Lord K's Garage - #91. Delage Aero Coupe

My Garage is proud to present the pinnacle of French streamline.

Rolling sculpture created by great designer at one of the best ateliers ever - for a charismatic customer.

Wouter Melissen of the UltimateCarPage writes: Louis Delage's lavish and flamboyant lifestyle matched the luxurious cars he produced, but it also resulted in the downfall of the company. Like many of Delage's contemporaries, the French company filed for bankruptcy midway through the 1930s. Fortunately Delahaye stepped up and bought the assets. Production could continue and there was enough money available to develop a new model for 1936. Although Mr. Delage had officially parted ways with 'his' company, he kept a close eye on the products for a long time after the take over and remained their spokesperson.

Many feared that the Delahaye take-over would result in Delage badged Delahayes. The six cylinder engines were frequently used in a wide variety of vehicles, but to the delight of many not in the new top-end Delages. For that purpose a new eight cylinder powerplant was developed that shared some internals with the six cylinder engine, but obviously required a new block and head. Displacing just over 4.3 litres, the OHV 'eight' produced 95 bhp and a considerable amount of torque.

From 1938 onwards, a larger and more powerful engine was added to the line-up.The new engine was installed in a conventional chassis to create the long wheelbase D8-100 and short wheelbase D8-120. As with most cars of this class, the Delage D8-100/120 was delivered as a rolling chassis, ready to be bodied by custom coach builders. Before the outbreak of the WWII approximately 100 examples were produced. Of the many different styles fitted on the Delage chassis, the coupe and cabriolet designs by Letourneur & Marchand are the most famous. Other French design houses that worked their magic on the Delage chassis were Pourtout and Chapron.

Pictured is a stunning Delage D8-120 bodied by French coach builder Pourtout. The aerodynamic lines were penned by Georges Paulin who was also responsible for the Embiricos Bentley and Darl'Mat Peugeots. The featured example was ordered by Mr. Delage himself and completed in a stunning seven months. After the War it was slightly modified, but has recently been restored to its original condition. The restorers' thorough work was awarded with the prestigious Best in Show trophy in the 2005 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, where Delage's centenary was celebrated.

Photos: Ultimatecarpage

P.S. Another great Delahaye / Delage project of the period was the short-lived Delage V12 Labourdette Vutotal, its body designed by Jean Andreau (of the revolutionary Peugeot aerodynamic concept fame).

Tags: 1930s, automobile, cars, design, france, garage, streamline

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Comment by Pilsner Panther on June 4, 2011 at 11:50pm: The engine alone is a remarkably beautiful piece of mechanical design and craftsmanship. What's remarkable, from today's point of view, is that machines like this were all hand-designed and built. There were no computers, much less CAD software or anything like that. It was all pencils, pens, slide rules, and blueprints back then, which makes the era's technology even more amazing.

Comment by lord_k on June 3, 2011 at 12:02pm: Do you mean Morgan Aero 8?
To me it doesn't resemble any Delage but when it was introduced about 10 years ago I immediately thought of Pourtout bodies.