1951 Delahaye Type 235 Coupe de Luxe

The Delahaye Type 235 was first presented at the 1951 Paris Salon de l'Automoible, but due to its high price only 84 examples were sold between 1951 and 1954.

This Chapron-bodied Type 235 sold for 3,800,000 francs, five times the price of a Citroen 15CV Big Six. By prewar standards the 235 featured very modern styling; it wore new pontoon-style bodywork with a full-width grille by chief designer Philippe Charbonneaux. All of the Type 235s were bodied by French carrosseries, including Letourneur et Marchard, Franay, and Saoutchik. This is one of three similar coupes built by Chapron. Powered by a 6-cylinder 3.5-liter, 152 horsepower engine, the Type 235 was one of the fastest luxury cars of its day. In 1953, to prove the car's speed and reliability, Delahaye entered the prototype Type 235 in the second running of a rally between the South African Cape and Algiers, a distance of 8,885 miles. The car broke the previous year's record, averaging over 100 mph over the 10 days of the race.