Delage D8

In short

• Produced 1929–1940; the original D8 and D8 S ran to 1933, later versions were built partly in the Delahaye works in Paris.
• 4,061 cc overhead-camshaft straight-eight with 76 kW (102 hp) in the D8 and 89 kW (120 hp) in the D8 S; later engines from 2,668 to about 4.3 litres.
• Four-speed manual gearbox with synchromesh on the top two gears; Cotal pre-selector gearbox optional, standard by 1937.
• Bodies by Letourneur et Marchand, Chapron, Figoni et Falaschi, Saoutchik, Pourtout and others.

Delage D8 at a glance

Delage before the D8: racing and luxury

Delage's early reputation came from competition. Albert Guyot won the 1908 Grand Prix des Voiturettes at Dieppe at an average of 80.1 km/h (49.8 mph). The Type Y that won at Indianapolis in 1914 had set the fastest lap at the 1913 French Grand Prix. In 1924 and 1925 the 2 LCV, a two-litre V12, won the European Grand Prix at Lyon and the Montlhéry Grand Prix. The 15 S 8 of 1927 earned Delage the title "World Champion of Car Builders", a manufacturers' honour.

On the road, the six-cylinder CO of 1918 had 4,524 cc, and the CO2 of 1921 was its overhead-valve successor. The D6 six-cylinder family, introduced around 1930, stayed the mainstay of the range until the end.

The D8 engine and chassis

The D8 arrived late in 1929, just as the economy was reeling from the stock market crashes of that year. Its engine was a 4,061 cc straight-eight with a 77 mm bore and a 109 mm stroke, which placed it in the French 23 CV tax class. A single camshaft placed centrally above the cylinders operated the valves. In D8 Normale form it produced 76 kW (102 hp) at 3,500 rpm and gave a top speed of 120 km/h; the short-wheelbase D8 S had 89 kW (120 hp) and reached 130 km/h.

The chassis was conventional for a luxury car of the time: rigid axles front and rear on semi-elliptic leaf springs, friction dampers and drum brakes on all four wheels. The four-speed gearbox had synchromesh on the top two ratios. The Cotal pre-selector gearbox was an option at first and was included in the price by 1937. Three wheelbases, 3,167, 3,467 and 4,066 mm, gave coachbuilders room for anything from a sporting coupé to a formal limousine.

D8 versions from the Normale to the D8-120

The smaller D8-15 of 1933 was a response to hard times, with the engine cut to 2,668 cc to fall into the cheaper 15 CV tax band; it was gone by the end of 1934. The D8-85 and D8-105 shared a 3,570 cc engine in two states of tune. The D8-100 enlarged the engine to 4,302 cc, and its shorter wheelbase was reportedly dropped in 1937. In 1939 the D8-120 engine was also fitted to the D8-100.

Crisis, Walter Watney and Delahaye

The depression hit luxury car sales hard. In spring 1932 Louis Delage took out a loan of 25 million francs (1932) to pay for the tooling of the D6. On 20 April 1935 the Courbevoie factory went into voluntary liquidation, which ended the D8-85 and D8-105.

Walter Watney, a British-born businessman, set up the sales company SAFAD in 1935 to sell Delage cars built from Delahaye parts, and he stayed with it until 1940. By 1936 D8 engines were being installed in Delahaye chassis, and the first D8-100 was built at the Delahaye plant in Paris. By 1938 Delage was in effect a Delahaye subsidiary, and in December 1940 control of SAFAD passed to Delahaye. Under Delahaye about 2,000 Delages were built from 1935 to 1940. The eight-cylinder car did not return after the war: from 1946 only six-cylinder Delages were made, 330 of them by 1953.

Coachwork: Chapron, Letourneur et Marchand, Figoni and Pourtout

The D8 was bodied by many of the leading French coachbuilders. Those named for the model include Letourneur et Marchand and its subsidiary Autobineau, Henri Chapron, Figoni et Falaschi and Saoutchik, and surviving cars also wear bodies by Pourtout, Vanvooren, D'Ieteren and Auto Classique Touraine. One body type stands out: the Aerosport Coupé had a pillarless hardtop roof about ten years before General Motors introduced hardtops on Buick and Cadillac models.

The photographs of surviving cars show how far the bodies range, from Chapron's formal Grand Luxe saloons to the streamlined Aero Coupé that Pourtout built on a D8-120 S chassis in the late 1930s.

The D8 today and the Delage revival

Louis Delâge died in December 1947, and car production ended in 1953. In 1954 Delage and Delahaye were absorbed into Hotchkiss. The name returned on 7 November 2019, when Les Amis de Delage and Laurent Tapie signed an agreement at the Lyon Époqu'auto show to relaunch the brand. The new Delage D12 is a hybrid hypercar with a V12 and an electric motor; 30 are planned, each at more than €2 million (2026).

For anyone studying or buying a D8, three points matter most:

• Version and engine: the 4,061 cc cars of 1929–1933 differ from the 3,570 cc D8-85/105 and the 4,302 cc D8-100/120, and engines were changed between models in 1939.
• Gearbox: a Cotal pre-selector was optional until it became standard by 1937.
• Coachwork history: the body maker and the chassis number identify the car, since many coachbuilders worked on the D8.

The power converter turns the D8's horsepower ratings into kW and PS for comparison with other cars. Other luxury cars of the decade are listed in the 1930s classics section and across the classic cars hub.

Photo gallery