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Topic starter
07/02/2021 2:05 pm
This 1939 Delahaye 165's creative bodywork was also a product of coach builders Figoni & Falaschi. I wish I could have borrowed that car for Prom Night. LOL
07/02/2021 4:51 pm
@rich-sufficool 
Rich, are you checking our knowledge? You know this is not Automodello ... @diecast1-24cars the right answer is D4C, the Delahaye was LECC model 
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Topic starter
07/02/2021 4:55 pm
@chav Uuuuh... technically, you are correct as to the actual branding, but.....
07/02/2021 5:00 pm
@rich-sufficool ... I am pretty sure, if you ask Jim, he will say that this is not his model. They were just made in the same factory as Automodello ... of course I may be wrong
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07/02/2021 5:06 pm
@ rich-sufficool I spent about three hours walking around and around this thing at the L.V. Concours at the Hurlingham Club well over twenty years ago and have since maintained that it is the most beautiful man-made object I have ever seen. This car is without question the finest of Figoni et Falaschi's masterpieces. You certainly would have had a ball if you'd turned-up for your prom in this!
07/02/2021 5:14 pm
There were at least 2 other colors sampled, light blue with black interior and black with almond interior. Jay Olins sold each of these colors here on a fundraising auction and they both went to the same collector here, however I have not seen posts from him since the upgrade of the website. On the old forum he posted a picture of the 3 together.
08/02/2021 1:56 am
absolute masterpiece of auto design and model construction. Thanks Rich
09/02/2021 12:21 pm
This is absolutely gorgeous Rich. It looks so delicate that I would only want to touch it with white gloves. I wonder if they drove as well as they looked.
09/02/2021 12:34 pm
This is absolutely gorgeous Rich. It looks so delicate that I would only want to touch it with white gloves. I wonder if they drove as well as they looked.
The story is, that the French government, afraid French engineering was lagging behind that of Germany, instigated a competition to produce a V12 engine (I've forgotten the exact brief) and Delahaye's 165 was the winner. There were two made. One shipped to the New York's World Fair, 1939 without the engine and was soon impounded, like the Normandie.
In Richard Adatto's fine book you'll find wonderful photographs of these cars including a spectacular shot of the 165 at high speed - the car in still focus with the surrounding countryside whizzing by. I for one, would not doubt its racing credentials.