Delahaye was a well respected pre-war marque that enjoyed some competition success in the late 1930's just before the outbreak of hostilities in Europe. The marque was resurrected post war and attempted, like Bugatti, to continue the pre-war tradition of being the purveyors of bespoke coachwork by the likes of Figoni & Falaschi, Saoutchic and Franay to discriminating buyers. Unfortunately few such buyers materialized in the lean times of post war Europe and Delahaye and the storied Parisian coachbuilders all folded by the early to mid '50s. They tried hard though - one could find some stunning coachwork on the Delahaye stand at every Paris Auto Show in the immediate post war period. Delahaye is one of the few marques whose post-war offerings are recognized as "full classics" By CCCA. Notice the thick stalk with the slots in it on the left side of the steering column. Most all Delahayes (even the race cars!) were equipped with a Cotal electromagnetic epicyclic pre-selector gearbox shifted by gated electric wand on that stalk, the gate looking much like a miniature of the Ferrari shift gate.
