I haven’t really been keeping track, and you can correct me if I’m wrong, but I do believe the Pick of the Day is the most expensive car ever advertised on ClassicCars.com: a 1936 Delahaye 135 Competition convertible with an asking price of $15 million. Or best offer.
With extravagant body styling by French coachbuilder Figoni et Falaschi, this is the kind of très magnifique motorcar that the lucky owner would take to the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and compete for top prizes.
Chassis No. 46864 has the distinction of being the “first of the renowned Figoni-Falaschi Streamlined Competition convertibles,” according to the private seller in La Jolla, California, advertising the Delahaye on ClassicCars.com.
The Delahaye also is the first with the “disappearing top convertible” design patented by Giuseppe Figoni, and with a folding windshield.
“This is one of the most elegant creations of Joseph (Giuseppe) Figoni and one of the most important Delahaye cars,” the ad says, quoting a report from the Club Delahaye France Archives.
The numbers-matching Delahaye has received 100-point scores in every Classic Car Club of America event for the past 17 years, in which it competes at the highest Premier level, the seller says. It has won more than 25 Best of Show awards plus numerous other concours prizes.
So yes, it would appear that this rare classic is in pretty good shape. It’s also well-documented with every owner known since new, the seller notes. It comes with its “original owner’s manual, build sheet, complete set of tools in matching leather/ostrich pouch, French jack, etc.”
“Finished in Bleu Foncé (dark blue) paintwork with Gris Clair (light gray) quill ostrich piped in Bleu Foncé leather,” the seller says in describing the Delahaye. “Jewel-like turned metal dash with beautiful Jaeger white-on-black instrumentation. Leaf-spring motif competition steering wheel.”
Powered by its original 120-horsepower 3.5-liter straight-6 engine linked with a 4-speed manual transmission, this elaborate car actually was used for racing, the seller adds, “campaigned by famous French racing team, Guy Mairesse and Paul Vallée.”
So there you have it, a top-of-the-heap French concours contestant, a fantasy machine ready for show and tell. The $15 million price tag (OBO) should keep the riff-raff away.
To view this listing on ClassicCars.com, see Pick of the Day.
You missed the “G” in magnifique Bob….
Thanks, Mike. My first French typo (I think). C’est la vie. Fixed.
I wonder if there are any others in existence? Incredible is the only way to describe something this beautiful this old. And all I want is a 69 Road Runner with just the standard 383, ha!
Pierre Trudeau was given a ride in Vancouver B.C. In a drop top Delahaye. I remember seeing the owner giving Trudeau a ride through Stanley Park. This event was shown on our T.V. News broadcast in the 70s.
Darn, if it was just left hand drive.
It seems to me, reading the newspaper every day, the only people who could afford this vehicle ARE the riff-raff.
This car is ART, Simply a Mona Lisa – Priceless