Cars

For Louis Delage, a designer had no right to make mistakes; it was either success or the door. In 1923, following the mediocre debut of the 2LCV Grand Prix, he dismissed the head of his design office, Charles Planchon, without further ado.

However, Planchon had left the project for a four-cylinder touring car, the DI, which was completed by his collaborator Fregal Escure. The DI was presented in 1924, but did not appear to be a success. Following a fault in the timing control, the engine had the unfortunate habit of losing power within a few hundred kilometers.

Louis Delage, as was his wont, didn’t pull any punches. He showed Escure the door and replaced him with engineer Louis Gaultier, who had already worked at Delage.

Gaultier quickly corrected the DI’s shortcomings, making it one of the firm’s best selling products. Louis Delage, whose motto was “do one thing and do it well”, saw fit to produce a high-performance version, the DIS, with an engine boosted to 50 hp (from 36 hp). It was also a very popular model, with nearly a thousand built. The DIS had all the qualities of a Delage: meticulous craftsmanship, impeccable proportions, performance and sturdiness. Today, it appears to be the most successful model of the 1920s.

The Delage DIS was the high-performance version of the DI, from which it retained the essential qualities – robustness and meticulous manufacture with higher performance.

Buoyed by the success of the DIS, Delage went even further with the DISS, the second “S” standing for “Surbaissée”, in 1925. Delage manufactured around 400 DISS models.

This example still has its original Vanden Plas bodywork and was restored in the late 1970s in England by restorer James Pierce. It was then presented by its original owner Paul Woudenberg at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in California.

It was subsequently acquired by its previous Belgian owner in the early 1990s and has remained in the family to this day.

FEATURES

Engine: 4 cylinders; displacement, 2120 cc; overhead valves; power, 50 bhp at 3200 rpm.

Transmission: rear-wheel drive; 4-speed gearbox.

Dimensions: wheelbase, 2.98 m; front and rear tracks, 1.32 m; weight, 1,350 kg.

Performance: top speed, 110 km/h.