburetors. The alloy body is light weight. Different early owners used this car in club races in the late 1940s and early 1950s and does not have big race history as a factory team car. The car was featured on the Delahaye post war owners manual for the English market. The car was restored in the early 1980’s and raced on different vintage circuits with good success. The current owner has owned the car since 1979 with a brief sale of purchase back from Eric Traber. The car has been successfully vintage raced in Monterey in 1981 and 1982 where the car took a second and a fourth place. The car was shown at Pebble Beach in 1982 where it came in second in class. For Sale by: The Auto Collections Located in the Imperial Palace Hotel and Casino 3535 Las Vegas Blvd. South Las Vegas, Nevada 89101 Phone: 702-794-3174 Email: sales@autocollections.com Website: www.autocollections.com by AutoCLV
1936 Delahaye 135 Competitione Coupe	1936 Delahaye 135 Competitione Coupe 1936 Delahaye 135 Competitione Coupe Location: 2009 Concours d'Elegance Amelia Island, Florida Date: March 15, 2009 Photos By: Douglas Wilkinson by Douglas
1938 Delahaye 135 MS Figoni & Falaschi Competition Cabriolet	1938 Delahaye 135 MS Figoni & Falaschi Competition Cabriolet 1938 Delahaye 135 MS Figoni & Falaschi Competition Cabriolet Location: 2009 Concours d'Elegance Amelia Island, Florida Date: March 15, 2009 Photos By: Douglas Wilkinson by Douglas
1953 Delahaye Model 235 Saoutchik Coupe	1953 Delahaye Model 235 Saoutchik Coupe 1953 Delahaye Model 235 Saoutchik Coupe Coachwork by: Jacques Saoutchik, Paris-Neuilly, France Blackhawk Auto Museum in Danville, California. Photos By: Douglas Wilkinson by Douglas
1950 Delahaye Type 180 Transformable Limouisine	1950 Delahaye Type 180 Transformable Limouisine 1950 Delahaye Type 180 Transformable Limouisine Coachwork by: Franay Carrossier, Paris, France Blackhawk Auto Museum in Danville, California. Photos By: Douglas Wilkinson by Douglas
1936 Delahaye 135 S "Court" Competition Teardrop Coupe	1936 Delahaye 135 S "Court" Competition Teardrop Coupe 1936 Delahaye 135 S "Court" Competition Teardrop Coupe Worldwide Group Auctions The Houston Classic Auction Saturday, May 2, 2009 Website: www.wwgauctions.com Lot # 79 CHASSIS NO: 46809 Coachwork by Figoni & Falaschi, The Only All-Alloy Body Joseph Figoni was the master of sweeping, streamlined, voluptuous "teardrop" coupe coachwork. Other designers, particularly Jean Bugatti, shared Figoni's appreciation of the idiom, but no one brought the drop of water to a higher state of development and refinement that Joseph Figoni. In recent years, popular appreciation of Figoni's teardrops has emphasized the undeniable aesthetic elements of the coachwork. Beautiful, integrated, sleek, and elemental, the Figoni & Falaschi Teardrops have become celebrated for their integration of form and function - but in the process the celebration has largely overlooked the function. In the beginning, as with this short chassis 1936 Delahaye 135 S coupe, the purpose of Joseph Figoni's purpose was intuitively to express the automobile as a drop of water formed by the conflicting considerations of its essential mechanical elements and the smoothing, naturally streamlining flow of air across and around masses. Figoni treated the automobile's coachwork as cohesively fluid shapes, literally drops of dense liquid held in place around engines, wheels, and passengers. His conception of the forces of air shaped the coachwork elements. His genius was to turn the solution to an essentially practical problem into a genuinely beautiful object, achieving the ideal of integrating form and function by proceeding from function to form. It puts Figoniï¾’s teardrop coupes in an exclusive group of competition cars where brilliant design developed from the practical solutions to simple problems of performance, cars like the 250 GT SWB berlinetta, the 300SLR, and even the Deuce Highboy Roadster. The car offered here, 1936 Delahaye 135 S 46809, is one of Figoni's earliest expressions of automobile coachwork as a drop of dense fluid in a fast-moving stream of less density. The concept of beauty was probably never far from Figoni's mind, but in 1936 it was practicality in the forefront. He was designing lightweight, streamlined coachwork that would let Delahaye's 135 S chassis and engine achieve the maximum performance and comfort in long distance road races, combined with practicality and luxury in high speed cruising. It combines function and beauty in a pure, simple, essential expression. Later more extravagant Figoni & Falaschi coachwork would substitute flamboyant effect for practical effectiveness, rendering this early, pure expression of the teardrop form on the truly high performance Delahaye 135 S chassis as a high point of the idiom. 1936 Delahaye 135 S "Court" Competition Teardrop Coupe More practical considerations governed the creation of this car with its full alloy body and uniquely extended rear body. It was created for Jean Tremoulet who would two years later in 1938 team with this car's third owner, Eugene Chaboud, to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in an open-bodied Delahaye 135 S. This is a highly unusual automobile, even for Delahaye which tailored almost every one of its cars to individual owners' requirements. It combines the short ("court") 2,700mm wheelbase with all the Delahaye competition modifications including 102 litre fuel tank, enlarged radiator, and alloy brake backing plates chosen to reduce unsprung weight and increase brake cooling. It also has a special Cotal Mk33SS preselector four-speed gearbox with overdrive fourth speed. The engine is a very special 135J competition engine. It is based on a different cylinder block casting with a water passage added between cylinders two and three, a high capacity water pump located lower on the block and additional oiling passages near number two and four cylinders. The cylinder head also is unique to this engine type, developed for the most demanding and competitive races like Le Mans. The cylinder head casting is wider, with bigger valves, different rocker arm assemblies improved porting and much higher compression, 9.5:1 against 8.4:1 for most Type 135 Delahayes. Remarkably, every exterior surface of this engine has been machined to remove all excess material. Only one other engine is known to have received this treatment by Delahaye: the Type 135 S driven by Tremoulet and Chaboud to win the 1938 Le Mans 24 Hours. According to Andre Vaucour, the Archivist of the Club Delahaye, just 25 short chassis Type 135s were built in order to homologate the type for racing. Only about 10 were actually built for racing with the balance assembled with road engines and suspensions. Tremoulet had Figoni & Falaschi create a very special body for the high performance Type 135 S coupe, an all-alloy masterpiece that is believed to be the first to use a boxed 10cm extension of the frame at the back to give it a longer, more gentle slope that is both more aerodynamic and blends harmoniously with the slope of the teardrop front and rear fender shapes. Accented by the "sweepspear" which Figoni made famous, its raked windshield, radiator, door shape, hood louvers, and side windows all complement the sleek, wind-swept form of the coachwork. Skirted rear wheels accent the hunched down aspect of the chassis and body. The split rear window and small finned spline down the rear of the body add an anthropomorphic touch that gives the teardrop coupe the slippery stance of a sea creature. Research by M. Vaucourt, the Club Delahaye's archivist, has traced its history essentially from new when it was built for Jean Tremoulet. The second owner, Albert Perrot, also was a competition driver, racing at Le Mans in 1928 in a Salmson. Eugene Chaboud acquired it from Perrot in July 1938 just after winning Le Mans and owned it until the late 1940s when it was sold to Claude Columeau, owner of a garage near Paris where it remained until it was discovered by the immediately preceding owner, Roger Tainguy, in June 2000. Claude Figoni has confirmed to M. Vaucour that this is the only teardrop berlinetta built entirely of aluminum. It appears in several racing results in the late Thirties in France including the 1936 Coupe d'Automne driven by Jean Tremoulet. It had an 11th place finish for Eugene Chaboud in the 1938 Paris-Nice International and fourth with Chaboud and Claude Perrot in the 1938 12 Hours of Paris at Montlhry. Another appearance at Montlhry in 1938 with Tremoulet and at the 1939 Course de Cote de la Turbie with Chaboud complete its known competition history but further research may reveal other races. What is known suggests an intriguing history among several very competent driver/owners who were ideally positioned to appreciate - and to take advantage of - the unique combination of performance, style, and comfort of this lightweight Delahaye 135S competition teardrop. It had been disassembled for restoration some time before it was acquired by Tainguy who completed the restoration, paying primary attention to the chassis and driveline. The coachwork was remarkably well preserved, including all its original body panels and interior upholstery. The original wood framing was marked throughout with the body number, 556. During the restoration any weak wood was replaced but all the original structural wood was retained and goes with the car. The rear section of the bodywork and roofline have been corrected and painstakingly restored to accurate original configuration as shown in its earliest known photos. Old photos of the car on the road show it with bumpers. They come with the car, but are not original Figoni & Falaschi pieces, apparently being fitted to it at a later time to protect it when driven on the streets of Paris. It has been fitted with triple downdraft Solex carburetors for street driving although the three sidedraft Solexes as originally installed come with the car so it can be driven and displayed in its authentic, original configuration. The Marchal headlights and trafficators add to its drivability as does the sliding sunroof which was fitted when new to almost all the Figoni & Falaschi teardrop coupes. With rollup windows, this is a very comfortable and rewarding road car. It runs and drives superbly (the owner compares its handling, responsiveness, ride, and performance with a 250 GT Ferrari). It is finished in black with maroon accent, matching maroon leather upholstery, beige headliner and interior trim, and lovely carved walnut interior trim and cappings with characteristic Figoni & Falaschi joinery. The dashboard is graced with a full set of white-faced Delahaye-labeled gauges and a beautiful spring spoke steering wheel. With its overdrive fourth gear, it will cruise all day at 80 miles an hour. The engine was rated at 160 horsepower by Delahaye but with modern materials, machining, tolerances, and tuning is probably putting out nearly 200 brake horsepower in its current form. This is one of the first Figoni & Falaschi teardrop coupes, if not the very first built. Its all alloy bodywork is unique, not only in its all alloy-construction but also in its 10cm extended and much more graceful and harmonious tail. It has spent nearly all of its life in Europe and has not been seen, much less available to an American audience. Restored to high standards, its performance is ample explanation of its appeal to its two Le Mans winning race driver/owners, and it will reward its next owner on the show field at Pebble Beach where it has recently been accepted to debut for the very first time, but perhaps even more so on events like the Mille Miglia, California Mille, or Colorado Grand. by Douglas
1949 Delahaye Type 135M Pourtout Cabriolet	1949 Delahaye Type 135M Pourtout Cabriolet 1949 Delahaye Type 135M Pourtout Cabriolet Coachwork by: Pourtout, Paris, France Blackhawk Auto Museum in Danville, California. Photos By: Douglas Wilkinson by Douglas
1949 Delahaye Type 135M Cabriolet	1949 Delahaye Type 135M Cabriolet 1949 Delahaye Type 135M Cabriolet Coachwork by: Carrossier A. Guillore, Courbevoie, France Blackhawk Auto Museum in Danville, California. Photos By: Douglas Wilkinson by Douglas

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Delahaye Automobiles

In 1894, Delahaye built its first automobile in Tours, France, and went on to produce well made, but modest utilitarian vehicles. Trucks and marine engines were an important part of the company and it was Delahaye who first motorized the Paris Fire department.

When car sales declined severely due to the depression of the 1930s, the firm needed to produce something drastic to increase sales if it was to survive.

In 1934, Delahaye introduced its most famous and successful cars: the 135 and the Coupe des Alpes. Both were light, sporty, and powerful cars fitted with sleek and stylish custom coachwork.

During World War II, Delahaye returned to truck production and by 1954, the company had been taken over by commercial vehicle producer, Hotchkiss.

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