Follow us!

Previous Features

'Worth a detour.'

An Edwardian supercar. The incredible 6 cylinder, 8,8 litre 3,75 meter wheelbased Delaunay-Bellevile with Torpedo body by Rothchild & Cie will be one of the truly amazing cars at Retromobile. This is the kind of motorcar that in itself is a reason to go to Paris. It is the kind of car that makes the Paris show stand out from the crowd. Some will say it's a truck. Others will say that it is one of the very best of what Europe made before WWI. But no matter what the diverging parties say, they both will suffer from deep dropping jaws in direct confrontation with this surviving eight wheeled dinosaur that was originally commisioned by a a member of the Michelin family, Mr Edward Daubree. Many words have been printed about this amazing car already, but we were just glad to find a little detail not found elsewhere. 1913 was the year that when Delaunay-Belleville changed from artillery to spoke wheels. Not so with this car. Was it just to hold up the weight? It seems that marketing motivations may have been the background. 1913 is also the year in which Michelin introduced the pressed steel disc wheel. Well on this car you can see where the first eight wheels went. When you click the mainphoto you will see the car in its original livery. It looks like the wheels had the same colour as the body giving it a less heavy, more elegant appearance.
For lots more words and photos history check Lot 322 in next week's sale by Artcurial at Rétromobile. The lucky and without doubt wealthy new owner will not only do a grand favour to himself. The result of the sale will go to a foundation created by the last owner, Patrick de Brou de Laurièr, for research against cancer, alzheimer and parkinson. (photos courtesy Artcurial).

Now if your budget is slightly more limited, you can get a marvellous 1911 Dealaunay-Belleville HB4 at something like half the money at the Bonhams auction.

Today on PostWarClassic: 'hmmmm... I should have worn the blue shoes."

Comments

#4 Rob MacWhirter 2012-01-26 11:04

What a wonderful car ! Oh for a lottery win !

#3 Peter Dew 2012-01-26 10:27

yes I did.

How do you get 8 if you don't count the spares ?

editor: of course I count the spares; why not? Those are wheels allright, or not ;-)

#2 Martin Shelley 2012-01-26 08:43

A fine car but not of Rolls Royce quality I fear. And unlike the latter, prone to crank breakage which is an unfortunate result of the learning curve of the early six cylinder car makers. The four cylinder Delaunay is happily not prone to this.

#1 Peter Dew 2012-01-26 04:55

I realise there are 2 spares, but this is a six wheeled dinosaur, not eight.

editor: did you count the twin rear wheels, Peter?

Refresh comments list