Delahaye

Delahaye is one of the oldest names in the French motor industry: founded in 1845 in Tours as a mechanical engineering works, it turned to the automobile in the mid-1890s under the leadership of Émile Delahaye. Long confined to sensible, bourgeois production, the marque underwent a spectacular transformation in the 1930s with the 135, a formidably effective sporting chassis that France's greatest coachbuilders dressed in bodies that became iconic. It was the competition version, the 135 CS, that carried Delahaye to the summit of world endurance racing. At the 1938 24 Hours of Le Mans, as the favourites eliminated themselves over the course of a merciless race of attrition, the 135 CS of Eugène Chaboud and Jean Trémoulet won outright. Against the more powerful and more sophisticated machinery of the day — the race was then played out against the backdrop of the duel between the great French and Italian marques — Delahaye's victory rewarded the reliability and balance of an exceptional chassis, and the consistency of a privateer crew. Delahaye placed a second car on the podium that year, turning the race into a demonstration. The 1938 victory belongs to the marque's great sporting period, when it also shone in Grand Prix racing and rallying. The war ended that momentum. After the conflict, Delahaye resumed a small-scale production of luxury cars, but the French market for grand automobiles collapsed under the weight of taxation, and the house was absorbed by Hotchkiss in the mid-1950s before disappearing as a carmaker. What remains is the imprint of a marque that symbolises 1930s French elegance better than almost any other: its 135s, bodied by the masters of the age, are fought over today at concours d'élégance and auctions, and its 1938 Le Mans victory is a reminder that beneath the sumptuous coachwork beat the authentic heart of a racing car.

• Country : FRA
• Founded : 1845
• Le Mans wins : 1
• First win : 1938
• Last win : 1938