Page 15 - Sample pages "Figoni on Delahaye" by Richard Adatto

CHASSIS 60743
Chassis 60743, the 1938 Paris Auto Salon Type 165, included many innova- tions: for example, a small handle under the dashboard to raise and lower the height of the windshield and gear-driven roll-up windows, both of which were patented by Joseph Figoni. Its new alloy, three-camshaft, 4.5-liter, V-12 cylinder engine was based on the Type 145 race car’s engine, which had won the Grand Prix at Pau and Cork. It also had a Cotal electromagnetic MK 35 gearbox and could develop more than 209 km/hr.
This cabriolet received worldwide publicity. In England, the October 18, 1938, issue of The Motor Magazine gave it an outstanding review: “A star ex- hibit on the Delahaye stand is the 12-cylinder model with one of the most per- fect airflow sports bodies we have yet seen. This body is a genuine masterpiece by Figoni & Falaschi. It is displayed on a turntable and well deserves this hon- our, as the car should be viewed from every angle. It is a sportsman’s dream car and in addition to the great beauty of line, the bodywork shows a careful study of aerodynamics.”
Chassis 60743 was expensive, so after the Paris Auto Salon, Delahaye deemed it easier to sell the car in England. It was placed in the showroom of Count Doric Heyden, a White Russian émigré and the Delahaye representative in London in the late 1930s. Five months later, the Count found a client: Sir William E. “Billy” Butlin, a South African immigrant whose holiday camp and amusement park enterprises had made him a millionaire. According to the March 3, 1939, edition of The Autocar, Sir William bought the Delahaye but seldom drove it because he preferred his seven Rolls-Royces. During World War II, he stored the car in a safe place and kept it until 1948, when he sold it to Adrian Conan Doyle, who had been at the 1938 Paris Auto Salon for the Delahaye’s grand debut. Conan Doyle lived down the road from Sir William and when he recognized the car he’d fallen in love with a decade before, he arranged to buy it; over the next thirteen years, he drove it all over the United Kingdom, Morocco, and Portugal.
In 1961, Ann Fahnestock acquired the cabriolet and sent it to New Jersey, along with an extra Type 165 engine. Unfortunately, to lessen freight charges by reducing the cubic feet needed, the car was loaded with its top and windshield retracted; it was in an open wooden crate on the ship’s deck, so salt water and spray caused extensive damage. Immediately upon arrival, Chassis 60743 was sent to Hibernia Restorations in New Jersey.
In 1973, French photographer and author Jean-Paul Caron recorded his rec- ollection of this car for Car Graphic magazine in “My Visit to a Beautiful Lady.”
I knew when I left Paris for New York for a meeting with a Delahaye V-12 cabriolet that I was going to see something unique. This car was the only Delahaye V-12 still operating in the world, but I did not know that it was famous in American vintage car circles. It received 100 points in 1966 at the Grand Classic organized by the Classic Car Club of America, which means quite a lot as there are so many fantastic cars owned by collectors in the U.S., but none got a hundred points at that show other than this Delahaye V-12 bodied by Figoni.
Mr. and Mrs. Fahnestock—Mrs. Ann Fahnestock being the owner
of the car—were waiting for me and so was Mr. W. Smith, who had entirely built the car, body and engine. I’ve seen many beautiful classic
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