1939 - Delage D6 3 Litres Le Mans

French registration title No MOT Monstre sacré of motor racing history and French sporting heritage Moral winner of the legendary 1939 Le Mans 24 Hours History known and documented from day one, in the same family since 1979 Historical record and dedicated literature rarely seen on a pre-war racing car A unique opportunity to acquire a high-performance pre-war racing car, eligible for the world's finest historic events, including Le Mans Classic, Goodwood Revival and the Mille Miglia. Delage, a French marque founded in 1905 by Louis Delâge, left a lasting mark on the motoring landscape with its solid, luxurious cars, which were always promoted by incredible racing cars, including the 2LCV (1922, V12 engine), 15.S.8 (1926, 1,500 cc in-line 8-cylinder engine, World Champion in 1927 with Ace Robert Benoist) and D6 3 Litres (just before and just after the war). The latter, also named Olympic after the saloon car available in the catalogue, would enable the brand, taken over in 1935 by businessman Walter Watney, to shine again. Eight Delage D6 3-litre Competition cars were built, the first in 1936 and the last five in 1946. Between these two “models” were chassis #51820 and #51821, which were assembled for the 1939 Le Mans 24 Hours.While chassis #51820 disappeared (crashed, burnt) in the meanders of history, #51821, which Aguttes has the honour of presenting for sale, can boast a very clear history from its construction in the early months of 1939 to the present day. Assembled in particular by the mechanic-driver Maurice Varet, from a Delahaye 135 Course chassis (the two marques were linked at the time), and superbly bodied by Olivier Lecanu-Deschamps (later known for his famous OLD roof racks) according to the canons of the time, #51821 made a number of test and race appearances (the Antwerp Grand Prix in particular) before being entered, with its sister car, in the most famous of motor racing competitions: the Le Mans 24 Hours.The international political context of the time gave this 1939 edition a very special flavour. The Delage #51821, given the number 21 for the occasion and assigned to the Louis Gérard – Georges Monneret duo, raced in the lead for almost 20 hours, before being delayed in the pits due to a capricious valve spring. The Bugatti Type 57 Tank of Jean-Pierre Wimille and Pierre Veyron took advantage of the situa-tion to take victory and go down in history. However, Delage could have lodged a protest and won by a landslide, as the Bugatti, which was overheating, had had its lower fairing removed in the final hours of the race, which was strictly forbidden by the regulations. After the Grand Prix du Comminges, where Louis Gérard’s Delage again won the 3-litre class, #51821 was again entered in the 1940 Mille Miglia, a strange event where foreign drivers were not welcome. So it was Italian aces Piero Taruffi and Luigi Chinetti who shared the wheel, alas without success. Once the car returned to Paris, it remained hidden, then dormant, until 1950, when, in order to “rejuvenate” it and enable it to race again, and to collect attractive starting bonuses, Louis Gérard gave it the chassis identity #880-001, a ‘modern’ racing Delage. The result was #51821 aka #880-001 at the 1950 Coupes du Salon at Montlhéry and at the hotly contested 1951 Formula 1 Grand Prix de Paris at the Bois de Boulogne. The valiant crew finished 8th out of 14 starters. It was time for Louis Gérard, a winner at heart, to turn the page and sell his old Delage.#51821 began its second life in the hands of an authentic gentleman driver, Count Emilio Eminente du Benedetto, an expe-rienced Bugatti racer in particular. He had the car rebodied by Figoni as a Coach Grand Sport in the style of a Delahaye 235, to race in Grand Tourism. He then went on to share the wheel of this beautiful GT with his daughter, Danièle Foufounis, winning several places of honour, mainly in events run at Montlhéry, including 4th place in the 1954 Coupes de Paris. A result that rounded off the Delage marque’s immense list of achievements since 1906...The car then passed through the hands of various enthusiasts and collectors, before being located by François and Josy Jolly in the reserves of a car museum near Nancy. They quickly made the connection between this tired, sleepy GT and the valiant Delage, worn out and driven at the height of its glory at Le Mans in 1939 by Louis Gérard. A long and meticulous restoration was undertaken to restore the car to its pre-war racing configuration. Between June 1982 and 2018, François and Josy Jolly took part in countless events, sometimes bringing together Georges Monneret (who died in 1983) and often Louis Gérard (who died in 2000). Since the death of François Jolly in 2018, the car has not been driven, and the Jolly family has just decided that it was time to find a new ambassador for this incredible French racing car, the sole survivor of the 1939 Le Mans podium... Attention enthusiasts!