Delahaye 135 MS Cabriolet - 1948 - a photo on Flickriver

Delahaye 135 MS Cabriolet - 1948

Coachwork by Ghia - Aigle

One of the stars of the show at the 1948 Geneva Car Show was a breath-taking Delahaye 135MS, a cabriolet with coachwork designed by Ghia in Turin and built by Ghia-Aigle in Valais. A year later, the Swiss subsidiary made a coupé version, based on the same drawings by master-designer Mario Boano. After several years gaining experience at Pininfarina, in 1944 Boano bought the company of his deceased friend, Giacinto Ghia. Later, he would be responsible for such classic designs as the Karmann Ghia and the Ferrari 250 GT. His Delahaye coupé is now regarded as one of the most stylish models in motoring history. A second copy of the coupé was ordered by no less a person than the Shah of Iran, which Ghia built in Turin. If anything, however, the royal blue of the Delahaye cabriolet at the Geneva Salon was even more graceful, as well as being literally unique. The cabriolet had the same half-covered wheels, which you might think would be inconvenient in the event of a flat tyre, but the covers could easily be raised with the simple operation of a handle. An equally simple press of a button was also enough to retract the plate covering the two rear seats, instantly creating more passenger space. Later, this wonderful car disappeared, seemingly without trace.

Perhaps as a result, the Ghia acquired a legendary status among car fanatics as the epitome of four-wheeled beauty and technical ingenuity, lost forever and probably reduced to scrap… Whereas in reality the Delahaye 135MS Ghia-Aigle cabriolet had been safely tucked away for years in the garages at Leuze-en-Hainaut! It was just that no-one knew about it! It was back in the 1970s that Ghislain Mahy exchanged the Delahaye for a Facel Vega with Jan Bruijn, who later went on to found the car museum at Deventer in The Netherlands. The original royal blue is now hidden beneath a top layer and patina of steel blue paint and the half-loose chrome bumper has long since lost its shine. Yet even these defects cannot conceal the innate elegance of the Delahaye and its remarkable design. Before it was moved to Leuze, it was first kept in a factory hall in the Koningsdal in Ghent. A group of young tearaways broke in and smashed the headlights and rear view mirrors of numerous vehicles, including those of this most attractive of cars that was once thought no longer to exist!

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Expo : Mahy, a family of cars - The Barnfind Collection
07/07/2023 - 03/09/2023

Autoworld
www.autoworld.be
Brussels - Belgium
August 2023

Taken on: August 21, 2023

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Mahy, a family of cars

The Barnfind Collection

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Sets appears in: • Mahy, a Family of Cars : The Barnfind Collection - Autoworld 2023 • Delahaye

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Camera: Nikon D800, f/10.0, 1/13 sec, 40mm, ISO 125 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D800
Lens:	24.0-70.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture:	f/10.0
Exposure Time:	0.077 sec (1/13)
Focal Length:	40mm
ISO:	125
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Saturation:	High
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic 13.1 (Macintosh)
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