1939 Delage D6 Olympic

The car presented here is a Delage D6 3-Litre and was delivered in chassis form - fitted with a 2,988cc engine and a 4-speed Cotal automated-manual gearbox - to the Carrosserie Autobineau in October 1939 and bodied by them to Letourneur et Marchand’s pillarless Coach JELM 6 or Coupe Panoramique design.

In keeping with most high-end French cars of the period, it was built in right-hand-drive - a practice that continued post-war to differentiate them from les ordinaires of Peugeot, Citroen and Renault.

There is some debate in Delage circles about when the “Olympic” triple Solex carburettor setup was first fitted to a road car. Certainly their competition cars would have had it pre-war and we have seen other contemporary D6 models with them. It could well have been original to this car or at the very least upgraded in period.

The D6 is believed to have spent most of its early life in the south of France before being owned by Maître Gabriel Chereau, a maritime lawyer from Nantes in Brittany who (among other accomplishments) helped get the architect Le Courbusier established, and who also founded Les Amis de Delage (Friends of Delage) club in 1955. In 1963 he replaced the original engine with a similar one from a 1940 D6.

The D6 was restored by marque experts in France in 1984 before being imported to the UK and registered here in 1989. New owner Jonathan Radgick entered it into the 1991 Rallye Monte-Carlo Historique. It was then sold at auction in December of that year to the Israeli International Car Museum.

Whether the car ever made it to Israel or remained in London isn’t clear - we do know that soon after the sale, the Delage Register wrote to the auction house and was sent details of the buyer (clearly before businesses were aware of data protection).

By the mid-nineties, however, the car was in the ownership of a German tax-exile industrialist named Wolfgang Gawor who lived on Guernsey. It is understood that the car underwent a further restoration and repaint during his ownership. He had a substantial collection of special cars, and the Delage was his most useable classic – he and his wife toured extensively in it. Following his death in 2004, his family kept the car for a further 14 years.

The current owner - a businessman and car collector well known to us - bought the D6 in June 2018 and has continued its regular maintenance and improvement. Beyond a trip to the Goodwood Revival last year, it has mainly been used on local runs.

Where to begin on the exterior of this beautifully Gallic Delage? Just look at it - the side profile showing off the rakish nose and the sweeping curves of the wheel arches is surely the best view but it’s hard to find an unfavourable angle.

There are so many interesting features, from the tall chrome grille and side strakes to the unusual Delage tail light stems fitted with Lucas reproduction “Pork Pie” lamp units. Without doubt though, the Lalique-style radiator mascot is the crowning glory. If it weren’t interesting enough, this Victoire or Spirit of the Wind ornament can also be illuminated thanks to lighting in its base.

When in the previous owner’s collection, this car did have an original Renee Lalique illuminated cast glass ornament but the auction house sold it separately from the car in an automobilia sale the day before. Unaware of the separation, the current owner tried to buy it from the winning bidder but was quoted a wildly unrealistic price so had to source a reproduction item. A new base was made at great expense and fitted with LEDs to achieve illumination.

The maroon paint and bodywork looks very strong - although it is easy to be distracted by the car’s stylish lines and overlook the numerous small blemishes and marks that pretty much all cars have. The paint on the bonnet panels for example suffers from flex when opened but the wings and boot lid were repainted very recently.

The brightwork is shiny with just a light patina and the yellow tinted Marchal headlamps add to the already very French flavour of the car. The boot wears Olympic 3-Litres badges to signify its sportier carburation.

The Delage sits on 17-inch 15-hole steel wheels, painted in body colour and adorned with chrome domed hubcaps. All look in fabulous condition and are fitted with reasonably new Blockley tyres.

When purchased by our vendor, the car came fitted with non-original bumpers that were heavy and, in his view, ugly. Should the next owner wish to have them, they can be supplied with the car.

Open the intriguing rear-hinged doors - which have a half-frame with no B-pillars but glass that closely overlaps the rear quarter lights - and you are faced with a very pleasing combination of cream leather, polished wood and carpeting that matches the exterior of the car.

Although there is a business card from a UK-based coach trimmer, we are unsure what work they carried out or when, as most of what you see was restored in the nineties. The leather across the two front seats and the rear bench seat has a gentle creasing and patina showing a degree of age but there is no damage or undue wear that we could see.

The polished wooden dash, door cappings and trims are not just a veneer but choice cuts of solid wood - book-matched in the case of the dash and door trims to give a symmetrical grain. Twin multi-function Jaeger dials sit either side of the clock, and an additional temperature gauge has been mounted to the steering column.

The large diameter steering wheel is a relatively simple affair but the column bears a number of stalks and appendages, notably the thumb-operated gear selector.

On the floor is what looks like a conventional gear stick but this is used to select forward, reverse or neutral. Interestingly, the transmission is such that it allows all four gears to be employed whether going forwards or backwards.

The engine bay can be accessed from either side, unlatching and lifting the centre-hinged bonnet covers. The reverse-flow cylinder head engine and its ancillaries look clean and tidy, with the triple Solex carburettors and exhaust manifold all mounted on the right hand side and the ignition system on the left. Much of the wiring has been redone in recent ownership but has been done in period-look cotton braided cable.

In a chassis-based car of this age, looking underneath is easier - even without a ramp. There are several detailed photos of the undersides for you to scrutinise but in summary all appears relatively clean and free from any serious corrosion or damage. The leaf springs - transverse at the front and longitudinal at the rear - have recently been wrapped in Denso tape. The two-box exhaust looks like a stainless system and appears in reasonable order with just a bit of a dent in the front box.

The boot appears quite large from the outside but when you open it up you are faced with the spare wheel blocking access. Happily, the wheel pivots forwards giving access to a deep luggage space that is lined with the same edge-trimmed maroon fitted carpets as the interior.

The Delage doesn’t have an MOT, in fact as far as we’ve been able to determine, it hasn’t had one for some time, possibly not since the mid-nineties - but then it has been in Guernsey where things are a little different. In current ownership it has always been exempted from annual testing in any case.

The history file contains a number of items of correspondence relating to the car’s history and particulars of previous auction sales as well as maintenance logs and invoices for parts and work done on the car dating back to the mid-nineties.

More recent work includes new tyres, a brake overhaul, rewiring of the lighting, fuel tank rebuild, started motor rebuild, and a carb rebuild and rejetting and tuning on a rolling road by Sigma Engineering.

If you’ve read as far as this and haven’t yet gone through all the photographs in the gallery, stop now and spend some time doing so. Each time we look, something else catches our eye. It might be something stylised and decorative, or it might just be a bare bulb in the engine bay to make running maintenance easier. We find this car endlessly fascinating and most others agree.

The car starts and runs smoothly and drives comfortably and quietly, keeping up with modern traffic at motorway speeds. It prefers being driven to being sat idling in traffic (don’t we all?). People tend to give way to you when they see it but if they don’t, the two-tone horn usually does the trick - it sounds like a train is coming!

Although it’s not quite in Concours condition, we are sure that this ever-so-stylish Delage D6 will attract admiring glances wherever it is driven or shown.

We think this eve-of-the-war French thoroughbred will sell for between £60,000 and £80,000 and will be an absolute pleasure to own.

Viewing is always encouraged, and this particular car is located with us at The Market HQ near Abingdon; to arrange an appointment please use the ‘Contact Seller’ button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.