THE BUGATTI COMPETITOR YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF | DELAGE D8

Pierre Louis Adolphe Delage founded the Delage Automobile Company in 1905. The son of a French watchmaker who by the age of 19 had earned an engineering degree, he rapidly made a name for himself producing light cars, known as voiturettes, which featured single cylinder engines developed by de Dion Bouton and Edouard Ballot. Like many other aspiring manufacturers, Delage entered racing as a way of promoting his automobiles and claimed his first victory at the 1906 Coupe de Voiturettes at Dieppe. Numerous other wins against brands like #Bugatti placed him at the forefront of technological innovation, contributed to increased sales, and enabled both his cars and his company to increase substantially in size.

Today, Leslie Kendall, the Petersen Automotive Museum's Chief Historian discuss the Delage D-8 Aerosport- a car from the museum's vault. The extreme length of the Delage D-8 chassis gave coach builders the freedom to create streamlined cars with fashionably long hoods. The Aerosport was designed by Letourneur et Marchand of Paris and featured pillar-less “hardtop” styling and a fin on the trunk. The styling was so highly regarded that an Aerosport was one of a pair of Delages chosen to represent the French government at the automotive display at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Discovered in a barn in France during the early 1990s, this Delage received a meticulous restoration and is painted its original colors. It was awarded the French Cup at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in 1999.

Delage has since been re-imagined with the new D12 Hypercar.