Delage D8 History

Unveiled at the 1929 Paris Motor Show, the D8 was Delage's bid for the very top of the luxury market. The engine was a 4,061 cc straight-eight producing 102 hp in standard trim and 120 hp in the D8 S sports specification — on three wheelbase choices, it could reach a genuine 85 mph. The chassis attracted the finest coachbuilders in France and Britain: Chapron, Figoni, Letourneur et Marchand, Saoutchik, Labourdette, Vanden Plas, Barker, Freestone & Webb, Fernandez et Darrin and Pourtout all created outstanding bodies on the D8 frame.

After Delahaye acquired Delage in 1935, the D8 line continued but was progressively re-engineered. The D8-100 (1936–1940) used a 4,302 cc engine producing 90–105 hp; the D8-120 (1937–1940) enlarged the bore further to deliver 120 hp at 4,500 rpm from 4,745 cc — the most powerful and expensive production Delage ever offered, with a bare chassis priced at 105,800 francs, some 60 per cent above the equivalent Delahaye. Only approximately 66 D8-120 examples were built.

The customer list for D8 models included King Gustav V of Sweden, King Alexander of Yugoslavia and Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, along with leading businessmen, politicians and film stars of the 1930s. Production ended in 1940 when German occupation halted French civilian car manufacture.