1938 Delahaye Type 135

This Delahaye was completed by Chapron for the 1936 Paris Salon de l'Automobile; it was the first Cabriolet Grand Sport he built on Delage's new chassis. After the Salon, it was delivered through Garage Poirier-Augerau in Versailles to the Parisian poet Adrien Saint-Ange Plet. Mme. Fernande Saint-Ange Plet showed this cabriolet at the Cannes Casino Concours d'Elegance, where it won first in class and the Trophee d'Elegance, and the Grand Prix d'Elegance Feminine. These successes were important for sales of the D8-120 and for Henri Chapron's career. During the war, this D8 was hidden away on the Saint-Ange Plet family's estate in Croissysur-Seine, near Versailles, then it returned to the streets of Paris in 1947. It was sold to a Mr. Bernard in the 1950s, then to a prominent European collector in the 1970s who drove it in historic rallies, including the Paris-Deauville and the Monte Carlo.