Fabulous French fancies pass under the hammer | GRR
Two cars poles apart but with one thing in common: they both flew out the door at Bonhams’ first live sale of 2021 – in front of a real audience. There was nothing “virtual” about Les Grandes Marques à Monaco, held in the principality last week, as the two star lots, a 1936 Delahaye 135 S Compétition Court and an Isdera Imperator from six decades later, proved.
So what would you have chosen to spend you half-a-mill-plus on, a refugee from the 1939 Le Mans 24 Heures or one man’s supercar vision made real? Both were fast for their day, beautifully engineered, very rare and stunning to behold, but beyond that are two very different machines.
The Delahaye was originally due to race at Le Mans in 1936 but strikes in France meant there was no race that year. Instead, as one of three cars in the semi-works team of Lucy Schell – claim to fame: first female motorsport team owner – the car was campaigned in pre-war races in Marseille, Donington, Pau and in the TT in in Dundrod. Its moment in the Le Mans spotlight eventually came in 1939 (it retired!).
Today, while the Delahaye’s coachwork may have been recreated, its running gear and chassis are, unusually for a competition car of this era, all original. The car sold after the auction for an undisclosed amount said to be within its pre-sale guide of £690-950,000.
For a little less cash (it sold for (£599,644 including the premium) you could have driven out of the Fairmont Hotel in Monte Carlo in one of the 30 Imperators made – the Mercedes V8 powered, gullwing-doored supercar inspired by the Mercedes CW311 concept car of 1978. The CW311 had been designed by Porsche engineer Eberhard Schulz who was so sure he was on to a winner with it that when Mercedes said no to production he set up his own company, Isdera, to make it instead.
The car in the sale was a 1991 108i Series 2 coupe with pop-up headlights, as per the original design. Powered by a 5.0-litre, 300PS (220kW) Mercedes V8 engine, driving via a ZF five-speed manual gearbox, the Imperator could hit 175mph and get from 0-62mph in in 5.1 seconds. And it still looks every bit as fast as it is.
A sprinkling of Astons, Porsches and Ferraris were among other grandes marques to find favour with buyers at the Monaco sale. However, following in the Delahaye’s footsteps there could be no denying a strong Gallic emphasis to the sale. Here are four more French beauties that buyers snapped up…
1934 Bugatti Type 57 Ventoux, £334,801
The esteemed Type 57 chassis and 3.3-litre, double-overhead-cam straight-eight engine combined with one of Jean Bugatti’s most popular body designs to make an exceptional four-seat grand tourer that could cruise along at 80mph. The car here was the very first Type 57 Ventoux ever made.
1967 Citroën DS21 Décapotable, £169,899
As long as you don’t consider it sacrilege to chop the top off Citroen’s exquisite goddess (we don’t) here’s a Décapotable (convertible) that’s just perfect for some summer touring. It’s one of the officially sanctioned models built by coachbuilder Henri Chapron on the longer, stronger DS estate chassis. Totally ahead of its time, thankfully all its complicated mechanicals were subject to a €45,000 refresh a few years ago.
1950 Simca Estager Barquette, £144,914
Another French racing survivor, Bonhams says this elegant aluminium-bodied streamliner would make the ideal entry into historic sportscar racing, and we’d go along with that. Based on a Simca Eight chassis, it’s a one-off design dreamed up in period by racing driver Jean Estager. He had wanted to prove its mettle in the 1951 Le Mans and while the car was entered for the race it never made it to the startline. It did race at places like Montlhéry though and since a recent €100,000 restoration is now ready to race again – we look forward to seeing it at Goodwood!
1949 Georges Irat Sports, £61,963
Two things about this quirky French two-seater: you won’t miss it, with its pure 1950s elegance and cyclops headlight, and you won’t see another. Clothing a (non-original) Simca chassis is one-off coachwork by Labourdette, designed by Georges Irat as a show car for the 1949 Salon de Paris. The last car Irat ever built, it has already graced many a concours lawn and will no doubt again. Looks like this should never be hidden away!
Images courtesy of Bonhams.