"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse)
08/17/2015 at 11:31 • Filed to: Delahaye, 178
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"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse)
08/17/2015 at 11:31 • Filed to: Delahaye, 178 | 2
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Today is devoted to a model from a marque noted - at least according to itself - for confort et elégance
This was something of a golden age for poster design so have another
Pre WW2 Delahaye did so well as purveyors of confort et elégance to the better off that they were able to buy Delage, another grand luxe manufacturer.
Post WW2 things went not so well. France was in no economic mood to buy luxury cars and taxation policy penalised models with larger engines. Delahaye diversified into the VLR, a Jeep substitute for the French army which remains the only Delahaye model most of us can afford - you can get a roadworthy one for about €5,000. They still tried the luxury market though and introduced the 175 which turned out to be their last luxury design and was made in dwindling numbers from 1948 to 1951.
Technically it was quite a sophisticated car for the era, with the new Dubonnet front suspension and a new 4.5 litre straight six with 140 or 160 bhp, Transmission was by way of a four speed electrically operated Cotal unit whose claim to fame was four gears in either direction. Perhaps surprisingly it was Delahaye’s first left hand drive luxury model.
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To accompany the basic 175 they had the 178 (+20cm in the wheelbase) and the 180 (+another 20cm). All of these were made as a rolling chassis with the customer free to choose a body from the coachbuilder of his choice with the proviso that the factory encouraged a family resemblance for the front. Compare the poster above with these Chapron bodied examples
The 175, 178 and 180 were large cars as we can see in this less than flattering rear view, not a thing often seen
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Therein lay a problem as some coachbuilders produced bodies with a baroque disregard to common sense and their weight overwhelmed the chassis leading to poor handling and a reputation for fragility which did nothing for Delahaye’s already dodgy business prospects.
Here’s a good example, a Saoutchik bodied 175
Delahaye were bought by Hotchkiss in 1954 who promptly ceased car production thus bringing to an end a glorious era.
RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
> Cé hé sin
08/17/2015 at 12:07 |
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coachbuilders... with a baroque disregard to common sense
‘30s coachbuilding in a nutshell, really, but quite a delicious nut.