By Ed McDonough
Introduction
Like many Veloce Today enthusiasts, the UK-based American automotive writer Ed McDonough (and author of “The Ferrari 156 Sharknose”) has had a long-standing and more-than-passing interest in French automobiles as well Italian machinery which he has written about in numerous articles and books. He has owned an Alpine A110 and the occasional Renault, Peugeot and Citroen, and raced in several 24-hour events with a Citroen 2CV. He has been competing this year in a 1951 DB-Monomille…more of that later!
He has now discovered a rather unique collection of cars, many of which are housed in England, with others stored in France and New Zealand. The owner has kindly agreed to a series of articles and Ed will be testing most of this extensive and relatively unknown collection of cars. It includes over a dozen Delahayes, all of which have been painstakingly restored and are in superb condition. These are not so-called ‘barn-finds’ but cars on which the very meticulous owner has lavished much attention. We start this series with a 1948 135M with a charming coupe body by Parisian designer/coach-builder Henri Chapron, and some background information on the Delahaye firm.