1949 Delahaye Type 175 Coupe de Ville

This Type 175 Coupe de Ville features a removable panel above the driver's compartment. The six-cylinder engine breathing through triple Solex Carburetors meant the car had performance to match its flamboyant styling, yet the Saoutchik-bodied 175 was built more for luxury than high-speed motoring. The interior fixtures are plated in 14-karat gold, the carpet is deep, plush lambswool, and the doors are opened by a push-button. The headliner is cloth and the interior panels have a treatment that would more likely be found in an Art Deco palace than in an automobile. There are a Motorola radio, clock, and OS gauges.

This elegant vehicle was built specifically for the 1949 Paris Auto Salon and is said to have taken Saoutchik an entire year to complete. The original price tag was $20,000, making it one of the most expensive vehicles of its day. The first known owner was Jack Pry of Washington, D.C., one of the largest foreign car dealers in the United States. Under his care, the car was exhibited - alongside the Phantom Corsair and a post-war Bugatti - at the 1952 International Motor Sports Show at the Grand Central Palace in New York City.

It is believed that the next owner was Mrs. Wladzia Podbielniak of Chicago, Illinois. Her husband, Walter, was an internationally famous petrochemical engineer with dozens of major patents to his name who became fantastically wealthy when he discovered a way to produce Penicillin in continuous batch formulations.

Mrs. Podbielniak's collection was sold in the 1950s at the 'palatial French chateau' on Lake Shore Drive. The car was purchased by the Harrah Automobile Collection. At the time, the car's odometer read 20,600 miles. In the early 1970s, Bill Harrah married country singer and former Las Vegas showgirl, Bobbie Gentry. He had the Delahaye restored as a present for his new wife. The car was restored in the original two-tone color scheme of grey-beige and cream and had an air-conditioning system installed. Unfortunately, the marriage dissolved just four months after the knot was tied, so Ms. Gentry never saw the Delahaye.

In 1981 and 1982 the Delahaye was shown at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. Years later, it was sold to automotive auctioneer Tom Barrett of Paradise Valley, Arizona. In 1989, Mr. Barrett sold the car to J.B. Nethercutt.

In 2010, the car was offered for sale at the Gooding & Company auction held in Pebble Beach, CA. It had an estimated value of $250,000-$350,000. As bidding came to a close, the car had been sold for the sum of $440,000, inclusive of the buyer's premium.

By Daniel Vaughan | Dec 2010