Showpiece of the Week: Delahaye Custom Speedster
A classic design and a legendary name, but everything isn't quite as it seems with this week's Showpiece...
The second, likely rather more divisive side, is as a complete vehicle; one with a price tag of nearly £200,000. Because, as you may have figured out, although it looks like something Gatsby would have once used to luxuriantly roar around West Egg - and despite bearing the Delahaye name - the Custom Speedster is a much more modern creation than it seems.
Well, for starters, it isn't a Delahaye, not in the traditional sense at least. The original manufacturer was founded in 1894 by Frenchman Emile Delahaye and is famous (often in partnership with coachbuilders Figoni et Falaschi) for having made cars like the Cabriolet, 135 and 164 - some of the most beautiful automobiles ever produced. The American company responsible for the Custom Speedster, meanwhile, is much younger, and at pains to http://www.delahayeusa.com/delahaye-name.php confirm that it is "is not connected in any way with the original" marque.
So if you're not getting the age or the name for your $275,000, what are you getting? The car is described as having been commissioned by a dedicated enthusiast who "desired to combine the flamboyant style of 1930s French coachbuilding with the distinctly American tradition of the Hot Rod". To that end the body styling, courtesy of legendary hot rod designer Chip Foose, incorporates a variety of themes. The fenders are inspired by the Delahaye 165M Figoni, the radiator and windscreen pay homage to the Bugatti Type 57SC and the tapered rear end echoes Auburn's Boattail Speedster. The whole thing took over four years to fabricate, with much of it being meticulously handmade.
Underneath is a Ford 302 cubic-inch V8 paired with a C4 automatic transmission, disc brakes and power steering. There's independent front suspension and a custom-built Ford 9-inch axle with air-ride control dampers in the rear.
So, while the Custom Speedster may not be the real deal, it certainly isn't some ham fisted knock off either. Whether the lack of authenticity is a deal breaker will of course vary from person to person, and it's certainly easy to understand how the mishmash of retro elements could be off putting upon closer examination. One thing, though, is for certain. The Delahaye Custom Speedster will stop tracks and turn heads wherever it goes, just as the cars which inspired it did all those decades ago.
See the full ad here.
"The body was constructed and painted over a four year period by Brown’s Metal Mods of New York."
http://www.brownsmetalmods.com/
"Body moldings on the fenders were meticulously hand made by Tommy Caruso of Contour Metalshaping in Plainfield, NJ..."
http://www.contourmetalshaping.com/
"...and Mark Barton of The Panel Shop in Stratford, CT."
http://thepanelshop.net/2016_site/ Their "about us" is buried here.
"...a spectacular, Cubist-style instrument panel (hand painted by Don "The Egyptian" Boeke, of Dayton, OH)..."
http://egyptianbody.com/
Whatever whatever whatever, recycling bits and bobs from various things, and i can forgive, to some extent, the quoting that borders on copying, but the name thing, i can't wrap my head around. It's not a Delahaye, it won't sound like one, or drive like one, and something feels very off about taking somebody else's name. It bothers me, a lot. The Fignoni & Falaschi coachwork that inspired this was Fignoni & Falaschi coachwork on a Delahaye chassis and engine. Knowing this came out of the US, it's certain to have a needlessly archaic pickup truck derived ladder frame probably stamped with the "'Murica!" somewhere, so it's definitely not a Delahaye there, and as we've been informed, it has a ford engine, so it's not a Delahaye there either. It's quite literally more Hispano Suiza than Delahaye, and the only Suiza thing it carries is the figurehead. I just don't get it.
Whatever whatever whatever, recycling bits and bobs from various things, and i can forgive, to some extent, the quoting that borders on copying, but the name thing, i can't wrap my head around. It's not a Delahaye, it won't sound like one, or drive like one, and something feels very off about taking somebody else's name. It bothers me, a lot. The Fignoni & Falaschi coachwork that inspired this was Fignoni & Falaschi coachwork on a Delahaye chassis and engine. Knowing this came out of the US, it's certain to have a needlessly archaic pickup truck derived ladder frame probably stamped with the "'Murica!" somewhere, so it's definitely not a Delahaye there, and as we've been informed, it has a ford engine, so it's not a Delahaye there either. It's quite literally more Hispano Suiza than Delahaye, and the only Suiza thing it carries is the figurehead. I just don't get it.
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