1939 Delage D8 120 Cabriolet Chapron.... an interesting back story... [PIC]

The French company, Delage, produced low volume, high end automobiles competing with the likes of Bugatti. They provided their cars in bare chassis form to be bodied by prestigious French coachbuilders. In this case, it was Henri Chapron who delivered this 8 cylinder powered car in 1939. It's original owner had little time with car as after the 1940 invasion by Germany, the car was appropriated by a Vichy French General, who, as a Nazi collaborator, needed to flee France. He had designs on emigrating to the US and sent this car to sunny California. Unfortunately for him, he was persona non grata in the States and with his visa denied, he took a more familiar post WWll escape route... good old Argentina where Juan Peron offered high profile war criminals refuge.

A bit cash-strapped, he sold his ill-gotten vehicle to RKO Studios where the car 'starred' in three different movies... the most famous was Gene Kelly's  1951 "An American in Paris", where he and Nina Foch were chauffeured around Paris. RKO modified the car for movies and even brough Henri Chapron to Hollywood to design and oversee the modifications. By 1955 an RKO production executive acquired the car in lieu of a $15000 severance package and kept it until sold at auction in 1987. It now resides in the Mullin Museum in Oxnard, California.