Delahaye Type 135 History

Introduced at the 1935 Paris Salon, the Type 135 announced Delahaye's transformation from maker of worthy but conventional tourers into a builder of sporting, glamorous automobiles. Its engine was a 3.2-litre overhead-valve straight-six derived from a truck unit, tuned to deliver 95–110 hp in twin-carburettor form. The chassis attracted every leading Parisian coachbuilder — Figoni & Falaschi, Henri Chapron, Letourneur et Marchand, Saoutchik, and Marcel Pourtout among them — who draped it in some of the most extravagant streamlined bodywork of the era.

An enlarged 3.557cc version, the 135M, arrived in 1936 with outputs ranging from 90 hp in mild trim to well over 160 hp in full competition specification. The sportiest road variant, the 135MS (Modifié Spécial), was capable of more than 180 km/h. The Type 135's competition record was formidable: it swept the first six places at the 1936 Marseilles race, placed second and third in the 1936 Mille Miglia, won the 1937 Monte Carlo Rally with René Le Bègue and Julio Quinlin, and in 1938 scored a decisive 1-2-4 result at the 24 Hours of Le Mans — Chaboud and Trémoulet taking the overall win.

Post-war 135s were identical mechanically to the 1939 cars; roughly 100 post-war examples were built (mainly for the domestic market) before production finally ended with the marque's closure in 1954. Total production of all Type 135 variants was approximately 2,000 units, making it by far the most numerous Delahaye of the era.