Luxembourg title

Chassis no. 50688 Engine no.656

- Exceptional history

- Entered twice in the 24 Hours of Le Mans

- Winner of the 1938 Tourist Trophy

- Excellent condition, to original specification, eligible for the top historic events

 

In 1927, Louis Delâge achieved his goal, going beyond his wildest dreams: his Delage 15 S 8, the engineer Albert Lory’s masterpiece, with its 8-cylinder 1500cc supercharged engine, utterly dominated the season. In the hands of Robert Benoist, it won every Grand Prix, earning the manufacturer the World Constructors’ Championship. Immediately after this triumph, Delage withdrew from competition to concentrate on its prestige models, but the 15 S 8 was so far ahead of its rivals that it continued to race successfully in private hands until the 1950s!

Delage’s range of touring cars naturally benefitted from the experience it had gained in racing, and although the D6 and D8 did not enjoy the dual overhead cam engine of the competition model, they had pushrod engines with overhead valves and a Cotal gearbox and featured above-average materials and build quality. Great care was taken over the chassis too, with independent front suspension of particular note. These qualities did not, however, prevent the company from running into financial difficulties, which resulted in 1936 in Delage joining forces with Delahaye, with the help of the businessman Walter Watney, Delage’s distributor for the Paris area.

 

This Delage D6-70 Special (chassis no. 50688) was originally intended to take part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1936 and was fitted with a magnificent streamlined coupé body by Figoni. As the race was cancelled due to the social unrest that year, its owner, Mme Richer-Delavau, entered it in a succession of concours d’élégance before it returned to Watney’s showroom. It was there that the Delage was spotted by Louis Gérard, as he explained in an interview published by Jacques Vassal in issue 27 of the magazine Auto Passion in September 1989: “My son, who was very young, saw the Delage in a showroom and persuaded me to buy it.” Once Gérard had brought the car home, his cousin Jacques de Valence told him that it was a model originally built for competition, with a special cylinder head and triple carburettors, and suggested he enter it in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1937. Although he had no experience of motorsport, Gérard was a seasoned driver: as a sales representative, he was used to driving quickly across France in his road cars. He discovered he was also a gifted racing driver, with an instinctive ability to control power slides.

De Valence prepared the car and the team took its place at the start: it was the first time a Delage had appeared at Le Mans since 1923 and it is likely that the entry was supported by Watney. The race took place in difficult conditions: a serious accident at the start resulted in two deaths and pouring rain upset the order on the leaderboard. Running among the works Delahayes and Bugattis (including Wimille’s Type 57 ‘Tank’, which won the race) and at the end of a hard-fought battle with an Aston Martin, the Delage took fourth place overall and won the 3-litre class. For Gérard ’s first race, it was a fantastic result!

This success encouraged Gérard to keep going, and in August he entered the Paris-Nice, finishing third. The interview in Auto Passion described what happened next: “My car was unsettled when braking, I couldn’t brake as I wanted to. (...) So I said to Mr Watney: ‘If you fit a racing body for me, I promise you I’ll win.’ Because my car was the only one with closed bodywork. Watney was excited for me and didn’t hesitate: he consulted the ‘old man’ Delâge, who agreed, and he had the body replaced at his expense by Figoni.” It was thus at this point that the car was fitted – by its original coachbuilder – with the two-seat racing body it still has today. It is believed that the original coupé body was then fitted to a Delahaye 135 used for rallies by Germaine Rouault.

 

With the car now rebodied and lighter, Gérard took part in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1938, again with Jacques de Valence, but the rebuilt engine, which had apparently not been properly run in, gave them cause for concern and a blown head gasket forced them to retire. Once the damage had been repaired, Gérard made up for it and scored a brilliant second place with Georges Monneret (the motorcycle champion) at the 24 Hours of Spa, behind an Alfa Romeo 8C-2900, before winning the Tourist Trophy at Donington in September, ahead of an Aston and three Talbots, despite the rain and a spin which he caught in spectacular style.

 

At the end of the 1938 season, he sold the Delage, in exchange for a Maserati 6CL, to the English racing driver Peter Aitken, the son of Max Aitken, the British press baron. Aitken raced in 1939 at Brooklands and Crystal Palace, where he took a class win, before the Second World War brought motorsport to an end.

Immediately after the war, the Delage was offered for sale by High Speed Motors, a business in London run by Giulio Ramponi and Robert Arbuthnot: there it caught the eye of Pat Garland, a motorcycle racer who had just come into an inheritance which enabled him to buy the car. He restored the car mechanically and competed with it in May 1946 at Prescott and Shelsley Walsh before entering the Belgian Grand Prix. He finished sixth, but at the Nantes Grand Prix he ran off the track. As the Talbot T26C he had ordered was delayed, he kept going with the Delage at Chimay and Lille. In 1948, he competed at Montlhéry in the 12 Heures de Paris: he finished sixth with the Delage, but the race was won by Luigi Chinetti, driving a Ferrari Spider Corsa, marking the start of a meteoric rise for the Italian manufacturer ...

For the Delage, however, Garland’s health problems signalled the end of its racing career. Put into storage, it reappeared at the start of the 1980s, missing its cylinder head, when it was discovered by Anthony Blight. Blight did not keep the car, and it was Colin Crabbe, that great discoverer of cars, who had it restored for one of his customers, keeping much of the original bodywork.

In 1995, the car became part of Abraham Kogan’s collection and he had the engine rebuilt in 2004. Writing at the time in the magazine Motor Sport, Richard Heseltine noted: “There is a sense of refinement alien to many competition cars from the period. The steering too is responsive, without the expected kickback.”

 

In 2008, this historic Delage was bought by Paul-Émile B, who registered it in England and then in Luxembourg. In 2012 and 2014, it was serviced by Sean Danaher Restoration Ltd in England and, in 2023, by Blakeney Motorsport, at a cost of more than £30,000. In January 2024, Michel Magnin, who had maintained the car since it joined the collection (and who remade the very distinctive swept-back wings, which had been lost after Garland came off the track at Shelsley Walsh), restored the engine: the block and cylinder head were skimmed at Tous les Moteurs and the liners were replaced. Measurements of the bore and stroke showed that they were correct for the original specification and therefore the engine capacity, ensuring that the car was eligible to race in the 3-litre class.

In the meantime, the Delage took part in five editions of Le Mans Classic and on four occasions in the Mille Miglia, the last of them in 2024, competing without any problems. It is, moreover, listed as eligible for the Mille Miglia, giving it the automatic right to take part. It also raced three times at Goodwood, where it has been regularly invited to the Members’ Meeting.

 

This Delage D6-70 Special is today in very good condition, looking just as it did originally (it raced in period with a chrome radiator grille), with its 3-litre 6-cylinder engine producing nearly 140bhp mated to a Cotal electromagnetic gearbox. It comes with a substantial history file including articles, period photographs and copies of recent bills. Boasting an exceptional history from new right up to the present day, with an impressive record in competition, it is eligible for the top historic events on road and on track, not to mention the most prestigious concours d’élégance, where its history and stylish appearance will guarantee it a place. It is rare to find such a combination of qualities in a car from this era, a fact which will not be lost on motorsport enthusiasts.

Photos © Kevin Van Campenhout