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The Online Magazine for Italian and French Classic Car Enthusiasts

delahaye

More on the R&T Figoni Cover Car

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The Delahaye was on cover of the February 1949 edition of Road & Track. The photograph was taken in front of the famous Ciros Nightclub. This is the same car which was photographed later that year by Strother MacMinn.

Strother MacMinn photos from the collection of Robert Ames
Courtesy VintageMotorphoto
Text by Jim Sitz

From the VeloceToday archives
Read Behold the Narwal

Strother MacMinn was one of my closest and dearest friends. I met him in 1951. He was a real gay blade and man about town, the Cary Grant of automotive circles.

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Peter Mullin’s Legacy

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A moment to remember: Best of Show award, Pebble Beach, 2011, goes to the Art Deco 1934 Voisin C-25 Aerodyne of Peter and Merle Mullin. Hugues Vanhoolandt photo.

Peter Mullin passed away on September 20th at the age of 82.

VeloceToday has reported many times on the Mullin Automotive Museum he created, beginning with the opening in April of 2010. It was a commemoration of the art deco design era when exquisite art and magnificent automobiles were elements of an artful, futurist culture.*

Over the years, we have been fortunate to have four of the most seasoned, respected and knowledgeable automotive writers visit the Mullin and report back to us in detail. Larry Crane explained the museum’s display of Bugatti furniture; the late Eric Davison searched for something really different; Hugues Vanhoolandt was given a special tour and did his magic with his camera; finally, another museum traveler, Brandes Elitch, opined on the opulent Citroen celebration.

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A French Day at Brooklands P1

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1926 Bugatti Type 37 GP, and the Brooklands Watch Company’s ‘Little Car Company’ baby Bugatti Type 35. The Type 37 was originally owned by Mr Smith, the chief engineer at Lever Brothers who, during the 1930s, carried out a very well-engineered conversion of the engine to twin magneto ignition.

Story and photos by Jonathan Sharp

August 13, 2023. Popped up to Brooklands in Surrey last Sunday for Brooklands French Car Day.  I think it was a new event, it was certainly new to me. So said the website, ” French legends from our Collection will be on display around the Motoring Village, from all-conquering Bugattis to veteran Peugeots, Malcolm Campbell’s Lorraine Dietrich ‘Vieux Charles III’ to the British Grand Prix winning Delage; you will be able to get close to these amazing machines.”

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As Found Classics Returns!

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Delahaye 135 body as it appeared for sale in 1981.

As Found Classic Number Twenty Five

See all https://velocetoday.com/as-found-classics/

By Alden Giddings

It has been a while for an “As Found” and I think you will find the following worthy. Please note that I absolutely will not sell the body, please don’t ask. I am however very willing to talk with anyone who has actual knowledge that may pertain to this body.

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To Paris with Portfolio: Gijsbert-Paul Berk

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I was great a fan of Bugattis. This was one of the reasons why I designed this Coupé de Ville body for a Type 57 chassis. Of course I was inspired by the prewar designs of Jean Bugatti but tried to give the car a more modern appearance. I used the horse- shoe symbol not only as a fake radiator for the cooling intake but also as headlight covers. I did send a photocopy of these drawings to Monsieur Pierre Marco, then the Managing Director of Bugatti. However I never got a reply. [Note that the headlight arrangement bore a striking resemblance to the last Saoutchik to be produced, the Pegaso SIII. Ed.]

By Gijsbert-Paul Berk
Photos and drawings courtesy Author unless otherwise noted

From the Archives, November 2014

Read Part 1

As related in Part 1, I wanted to work as am automotive designer, and became very interested in Bugattis. In fact I had the chance to restore such a car. In 1949 one of my friends discovered in the port of Rotterdam a Bugatti type 40 roadster with a Bordino type or boat tail factory body. [Read more…] about To Paris with Portfolio: Gijsbert-Paul Berk

A Past Recalled: Gijsbert-Paul Berk

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We asked Gijsbert-Paul Berk to tell us about his visits to Saoutchik and Franay in the early 1950s, as mentioned in Peter Larsen’s three volume book on Saoutchik. One question led to another and soon we had a very interesting article about a very special man.

From the Archives, November 2014

Story by Gijsbert-Paul Berk

Thank goodness for Sir Peter Ustinov. The versatile British actor was known to many car buffs of previous generations, even those with little theatrical interests, thanks to his hilarious Riverside recording of the Gibraltar Grand Prix and other records. However only intimates were aware that Ustinov himself was a lifelong car enthusiast with a penchant for classic automobiles and sports cars. [Read more…] about A Past Recalled: Gijsbert-Paul Berk

Delahaye by Chapron

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From the VeloceToday Archives, October, 2011

By Ed McDonough

It seemed extraordinary to me doing the research for this series, reading a large number of period articles and reviews in notable journals, that many of these totally failed to mention who provided the body for some of the cars reviewed. Was it just a matter of routine that performance cars would have special bodies or could it have been that the reviewer didn’t know? After all, specialised car production was just that, and the history is complex.

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And How! Strother MacMinn and the Delahaye

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And How! features open and innovative formats for notices, articles and posts.

The Delahaye was on cover of the February 1949 edition of Road & Track. The photograph was taken in front of the famous Ciros Nightclub. This is the same car which was photographed later that year by Strother MacMinn.

Strother MacMinn photos from the collection of Robert Ames
Courtesy VintageMotorphoto
Text by Jim Sitz

Strother MacMinn was one of my closest and dearest friends. I met him in 1951. He was a real gay blade and man about town, the Cary Grant of automotive circles. [Read more…] about And How! Strother MacMinn and the Delahaye

Silverstone Classic Race Meeting, 2015

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Bizzarrini

Bizzarrini-not listed in program but sure made a great photo!.

Story and Photos by Jonathan Sharp

CLICK on each photo to ENLARGE

Photos below include: Squire, Capri, Alfa 1300 Berlina, Maserati 300S, Maserati 250F,Bugatti T35, Pantera, Bizzarrini, Ligier, Ghibli Targa, Breadvan Ferrari, Lancia B20, Alfasud, Gipsy Dino, Alfa 8C 2300 Zagato, Alfa GTA, Talbot, Delahaye and more.

The numbers certainly make impressive reading; one hundred thousand spectators, over one thousand race cars, one hundred twenty car clubs displaying on the infield, fifteen hundred classic cars, all painted silver parading around the circuit on the Sunday, July 26. [Read more…] about Silverstone Classic Race Meeting, 2015

Gijsbert-Paul Berk Remembers

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This rendering for an open sports roadster on a Delahaye 135 MS chassis I made for my interview with the coachbuilder Pennock in The Hague, who worked for the Dutch distributor of the French make. I admit that the nose was inspired by that of the Jaguar XK 120. Because I knew that this car was well liked by Americans, a potential export market for such a car. But the crease in the wing line was an adaptation of that on the mudguards of the very classic Pennock convertibles, originally designed by Chapron..

We asked Gijsbert-Paul Berk to expound upon his visits to Saoutchik and Franay in the early 1950s as mentioned in Peter Larsen’s 3 volume book on Saoutchik. How did that come about? One question led to another, And of course, like many of us, we find that his love of cars started when he was very, very young. Unlike most of us, however, as boy he built his own radios and hid them in books. Read on.

Yes, he’s quite mad, we are sure of it…

Thank goodness for Sir Peter Ustinov. The versatile British actor is known to many car buffs of previous generations, even those with little theatrical interests, thanks to his hilarious Riverside recording of the Gibraltar Grand Prix and other records*. However only intimates were aware that Ustinov himself was a lifelong car enthusiast with a penchant for classic automobiles and sports cars. In his endearing biography Dear Me, Ustinov reveals that as a young boy he honestly believed that he was a car. “I was an Amilcar,” he wrote. There are probably a number of subscribers to VeloceToday who recognize such a mental aberration from their own childhood; I, for one, found Ustinov’s admission very reassuring, because I remember going to school, always running and making brumm, brumm sounds, like changing into a lower gear for each street corner. Most adults along the route looked at me with bewilderment, certain that this small boy was quite mad.

[Read more…] about Gijsbert-Paul Berk Remembers

Epoqu’Auto in Lyon, 2013

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Story and Photos by Thomas Bromehead

Next month everyone will be headed to Paris for Retromobile, France’s largest classic car show. But last November 8-10, 50,000 people attended France’s second largest event, Epoqu’ Auto. No newcomer, the event celebrated its 35th anniversary and now boasts more exhibitors than even the fabled Retro. [Read more…] about Epoqu’Auto in Lyon, 2013

Terry Cook: Faux French

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Strange but beautiful concoctions…

By Wallace Wyss

The Pacific. Bids to start at $250K.

If you are an old hot rodder, you might remember when Terry Cook was the dynamo editor of Car Craft, and later Hot Rod magazines. Most of the time, these gearheads don’t “cross-over” to classic cars but this writer was surprised to find Cook is the name behind Delahaye USA. He’s now a full-fledged classic car aficionado, designing cars and having them created from scratch via a number of fabrication shops. True to form though, his self-styled classics still have hot rod underpinnings. Sounds like a dream come true and Cook agrees. VeloceToday contributor Wallace Wyss, assisted by photographer Richard Bartholomew, interviewed Terry Cook at the Palos Verdes Concours in September.

The Pacific on the street as photographed by Richard Bartholomew.

WYSS: I saw your stunning Bugatti-styled car at Palos Verdes Concours d’Elegance. Are you a fabricator yourself?

COOK: Never a fabricator or builder, and not a mechanic. I’m a designer/bullshitter. A world-class bullshitter. I went drag racing in early 60’s, then quit racing myself and concentrated on journalism. I never had writer’s block.

WYSS: Is it true that you were unaware of classic cars until quite recently, like seeing a Bugatti in a NYC show?

COOK: It was in 1995 that I saw Oscar Davis’ 1939 Shah of Persia Bugatti and its pontoon fenders. That glimpse of that car changed my life for the better.

WYSS: I can understand… the Bugatti of the Shah will be featured in my next Incredible Barn Finds book. But how did you acquire the name “Delahaye USA?” Did you buy U.S. rights to the name? What happened to the last vestiges of the company?

COOK: The Delahaye Company went out of business in 1953. I started using it 8-9 years ago and nobody sent me a cease-and-desist letter; been using it for years with no objections from anyone. I received lots of nice letters from people with the Delahaye name thanking me for keeping the memory alive, and treating it with respect. I also have been making fiberglass Zephyr and boattail bodies under the flag of DECO RIDES.

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