June 25, 2022 Collector Motor Series Auction Buyer's Guide

1937 Delahaye 135 Coupe Des Alpes Chapron Lot 64 | Offered without Reserve

The story of this extraordinary Delahaye 135 roadster begins in May of 1937, when chassis number 4754 left the Delahaye works equipped in the coveted Coupe des Alpes specification, with triple-carburetors on the 3.2-liter, 18CV engine, and traditional four-speed manual gearbox. It became the second of only seven Type 135’s fitted with this stunning roadster design, considered one of Henri Chapron’s most exceptional pre-war efforts. By the 21st of July, 1937 it was registered in the name of its first owner, Mr. Cyriel Depery, a young industrialist who played a role in the French Resistance movement, somehow managing to hide this very special car from the Germans. A photograph dated Sunday, August 20th, 1944, shows Depery at the wheel of this Delahaye, chauffeuring three other gleeful members of the Resistance in a parade celebrating the liberation of Annecy. In 1951, Depery sold 47545 to M. Eugene Julliard, a salesman from Douvaine, who enjoyed the car regularly until his death in 1960. After his passing, the Delahaye sat in the garage of his mechanic in Annecy. When the storage fees were no longer paid up, it was pushed out to the street! Mercifully, a passerby named Georges Lombard spotted the forlorn Delahaye and fell in love. He made a deal with the mechanic to purchase the car for a mere 170 Francs, the scrap value of the car. In the hands of

Monsieur Lombard for the better part of five decades, the charmed life of this

remarkable Delahaye carried on until 2014, when offered for sale by his family.