Delage D8-120 Coach Aérosport by Letourneur et Marchand 1937, França

Delage D8-120 Coach Aérosport by Letourneur et Marchand 1937, França

Fotografia

The D8-120:

The year 1935 was pivotal for Delage, fabled French manufacturer of high-speed luxury automobiles. A less-expensive six-cylinder car, the D6, had been introduced in 1930, and a four-cylinder D4 in 1933, but both models and the D8 were struggling as the deepening Depression reached Europe. There was insufficient money for new product development; in fact Delage was forced to sell off his showroom on the Champs Elysées. Delage tried to interest Peugeot in part of the business, to no avail. Various refinancing efforts were tried, but eventually, in the early part of February 1935, a receiver was called in.

In April, Walter Watney, Parisian agent for Delage, acquired the company’s assets with the intention of returning it to motor racing. Watney soon discovered that saving the venerable firm was beyond his own means and made an agreement with its onetime arch competitor, Delahaye, in which the Delage name survived but would be used on automobiles carrying many Delahaye components. This was no real sacrifice, as Delahaye, too, was a renowned builder of high-speed gran routier automobiles; a Delahaye-based Delage was a Delage, indeed.

Proof of this was the first major product of the marriage, the D8-120. Introduced in 1936, it was based upon a modified Delahaye chassis, with an advanced independent front suspension featuring a transverse leaf spring. Power came from what was essentially the Delahaye 135 MS six-cylinder engine, but with two additional cylinders, eventually displacing 4,744 cubic centimeters and producing some 115 horsepower. With ample torque, the magnificent automobile could cruise to speeds of nearly 100 mph, while having excellent handling for its period and being ideal for comfortable long-range touring. Further, its majestic factory styling, featuring a towering grille, long hoodline, and external exhausts, were the perfect mate for exquisite custom coachwork.

The Coach Aérosport:

Inarguably one of the most beautiful designs on the D8-120 was the Coach Aérosport, created by the brilliant scion Marcel Letourneur, one of the finest French artisans of the 1930s, and crafted by his family’s shop of Letourneur et Marchand. It was created specifically for the D8-120’s debut at the 1936 Paris Salon, with the idea of drawing maximum attention to the utterly flamboyant chassis—something it was quite well-equipped to do.

Incorporating early aerodynamic research by Jean Andreau, the Coach Aérosport was an evolution of a prior design known as the Coach JeLM. Unlike the JeLM, it featured a distinctive and extraordinarily beautiful fastback roofline, that descended smoothly across the car and formed a small dorsal ridge down the tail. This combined with frameless, pillarless, subtly overlapping panes of window glass that curved and descended with the boldly molded beltline, produced an airy and extremely dramatic look. The design would prove highly impactful, influencing further “pillarless” designs in Europe, and General Motors’ famous “hardtop convertibles” of the early 1950s.

Historian Richard Adatto notes in his book From Passion to Perfection that 13 examples of the Coach Aérosport were produced, and the survivors are rightly held among the most extraordinary automobiles of their generation. They are included in some of the most prestigious collections and museums worldwide.

Chassis number 51042:

This D8-120 was the seventh Coach Aérosport and the last of the so-called “first-series” design, number 5649, distinguished by a more subtle frontal layout with freestanding headlamps and built on the early-style D8-120 chassis. According to an article by David Burgess-Wise in the February 1998 issue of Classic & Sports Car, by the late 1940s it had come to be located in England. In the early 1950s, the Halfway Garages of Padworth, Berkshire, sold it to Harold T. Raitt of Fort Wayne, Indiana, in whose ownership it is believed to have been graced with additional chrome trim along the fender edges. Later, according to Burgess-Wise, it was reportedly acquired by Wisconsin-based enthusiast Henry Uihlein II, a great admirer of the D8-120 who over the years acquired several important examples.

In the early 1990s the car was acquired by a collection in California, which undertook its restoration at Hill & Vaughn of Santa Monica, established in part by legendary racing driver Phil Hill and regarded as the finest facility on the West Coast in its time. Following restoration, it was displayed at the 1997 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, then featured in the aforementioned Classic & Sports Car article. It also appeared at the 2001 Meadowbrook Concours d’Elegance.

Later in 2001, it was acquired for the present collection, in which it has been a stalwart for the last quarter-century, among many other extraordinary examples of custom French coachwork. It has, in current ownership, continued to make occasional show appearances, most prominently at the 2005 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, and was pictured in an article in Autom obile Quarterly. Further, it has continued to be well-maintained and preserved, both mechanically and cosmetically, and is still in very strong condition throughout.

As the first Coach Aérosport to be publicly offered in some years, this is an extraordinary specimen of what is rightly now considered the ultimate Delage—one of the rare moments in automotive history when the finest design and the greatest chassis collided in an unlikely pairing and created something truly special. Texto da RM Sotheby's.

Nota do blog: Data 2026 / Crédito para Theodore W. Pieper.