Delage — BrandWiki

Delage

Delage is a French luxury automobile and racecar company founded in 1905 by Louis Delâge in Levallois-Perret near Paris; it was acquired by Delahaye in 1935 and ceased operation in 1953. A new incarnation created by the association which acquired the rights to the name in 1956, "Les Amis de Delage", was announced in 2019. Delage Automobiles began production with the Delage D12.[1]

Early history

The company was founded in 1905 by Louis Delâge, who borrowed Fr 35,000, giving up a salary of F 600 a month to do so.[2]

Its first location was on the Rue Cormeilles in Levallois-Perret. The company at first had just two lathes and three employees, one of them Peugeot's former chief designer.[2]

Competition

Delage entered the 1911 Coupe de l'Auto at Boulogne with a 50 hp-metric 2996 cc (80 by) four with two 60 mm-diameter bellcrank-operated valves per cylinder controlled by camshafts in the crankcase.[5] The five-speed gearbox gave a top speed of 60 mph, and the four voiturettes each carried 26 impgal, as the factory planned for a no-stop race. Works driver Paul Bablot won, at an average 55.2 mph, with a 1m 11s over Boillot's Peugeot, followed home by Thomas in a second Delage; Delage also took the team prize.[5]

Delage moved up to Grand Prix racing in 1912, with a Léon Michelat-designed car powered by a four-valve 6235 cc (105 by) four-cylinder of 118 hp-metric, coupled again to a five-speed gearbox and fitted this time with 43 impgal.[5] Three cars were built for the 569 mi Amiens Grand Prix, though only two, Bablot's and Guyot's, actually entered.[5] On the day, Bablot's Delage proved the fastest car in the field, turning in a lap at 76.6 mph, but Guyot fell out of the lead with a puncture, and the race went to Peugeot, while the Delages were fourth and fifth.[5] At the French Grand Prix, Delage put Bablot first, Guyot second, ahead of Pilette's 1908 Mercedes GP car, Salzer in a Mercedes,[11] with Duray coming in fifth in the third Delage.[5]

In 1913, the new type Y set the fastest lap time at the French Grand Prix at Le Mans, and in 1914, this same car won the 1914 Indianapolis 500 with René Thomas at the wheel. Thomas, Guyot, and Duray returned to the French Grand Prix with 4½-liter twin-cam desmodromic valved racers featuring twin carburettors, five-speed gearbox, and four-wheel brakes.[5] While quick, they proved unreliable; only one finished, Duray's, in eighth.[5]

In 1914, Delage emphasized its focus on competition by creating the type O Lyon Grand Prix, while at the same time moving towards the luxury car market with 6 cylinders of a large class. However, racing was severely curtailed during World War One.

In 1923, Louis Delage returned to competition with the innovative 12-cylinder 2-liter type 2 LCV. This car won the 1924 European Grand Prix in Lyon and the 1925 Grand Prix of ACF Montlhéry. The 12-cylinder DH (10.5 liters) of 1924 beat the world speed record on the highway, at 230 km/h. A Delage 155 B won the first Grand Prix of Great-Britain in 1926, driven by Louis Wagner and Robert Senechal. The production of cars continued with the DI and the DI S SS. The DM evolved into the DMS and DML, equipped with a 6-cylinder 3-liter engine designed by Maurice Gaultier.

Delage's Grand Prix effort saw a Plancton-designed 1984 cc (51.3 by) four overhead cam V12.[12] The 110 hp car, driven by Thomas, fell out of the French Grand Prix in 1923, but went on to perform well for the bulk of the 1923 and 1924 season.[9] With supercharger added in 1925, bringing output to 195 hp, it won at Montlhéry and Lasarte,[9] proving as fast as the Alfa Romeo P2, but rarely racing it directly.[9] This car was supplanted in 1926 by a Lory-designed supercharged 1.5-liter twincam straight eight of 170 hp-metric; capable of 130 mph, it was the company's last Grand Prix entrant.[9]

Always passionate about racing, Louis Delage designed an 8-cylinder 1500 cc, the type 15 S 8. This car won four European Grands Prix races in 1927, and won Delage the title "World Champion of Car Builders" that same year.

A 2988 cc-powered D6 won the 1938 Tourist Trophy at Donington Park and came second at Le Mans.[9] A single V12-powered car, intended for Le Mans, caught fire at the 1938 International Trophy at Brooklands.[9]

Postwar, the best results Delage had were seconds at the 1949 Le Mans and 1950 Paris Grand Prix.[9]

The D6 and the D8: The Classic Era

1930 saw the launch of the 6-cylinder Delage D6 which would form the mainstay of the manufacturer's passenger car range until 1954.

For 1930 Maurice Gaultier designed an 8-cylinder in-line 4,061 cc, evolving the type D8 into the type D8 S (S for Sport).

The D8 was the pinnacle of the marque. It was offered in three wheelbases, "S" or "C" at 130 in, "N" at 140 in, and "L" at 143 in, all powered by a 4061 cc (77 by) straight eight,[13] making it capable of 85 mph.[9] Delage followed in 1932 with the Grand Sport, on a 123 in 130 in in 1934) wheelbase, capable of 100 mph.[9]

But the backlash of the economic crisis of 1929 arrived and manufacturers of luxury cars all over the world suffered from poor sales. The commercial and financial situation of the firm was badly shaken. In 1932 Delage introduced the type D6-11 (6-cylinder 2101 cc), and two years later the new eight-cylinder Delage, type D8-15 (2768 cc). These two models, equipped with independent front wheel suspension did not increase sale figures. The transverse leaf and wishbone independent front suspension was licensed by Studebaker for their cars.[9] Delage also produced a very limited number of higher-performance D6-11S models during 1933 and 1934. These "S" models ("S" being an abbreviation for Surbaisse, which means "lowered" in French) were built on a lowered and shorter chassis.

The junior D6s shared Delahaye front suspension design, but had hydraulic rather than Delahaye cable-actuated brakes, also shared the Cotal gearbox with the D8. The D6/70 of 1936 was powered by a 2729 cc (80 by) six, the 1938 D6/75 a 2.8-liter six, and the postwar D8/3L Olympic a 3-liter six.[9] At the bottom of the range was a 1.5-liter four that lasted until 1936.[9]

Financial pressures never disappeared, however, and during the spring of 1932 Louis Delage was obliged to take out a 25 Million franc loan in order to finance the tooling needed to put the D6 into production.[14] It was at this time that he also entered into negotiations with Peugeot about using their dealership and service network.[14] These negotiations went nowhere, and discussions with other possible partners/rescuers also came to nothing.[14] There were also personal problems involving his marriage which necessitated a rearrangement of Delage's personal finances, although in the event it was the sale of his expensive home in the Champs-Élysées that reduced the pressure on his finances if only in the short term.[14]

The last models to emerge from the factory in Courbevoie were the types D6-65, D8-85 and D8-105, designed by engineer Michelat. On 20 April 1935 the factory in Courbevoie went into voluntary liquidation. But Louis Delage would not admit defeat, and with the help of a businessman called Walter Watney created the Société Nouvelle des Automobiles Delage (SAFAD), to market Delage cars, assembled from production Delahayes. This union created the 4-cylinder DI 12 and the D8 120, and also the 6-cylinder D6 70. Watney had taken control as president of SAFAD, but he was a British national and in June 1940 he was obliged to leave Paris as the German Army arrived.[15] Watney stayed in France, at his villa in Beaulieu, until the end of 1942 after the Germans had completed their occupation, but already in December 1940 the presidency of the SAFAD business had passed directly into the control of Delahaye.[15] In any event, since the outbreak of the war Delage had been largely inactive, although they did undertake work on a project to replace the six-cylinder engine of the Hotchkiss H39 tank with the more powerful 8-cylinder unit from the Delage D8 120.[15]

After the Second World War

A large prototype Delage D-180 limousine appeared at the 1946 Paris Motor Show, but there were evidently no further developments on this project, and by the next year the big prototype had quietly disappeared.[17] At the 1947 Paris Motor Show only a single model was exhibited as the business focused on its six-cylinder 3-litre Delage D6[17] which in most respects will have been familiar to anyone who had known the 3-litre Delages of the 1930s. The car was offered with bodies by firms such as Chapron, Letourner & Marchand and Guilloré. A variety of coupe and cabriolet bodied D6s were produced. In addition, both Guilloré and Chapron produced a large saloon/sedan body. The two were remarkably similar, both being six-light four-door cars with conservative 1930s style shapes. Something else the two had in common was unexpectedly narrow rear doors, enforced by the combination of a long body, a long rear overhang and a relatively short wheelbase provided by the D6 chassis.[17] A longer wheelbase 1952 special version, bodied by Guilloré, was owned by National Assembly president Édouard Herriot.

Nevertheless, these were difficult times for luxury auto-makers in France and by now the company's registered head office was the same as that for Delahaye: production statistics from the period group Delage and Delahaye together.[18] Louis Delâge himself, who had lived in poverty and quasi-monastic isolation since bankruptcy in 1935 had enforced the transfer of his company to Delahaye,[9] died in December 1947, and during the next few years any residual autonomy that the business had enjoyed disappeared.[17] Increases in motoring taxes, most notably in 1948 and most savagely targeting cars with engines of above 2 litres, combined with the depressed economic conditions of post-war France to create a difficult market for luxury car manufacturers. In 1950 Delahaye produced 235 cars which will have included a significant number of Delages. In 1951 the combined production figure for the two brands slumped to 77: in 1952 it was down to 41.[18] In 1953 Delage production ended.

Delage was absorbed into Hotchkiss along with Delahaye in 1954, and car manufacturing ended.[9]

Refoundation

On 7 November 2019, at the Lyon Époqu'auto show, Les Amis de Delage and entrepreneur Laurent Tapie, son of Bernard Tapie, announced that they had signed an agreement for relaunch the Delage Automobiles brand.[19] Tapie becomes president of Delage Automobiles. The new Delage planned for this project is called the Delage D12. It is a hybrid street-legal sports car powered by a normally aspirated V12 engine of 990 hp-metric, coupled to an electric motor of 110 hp-metric, for a cumulative power of 1100 hp-metric.[20] It will be produced in France like all Delages. Delage Automobiles has joined forces with racing driver Jacques Villeneuve as the development driver for the future production model. The car was presented at private events in Los Angeles and Orange County in California in December 2019, then in Monaco in September 2020, Geneva in November 2020 and Dubai in December 2020.

Voted "most beautiful car in the world" (best Design) by the jury of the Automobile Awards 2020/2021,[21] only 30 units of the Delage D12 will be produced and sold at a price tag of 2 million Euros per car.

References

Audric Doche. La marque française Delage de retour avec une sportive hybride de plus de 1000 ch Caradisiac, 12 November 2019^
Hull, p. 517.^
Hull, p.517. One was de Dion powered, the other Aster-engined; it is unclear from Hull which was involved in this crash.^
It featured four spark plugs, four valves per cylinder, two flywheels, and thermosyphon cooling. Hull, p.518.^
Hull, p. 518.^
Hull, p.518-519.^
Hull, p. 519.^
Hull, p. 520. It would later be famous at Brooklandsin the hands of John Cobb. In the 1970s, it was still campaigned in veteran and vintage racing by Johnty Williamson and Cecil Clutton.^
Hull, p. 520.^
Hull, p. 519 (caption).^
Powered by an experimental overhead cam six. Hull, p.518.^
Hull, p.520, says 1995 cc, which is belied by the cylinder dimensions.^
Hull, p.520, says 4050 cc which is belied by the quoted cylinder dimensions.^
Automobilia Toutes les voitures françaises 1934 (Salon [Paris, Oct] 1933), Histoire & collections, 2002^
Automobilia Toutes les voitures françaises 1940 - 46 (Les années sans salon), Histoire & collections, 2003^
Pierre Léglise. TECHNICAL MEMORANDUMS NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE FOR AERONAUTICS; No.724; THE 1933 CONTEST FOR THE DEUTSCH DE LA MEURTHE TROPHY; AIRPLANES PARTICIPATING IN THE CONTEST NACA, October 1933, retrieved 14 March 2015^
Automobilia Toutes les voitures françaises 1948 (Salon Paris oct 1947), Histoire & collections, 1998^
Automobilia Toutes les voitures françaises 1953 (Salon Paris oct 1952), Histoire & collections, 2000^
Philippe Ménard. Cognac: la prestigieuse marque Delage ressuscitée en format hybride Sudouest, 8 November 2019^
Maxime Kossmann. Delage: retour annoncé avec une supercar! Auto Plus, 12 November 2019^
Delage présente l'hypercar D12 à Dubaï Focal, retrieved 19 January 2021^
DR Delage; revsinstitute.org, 1929-01-01, retrieved 2025-06-10^
Automobilia Toutes les voitures françaises 1954 (Salon [Oct] 1953), Histoire & collections, 2002^
The chassis number range runs from 1 in 1905 to 39,100 in 1935.^
Chassis numbers 50,000 to 51,999.^
Chassis numbers 880,000 to 880,330.^

location	Levallois-Perret, France
foundation	1905 November 7, 2019 (refoundation)
defunct	1953-2019
founder	Louis Delâge
key people	Laurent Tapie (President)
products	Cars
homepage	https://www.delage.fr/en/

Delage

Early history

Competition

The D6 and the D8: The Classic Era

Racing aero-engines

After the Second World War

Refoundation

Models

Production volumes

Sources and further reading

External links

References