Delahaye 135 MS

This Delahaye 135 MS comes from the period when the Paris marque was building both coachbuilt road cars and Le Mans winners. Chassis 48748 sits within the 135 Compétition range made between 1937 and 1939, and the Club Delahaye president confirmed in a 2014 letter that it is in the club register and would have been delivered new in late 1937.

Its history is unusually well documented. Parisian coachbuilder Marcel Chavet began a restoration, then sold the car to Maurice Broual, who built the Figoni-style two-seater body. It passed to Michel and Pascal Lagrèze in 1987, then to an Argentine enthusiast in 2007, who had it restored there between 2008 and 2013.

Power comes from the 3557cc 'Modifié Speciale' narrow-block straight-six, with triple carburettors and a six-branch exhaust manifold. It drives through a four-speed Cotal electro-magnetic gearbox. The brakes were converted to hydraulic operation, a requirement in Argentina. The car took part in the 2013 1000 Millas Sport and won its class at Autoclasica in 2014. It has stayed with the same family since the restoration.