The machines make by Louis Delage , including the 1933 Delage D8S Sports Coupe , exuded tasteful flair and lineament .
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Born in 1874 at Cognac , France , he was a graduate in engineering from the respected School of Mechanical Arts in Angers . After two year as chief drawer for Peugeot , Delage started his own carmaking firm in 1905 , prototypes rolling from a barn containing four lathe , a recitation press , and a milling machine .
A troika of Delages with individual - cylinder De Dion engine were displayed at the Paris Auto Show in December 1905 . They garnered honor from a leading automobile writer , prompt an investor to lend Delage 150,000 franc , allow his son be give a Book of Job .
By 1912 , 350 employees turn out 1,000 cable car with reputations enhanced by racing winner . Delages come in first and third at the 1911 Boulogne wash , won the 1913 Grand Prix at Le Mans , and captured the 1914 Indianapolis 500 . Profits led to a unexampled factory at Courbevoie ( in metre to grow munition for World War I ) and enabled Delage to dramatise the genteel modus vivendi of his customers ; a chateau at Le Pecq , a Pancho Villa at Saint - Briac , a town house in Paris ( where he maintain a showroom ) , and a racing yacht , L’Oasis .
A 10.6 - cubic decimeter Delage V-12 place the world land speed phonograph recording in 1923 at 143.309 mph , and the jewel - same 1.5 - liter dohc supercharged straight eights gain ground every major 1927 Grand Prix backwash . The first of Delage ’s 4.0 - l , 105 - horsepower ohv straight - eight passenger car debuted at the 1929 Paris Salon . If less exotic than the GP railway locomotive , the D8 / S had the down - rev torsion to establish two stacks of Gallic luxe over European roads .
Barker , C apron , Figoni , Fernandez et Darrin , Labourdette , Letourneur et Marchand , Pourtout , Saoutchik , Vanden Plas , and other coachbuilder cloak low - slung Delages . But none were slinkier than this Freestone & Webb 1933 D8S ( Sport ) coupe . Jacques Harguindeguy veteran soldier Northern California collector of definitive luxury and sporting gondola , had just shepherded the rakishly graceful grande routiere home from the Oakland sour grass in 1997 when these opinion were blast .
The well - craft coupe stands only 59 column inch high , gracefully complementing the 130 - column inch wheelbase . Drivers sit around low in the recessed storey , their legs nearly straight as in a sportsman car . The back seat is knowledgeable , but two couples and judiciously select luggage can be accommodate .
The richly veneered dah concord Jaeger gauges for oil temperature , oil force per unit area , amps , fuel , and a 4,000 - rpm tachometer . But water temperature is registered by the Boyce MotoMeter that sit down six feet away on the radiator . With Marchal headlights one foot in diam , 7.00x18 tires , delight proportions , a succinct yet comfortable cabin , a drop frame , and firm semi - elliptic spring fore and aft , the 120 - horsepower aluminum - bodied D8S tone and handles like a smaller motorcar .
Push the lever of the well - wrought four - fastness gearbox into first , and with a throaty rasp from the big , single - barrel Smith - Barraquand carburettor , the prospicient , depleted automobile laughs at the years .
