racing cars 43: Delahaye 145 V12 Chassis # 48771

Delahaye 145 V12 Chassis # 48771

The first of the 145 V12 Delahaye was the most successful. In 1937 the french government decided to create a "1 million de Francs or " to promote the development of racing cars able to beat the nazis government backed Mercedes Benz and Auto Union which dominated the racing world. Delahaye won this event with this car. Chassis 48771 went on to win in 1938 the Pau GP and the Cork GP against the German cars. It raced six other events in 1938 with mixed results and none in 1939. The car was entered by the private team "Ecurie Bleue" with poor result not being able to develop it properly.
Stored away during the war it was sold in 1946 and rebodied by Franay as a two seater. The car changed hands a few times. In the 1990s the car was again rebodied as a '38 Mille Miglia look alike. The Franay body was installed on a 135M chassis. By the late 1990s both cars belonged to Sam Mann. It's possible that 48771 is the 145 in the Mullin museum.
Nobody know for sure

dates	race	no.	driver	finish
27/08/37	Million Franc Prize	-	Dreyfus	victory
10/04/38	Pau Grand Prix	2	Dreyfus	1st
29/04/38	Cork Grand Prix	14	Dreyfus	1st
15/05/38	Tripoli Grand Prix	60	Dreyfus	DNS
24/07/38	German Grand Prix	22	Comotti	DNF
05/08/38	La Turbie hillclimb	23	Dreyfus	2nd.cat.race
06/08/38	Coppa Ciano	48	Dreyfus	5th
14/08/38	Coppa Acerbo	48	Comotti	4th
24/09/38	Dunlop Jubilee	24	'Raph'	7th/10th.race
22:10/38	Donington Grand Prix	10	'Raph'	DNF