The Delaunay-Belleville was one of the grand French automobiles of the Brass Era, respected throughout the world for advanced engineering such as monobloc engines with fully pressurized lubrication driven by a pump off the crankshaft. It was considered the equal of Rolls-Royce or Panhard et Levassor, and was instantly recognizable by its round honeycomb radiator, a deliberate reminder of the boilers that the company had earlier produced. Delaunay-Belleville was also the first French manufacturer to offer a six-cylinder engine. It became a favorite of the worldwide aristocracy, most prominently Czar Nicholas II of Russia.

The 1A4 offered here, among vanishingly few Delaunay-Bellevilles of any era in the United States, is a 40-horsepower model and was bodied as a handsome and imposing formal Landaulet by Rothschild et Fils. It has had its ownership history traced back to its home country in the 1980s, when it was owned by collector Corine Lambert. It later passed to Swiss enthusiast Peter Aeschlimann in 1998, then was purchased in 2006 by its penultimate owner, the late Peter Mullin, a renowned American collector of the finest French automobiles. Afterward it was an occasional exhibit in his revered Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard, California, for nearly two decades.

Exhibiting a handsome older restoration in a rich combination of earth tones, this 1A4 features a particularly well-detailed interior, upholstered in a striking and intricate floral print that extends even to the division bulkhead and door panels below the sliding railroad-style windows. Marvelous appointments include wooden companions for both rear seat passengers, and door cappings decorated with colored and etched mother of pearl icons. The driver’s compartment is finished in brown leather, with a simple dashboard bearing a Paris-Rhône instrument set and a charming period fire extinguisher.

An excellent example of a scarce French luxury automobile, with extraordinarily high quality of engineering and rich in provenance, this Delaunay-Belleville is sure to tempt the Brass Era automobile enthusiast.