Delaunay-Belleville a rare breed of car

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Delaunay-Belleville. We don`t come across this make that often. So when we found out there one that will be sold on the 4th of November 2018 by Artcurial Motor Auctions. We thought this is our chance!

The Delaunay-Belleville for sale is a 1911 HB4 Phaeton 22CV. The history of SA des Automobiles Delaunay-Belleville starts in 1904. A beautifully-built 4-cylinder machine designed by Marius Barbarou, formerly from Benz, and later of Lorraine-Dietrich was shown at the Paris Salon. The following years they produced various (larger) models, also chain driven until in 1910 when shaft drive was standardized on all models. The high quality of the cars made them especially at the time very expensive. Which is very likely also the reason why they were and are called the French equivalent of Rolls-Royce. They were the preferred choice of Royal customers, as King Alfonso XIII of Spain, King George I of Greece and Czar Aleksey Nicholaevitch of Russia, all of whom owned multiple examples of these cars. This car´s history can be traced back many decades to Snr Luigi Vallarelli Saturnino of Madrid who owned the car up to 1972. Thereafter it went to the famous Spanish collector Miguel Burgos and later was shown in the Navarre Motor Museum from 1995 till 2014.

One of the features of the Delaunay was the round radiator and bonnet. As also can be seen in the photographs. Around 100 cars of this model with the 4,8 litre 4 cylinder engine were produced. But sadly enough only a handful of them are known survived till this day.

This Delaunay-Belleville (chassis n° 4979) has beautiful bodywork in the style of Henry Labourdette. The current owner had the engine recently rebuild by well-known restorer William Allen Ltd in Chichester, England.

A wonderful autumn coloured car to drive around on a lovely (sunny) day and admire the fallen leaves, chestnuts and acorns in the reflection of the perfectly polished brass.

Words by the editor. Photographs courtesy Artcurial.

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