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At the dawn of the automobile age, in 1894, Emile Delahaye founded Automobiles Delahaye at Tours, France. The first cars were 1- and 2-cylinder, belt-driven machines. Six years later, for some unknown reason, Emile left the company he put his name on. In 1901, The Société des Automobiles Delahaye opened its doors in Paris. There, they manufactured cars and trucks. Charles Weiffenbach took over the company in 1906, after Emile Delahaye’s death, and would remain at the helm until 1954. In 1908, Automobiles Delahaye began producing 1.5- and 2.1-liter, 4-cylinder and 2.6-liter, V-6 engines, licensing their designs to America and Germany. By the end of WW I, trucks were the bulk of Delahaye’s business. In 1934, however, Weiffenbach took the company in another direction. Two new automobiles were introduced; a 2.15-liter, 4-cylinder model, designated the 12CV, and a 3.2-liter, 6-cylinder model, the 18CV. Both of these engines were derived from Delahaye truck engines. In 1935, they introduced the Coupe des Alpes and Model 135. With bodies provided by the great coachbuilders of Europe—Figoni et Falaschi, Chapron, Letourneur et Marchand, and Secheron—Delahayes are considered among the most beautiful cars ever produced.
As did most automakers of the period, Delahaye tried its hand at racing. But, during the Thirties, Germany, under the Nazi Party, wished to establish their dominance in all areas, including motor racing. Sparing no expense, Mercedes Benz and Auto Union created some of the most advanced and powerful racing machines ever seen. Delahaye went up against this juggernaut with its Model 145, dubbed the “Million Franc Delahaye,” because of its victory in the “Prix du Million.” That race was held at the treacherous Montlhéry Racetrack, open to all French marques, to determine which manufacturer would go up against Germany’s finest. The Model 145 handily beat all contenders, save Bugatti, but won the million-franc prize when the Bugatti broke down during a blistering head-to-head heat. The race against the German cars was held at the Grand Prix de Pau, at Pau, France, in 1938. Frenchman René Dreyfus drove the Delahaye 145 against Germany’s Rudolph Caracciola, driving the much-vaunted Mercedes-Benz “Silver Arrow.” When Dreyfus crossed the finish line first, Germany’s defeat was doubly humiliating—Dreyfus was a Jew. This unprecedented victory created an avalanche of orders for Delahayes until the occupation of France by Germany during WW II.
Production of the Model 135 was continued after the war, and the 4.5-liter, Model 175 made its debut. But sales were down and the last new Delahaye was a 3.5-liter, Jeep-like vehicle that came out in 1951. The Hotchkiss Company, an arms and car company founded by an American, Benjamin B. Hotchkiss, acquired Delahaye in 1954, shutting down all automobile production and producing only trucks under the Hotchkiss-Delahaye nameplate. After a few months, the Delahaye name was dropped, thus ending its chapter in the book of automotive history.
Here’s another beautiful-looking 1:18-scale image produced by Signature Models and offered by Fairfield Mint—the 1947 Delahaye 135M. Though I don’t usually collect in this scale, I got the image because of the beauty of this particular car. It was the product of coachbuilders of the ‘30s and ‘40s—known for their use of flowing, sculpted lines and decorative chrome—that produced arguably the most beautiful cars of all time. Which raises the question: Why is it that the 1:24 precision makers don’t offer many of these cars, when the 1:18-scale companies put out one after the other at a smaller price point? As to what you get, there are many separate exterior chromed parts to set off the dark blue finish. The front opening doors are hinged on clips, so there are no doglegs. The interior shows off a decent-looking dashboard and steering wheel, though the seats—done in hard plastic—don’t tilt forward. The floor is also just hard plastic, with little attempt to simulate carpeting. The top-up top is also fixed and doesn’t remove. There’s not much to see in the trunk either, although the lid does open. The engine detail under the hood, while of the molded-in variety, isn’t too shabby, nor is the detail on the undercarriage. For around $25 ($29.99 from FFM), you get an aesthetically pleasing image with a flawless paint job and a reasonable amount of detail. Oh, you can quibble that some features are simplistically rendered and others are a bit too large, but the overall “look” is there. Look at it this way. These images will cause you to really appreciate the wealth of detail your 1:24 precision die casts offer—and you can further cheer yourself up with the fact you can pick up five of these for every one of those.
Today Delahayes are considered rolling works of art. Yet, their beauty was forged out of a history of hard, mundane work in the truck industry—which gave Delahaye the basis, not only for beauty, but also for dependability.
(10/13/2005)
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