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1939 Delahaye Type 165 Cabriolet
1939 NEW YORK WORLD’S FAIR
1992 PEBBLE BEACH CONCOURS D’ELEGANCE “FIRST IN CLASS” WINNER DELAHAYE PRODUCED ONLY SIX 12-cylinder Type 165s as production variants of its successful Type 145 competition car. This car was built to represent France at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, an exposition promoted with the slogan “Dawn of a New Day”. While the engine was not completed in time for its display, the modernity and sublime beauty of this car’s styling drew throngs of admirers from the public and the press. Europe was engulfed by war by the fair’s close in 1940 and U.S. Custom’s impounded this car in New York for the duration of the war. In 1946 Roger Barlow purchased it at public auction and took it to his Beverly Hills dealership. Later that year, installed with a special high-powered Cadillac motor, the car was purchased for $12,000 by businessman Vivan Corradini, who drove the car home to New York. In 1951 a Naval Luitenant Nevels purchased the car from a used car lot in Honolulu. In 1953 Nevels sold it to an enlisted man. A Fresno garage, assumed ownership of the car after it was abandoned by the enlisted man’s widow. Al Brewer, a tow truck driver purchased it from the garage for $1,200 in the 1970s. After four years of negotiation, Jim Hull and Peter Mullin purchased the car in 1985 and began its restoration, purchasing its original engine from Count Hubertus von Doenhoff. This car is owned by Peter and Merle Mullin and the Peter Mullin Automotive Museum Foundation. SPEC OVERVIEW:
Coachbuilder: Figoni et Falaschi Chassis No. 60744 Production No.:1 of 6 Produced Engine No. 60744 V12-Cylinder Engine 184 BHP at 4,000 RPM 4,495 CC Overhead Valves with Hemispherical Head 4-Speed Cotal Pre-Selector Gearbox Front Semi-Elliptical Transverse Leaf Spring with Upper Control Arms and Lever Action Shock Absorbers. Live Rear Axle with Semi-Elliptical Leaf Springs and Lever Action Shock Absorbers 4–Wheel Hydraulically Operated Drum Brakes |
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