Delage Delight: The Elegance of an Aluminium Skiff

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Its pointed tail flicks around a twist in a remote road in the Val de Loire. The front wheels straighten, its shapely prow presses forward. A glint of sunlight flashes from the polished nickel spotlamp, and the backdrop of blue sky, green poplars and old stone walls is reflected in a mellow medley of surrealistic ripples from its smooth aluminium body. This is the sight of a Delage at play, delighting in the gaiety of its occupants, all of them resolved not to let a minute of their summer freedom go to waste.

The Delage inquestion is a 1923 DI, elegantly bodied by Lagache et Glaszmann. Reputedly built to dazzle visitors at the Paris Salon, it caught the particular attention of either Hugh McAlinden, a Belfast bookmaker, or his honeymooning son Patrick. It made its way to Ireland and, at some stage, went under the knife to be rebuilt as a truck for transporting greyhounds.

Postwar, the DI was espied by Willie Galbraith, who hoped to restore it. A remarkable stroke of luck occurred when he chanced upon the rear half of the body, which had been abandoned but not scrapped. He did what he had to do, saving the car and keeping it until his death just after the millennium, when it passed to its third and present custodians, who like nothing better than taking it on pleasure trips to its Gallic homeland. Chris Pickering extols this special survivor in the June issue of The Automobile, available now.

Words by Zack Stiling; Photographs by Stefan Marjoram

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