Madame Richer-Delavau: the forgotten muse of Delage

• 

When we found a clipping showing a 1930s roadster we had never seen before, we were naturally eager to learn more. Unfortunately, the image was too blurry for reproduction here, but the caption was just legible. It stated that the car was a Torpédo Grand Sport model, based on the Delage D6-70 and bodied by Letourneur & Marchand. At the wheel, wearing a broad smile, sat a woman identified as Madame Richer-Delavau. That, as it turned out, was not such limited information after all. Another picture surfaced easily on the world wide web, this time describing the car as La Sauterelle – or The Grasshopper. That is the one shown here.

What seemed strange was that very little else could be found about the car, and even less about the lady. In fact, we came across numerous mentions of a Madame Richer-Delavau in the 1920s and 1930s, all linked to cars, motor sport and, above all, concours d’élégance. Yet these were little more than passing references. It appears she began with a Simca 8 in the early twenties, then moved on to Amilcars and Bugattis, before developing a real passion for Delage. She commissioned cars from Franay and Figoni & Falaschi, took part in the Rallye Monte Carlo in one, and was even said to have planned an entry for the 1936 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Some further digging turned up a source describing her as follows: “The fashionable Madame Richer-Delavau was a regular at major concours d’élégance, and her driving skills made her a star in such competitions, most often at the wheel of Delages. Her husband owned a Delage concession on the Rue Bayard in Paris.”

That, however, did not resolve the mystery. We found no record of Delage on the Rue Bayard. Yet, consulting concours lists in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, we came across one mention of her initial, ‘R’. Interestingly, her husband was also noted, apparently accompanying her at one event. His name was given as Charles Richer-Delavau. That proved useful. Charles Richer-Delavau appears elsewhere as a propriétaire agricole – which may reasonably be translated as landowner. He too entered a Bugatti for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, though he never started the race, supposedly due to an accident in practice.

In 1929, in Paris, he married Renée Marie Antoinette de Labrouhe de Laborderie – and we are fairly certain she is our Madame R. Richer-Delavau. With so many concours and rally cars passing through her hands, it seems remarkable that she remains so little known as a female protagonist in the pre-war motoring world. One of her Delages – a 120 D8 S with an unconventional De Villars roadster body – turned up in the USA years ago and was restored to concours condition. It went on to win ‘Best of Show’ at Pebble Beach in 2016. Surely more of her Delages survive? And what of La Sauterelle, the car that began this quest?

Words: Jeroen Booij
Picture: DeRivaz & Ives magazine

Make a comment, ask a question, give your opinion, share additional information or start a discussion by filling in the fields below.