US$375,000.00 Louis Delage founded his automobile business in 1905, beginning with just three employees, two lathes and a tiny workshop in Levallois-Perret, about 4km outside of Paris. One of his employees happened to be the former chief engineer for Peugeot, so at least Delage knew from the onset to surround himself with talent. In the early years, Delage mainly built small voiturettes utilizing deDion-Bouton engines, but as his interest in motorsport grew, so did the size, quality and performance of his automobiles. By 1910, a new factory was needed to accommodate demand for their in-house designed four-cylinder models. Following World War I, production expanded again to include a six-cylinder model and they gained ever greater success on the world motorsport stage.By the 1920s, Delage had hit its stride. The 20s and 30s were considered by many to be the glory days of the company, with ever more beautiful and advanced automobiles leaving the works, winning races around the world and finding favor with the elite. Considered to be Delage’s pièce de résistance, the D8 was the largely work of gifted chief engineer Maurice Gaultier. At its heart was Gaultier’s 4 liter pushrod straight eight, running on five main bearings and producing 105 brake horsepower with a smoothness and silence that was the envy of virtually every other automaker.The D8 was offered with two chassis configurations, the standard D8 “Normale” or the sports oriented D8S which featured more aggressive chassis tuning as well as amendments to the valve gear and higher compression for 118 brake horsepower at 3,800 rpm. As an option, this engine could be fitted to the Normale chassis and the model was referred to as the D8 C, which is the spec of our featured vehicle. Delage’s elite clientele took to the D8 with great enthusiasm, and the...