1938 Delahaye Type 135 Roadster

The origins of Delahaye lie in a company set up as long ago as 1845 to produce brick-making machinery. Emile Delahaye was a railroad engineer who designed rolling stock for the French and Belgian railroads and built his first car in 1895. Delahaye took over Delage in 1935, a maker of elegant cars and a company with an established clientele. Suddenly its fortunes would turn.

The Type 135M provided the chassis for flamboyant coachwork by various carrossiers, none more so than Figoni & Falaschi, chief purveyors of the French teardrop (a name Figoni despised). Joseph Figoni was the genius stylist/designer and Ovidio Falaschi was the accountant who kept him solvent. The agile chassis when combined with a 3.5-liter, 130 horsepower six-cylinder engine, is topped with triple-Solex downdraft carburetors and backed up by a Cotal 4-speed electric-shift transmission. It made for a wonderfully competitive road and racing car.

This example remained in Paris until the 1950s and was once owned by legendary racer Briggs Cunningham. It has been in its present ownership for 25 years.