12 replies to this topic

[Barry Boor]

Quite by chance I came across this picture of what purports to be a Delahaye 135S. It's nothing like any Delahaye 135S that I have seen before.

Are there any more images of this car around because I fancy building a 32nd slot car version?

[VDP]

Barry

It s a DB from René Bonnet

[Barry Boor]

Really? As early as 1947?

[David McKinney]

Really? As early as 1947?

The first DBs raced before the War. They were powered by Citroen, as this one appears to be

[Roger Clark]

The unique Citroen engined single seater.

[Vitesse2]

Doesn't look like the DB monoplace to me ...

http://www.galeriede...grand-prix-1947

If the identification of the 1947 French GP is correct - and the race number certainly matches - then it's the ex-Grignard 135S coursifiée with body by OLD (Olivier Lecanu-Deschamps).

[Roger Clark]

Could it be the Voiturette Coupe de Lyon which supported the Grand Prix? Bonnet's DB had number 40 for that race. It was rebodied in 1948. The picture in the Gallerie des Damiers with number 36 is probably the 1950 German Grand Prix.

Edited by Roger Clark, 04 April 2013 - 00:37.

[David McKinney]

Yes, I should have made it clearer. The car in Barry's picture would have been an entry in the Coupe de Lyon voiturette race (open to u/s 2-litre cars)

And rebodying would account for its difference from Vitesse2's photo

[Barry Boor]

Thank you, gents.

Maybe I won't bother with it.

[David McKinney]

At least not until you do your 1947 voiturette series

[Allan Lupton]

The Delahayes entered for the 1947 French GP were two-seaters and I expect one of them carried comp. no. 40. Simple mis-captioning in haste.
Anyway no front-drive Delahaye existed, and the car in question is FWD.

[VDP]

They build six or eights cars with Citroën engines this one should be the fourth one

Robert

[Roger Clark]

Griffith Borgeson wrote an article about Deutsch, Bonnet and their cars for Automobile Quarterly, Vol18, No 1. He describes the Citroen engined cars as follows:

No. 1: 2-litre open sports car used by Bonnet from 1938.
No. 2: 1.5-litre coupe for Deutsch. Uncompleted before the war and later sold without Deutsch having driven it.
No. 3: Wartime project for a monocoque sports car. Abandoned before construction started.
No 4 and 5: Post-war sports cars, somehow built in time for the 1945 Grand Prix de Paris. No. 4 was for Deutsch and used the 1.5-litre engine intended for No.2. No. 5 was Bonnet's and 2-litres.
No. 6 was the single seater pictured by Barry in the first post.
No. 7 was the single seater pictured in the site referenced by Vitesse 2. Another reliable source says that this was No.6 rebodied.
No. 8: a very attractive sports car which won two concours d'elegances and was driven in the 1948 12 Heures de Paris by Deutsch and Harry Schell.
No. 9: a coupe intended for limited production. The plan had to be abandoned because Citroen would not supply the necessary parts. As a result DB switched to Panhard parts with the results we all know.

Borgeson tellls a nice story of when the team entered a race at St.Cloud on the other side of Paris. At 9.30 on race morning, Bonnet took the car out for a test. The camshaft seized and the car was towed back to the factory. Deutsch designed, made and installed a modification and it was ready by 1pm. THe organisers agreed to delay the start from 2:20 to 2:45, a courier was despatched to warn the police to expect a racing car at high speed, and Bonnet drove across Paris to take the start, still running-in the engine.