After merging with Delahaye in 1935, Louis Delage, with access to the Delahaye bank of parts, set about precisely preparing his new model, the D6-70.

He started with modifying the Delahaye 135 engine by decreasing it to 2,729 cc.

This gave the engine a shorter stroke, which when combined with a revised cylinder head, provided the new Delage’s engine with much more gusto than its sister Delahaye 135.

Most of the D6-70s were equipped with the optional Cotal electromagnetic gearbox, a quasi automatic transmission with four speeds plus reverse.

In a time when most car transmissions were borrowed from trucks and shifted as such, the silky-smooth Cotal was lightyears ahead of its time.

Chassis number 50607, presented here, was the first cabriolet out of a small batch of Delage D6s bodied by Figoni et Falaschi in 1936.

The design is sheer elegance in any of its three different configurations: with the top up, top down in cabriolet dress, and then with the “Milord,” or half-cabriolet app...