History
After having spent four years of World War II building railroad rolling stock parts for German trains, Delahaye was then included in deputy director General Paul-Marie Pons' 1945 plan Pons for French industry and engineering. This was a five-year program to rebuild French industry, and source incoming capital for French companies. The plan designated Delahaye to build sports and luxury cars for the export market, to generate foreign currency. Over 80 percent of the company's automobile chassis were exported to France's colonies, including in Africa and Asia.
In consideration of the expense of producing the complicated, unreliable, impractical V-12 used in the four Type 145 sports-racers; and, the Type 155 monoposto (all five V12 racecars were made exclusively for Lucy O'Reilly Schell for her team Écurie Bleue), as well as the four Type 165 grand-touring cars, V12 production ended in late 1938, with twelve sets of engine parts made, resulting in those nine cars.
The V-12 was replaced by a new, conventional, less complex, inline, overhead-valve, six-cylinder engine of the same 4.5-liter engine displacement.[2]
The show-chassis debuted in optionally equipped Type 175S form, with a partially built body by Letourneur et Marchand, introducing Delahaye's new postwar "face". It was one of the few new machines at the first postwar Paris Auto Salon, in October 1946. It garnered considerable attention, and Delahaye's first model to be manufactured exclusively in left-hand-drive.[3]
The chassis was neither fully developed nor adequately tested by October 1946, before parts were put into production in late November 1947. Problems with the Dubonnet front suspension soon became apparent. Disgruntled owners experienced parts failures, and sustained accidental damages. Delahaye was obliged to buy back an undisclosed number of defective cars, at great expense to the company, to defuse litigation and curtail negative publicity.
The mechanically and structurally unchanged show-chassis reappeared on Delahaye's stand in 1947, 1948, and 1949 for the final time, each year with minor additions made to freshen the partial forward coachwork.
The extended delivery delay, into early 1948, instead of 1946, was due to chief design-engineer Jean Francois' unanticipated death, in April 1944. Delahaye had nobody qualified to take his place.[4]
The production build number list verified that 51 Type 175 chassis were built (815001 to 815051), including the Type 175S Show-chassis, that was cycled back into production, after the October 1949 show. It likely went into the tail-end of Type 175S production.[1][5]
While not a success in the marketplace, a Type 175S won the 1951 Monte Carlo Rally,[6] This car (815042) finished twelfth in the Carrera Panamericana, while a second Motto-bodied 175S coupe (815051) was disqualified on a technicality.[7][8]
The optional 175S had three Solex 40AiP carburettors and Rudge wire-spoked wheels, but was otherwise identical to the standard Type 175, with a short, 2.95-metre wheelbase. The other two longer wheelbased versions were the Types 178 and 180, with a single Solex carburetor, and stamped steel wheels. The standard 175 had a reported 140 horsepower, with 161 hp for the 175S. The Production Build List confirms there were 38 of the 3.15-metre wheelbase Type 178 chassis; and, 18 of the 3.35-meter Type 180, built [2] and 180 (333.5 cm) mainly for heads of state, dignitaries, corporate executives, and the like. Two Chapron armoured Type 180 limousines were built for the leaders of the French Communist Party in 1948.[1] A prototype "Delage D180" was also developed on this basis, but was not put into production. Delahaye focused its Delage production on the D6-70 model.[8]
Total production of three-chassis series, including the prototype, and the show-chassis, was 107 automobiles. (substantiated by Club Delahaye president Jean-Paul Tissot, from archived company records) [8]
The rear-wheel drive Type 175, 178 and 180 chassis is considerably more sophisticated than its Type 135 predecessor. The independent front suspension had horizontally pivoting cylindrical housings that contained a coil-spring and hydraulic shock absorber immersed in an oil-bath Dubonnet. The rear was by de Dion, with semi-elliptical springs. Brakes were dual system hydraulic by Lockheed. The brake-drums were deeply finned cast-iron, actuated by dual master cylinders with a balance-bar.[8]
The custom bodies of these cars were often much too heavy for what the chassis had originally been engineered for. In dry conditions, they were fast cars, but wet-weather handling was unpredictable.[2] Another culprit was inferior quality of high-tensile-strength steel in the early postwar era. The specified grade was depleted by the war, and what little was produced was allocated by the French government, which did not prioritize luxury carmakers. The Types 175, 178 and 180 ceased production in 1951. Although Delahaye managed to introduce the Type 235 in 1951, it was only an updated variation of the Type 135. Delahaye and Delage combined production dropped from 511 in 1949 to 41 in 1952 and 36 in 1953.[2]
In desperation to salvage the company after the devastating 1953 fire, Managing Director Weiffenbach tried to amalgamate with various French automakers, to no avail. He eventually orchestrated a Delahaye shareholder-approved merger, as the minority partner, with Hotchkiss. Delahaye (and Delage) closed down for good on December 31, 1954.[9] Hothkiss in turn merged with weapons manufacturers Brandt in 1956.
