Of all the pre-war French racers, few are as well regarded as the Delahaye 135 S. Just 20 of these lightened and shortened speed machines were ever built, each doing battle at the very pinnacle of Grand Prix and sportscar racing. Of that small cohort, the penultimate example—chassis 47188—is arguably the most special, being one of two built at the end of production specifically for the Works team, and for going on to become an icon while in the ownership of racing impresario and whisky heir, Rob Walker.

Chassis 47188’s brief yet bright Works career began on 24 May 1936, when legendary French driver Albert Divo narrowly missed out on a podium finish at the Trois Heures de Marseille. A month later he finished 12th at the Grand Prix de l’A.C.F., then 6th at the Grand Prix de la Marne in Reims.

Following Reims, the Delahaye crossed the Channel via London importer Count Heyden, and was assigned the registration number it wears today, “DUV 870”. Still at the cutting edge of race technology, the car was quickly snapped up by Tommy Clarke, who raced it in the 1936 RAC Tourist Trophy and the Donington Grand Prix before selling to the Siamese Prince Chula for his White Mouse Stable, to be driven by his famous cousin, Prince Bira.

Bira took the car to Pau in 1937, where it ran well until retirement, and again proved its pace with a win alongside Hector Dobbs at the 12 Hours of Donington. The prince’s final outing with the Delahaye was at Brooklands for the BRDC 500 Kilometre race, arguably the last great Outer Circuit race and the final competitive appearance of the victorious Napier-Railton. Bira took 7th overall, posting a remarkable fastest lap at 126.09 mph.

After its duel with the Napier-Railton at Brooklands, chassis 47188 was reacquired by Count Heyden, who loaned it throughout the 1938 season for appearances at Cork, Brooklands, Antwerp, and Crystal Palace. With its work done, the Delahaye was put up for sale, taking pride of place in Heyden’s Park Lane showroom. There, it caught the eye of a young Cambridge student and heir to the Johnnie Walker whisky fortune, Rob Walker. At £400, the asking price far exceeded Walker’s £30-per-month allowance, but a deal was done when Hayden ‘made him a friendly introduction to hire purchase’.

Walker put the Delahaye to work immediately, coming 3rd at Brooklands’ Second Easter Mountain Handicap before loaning it to Price Bira in May for a victorious run at Crystal Palace. On 29 May 1939, Walker took the 135 S to Brooklands for a race to decide who owned the fastest road car in Britain. Uncertain of his own abilities, he trusted the Delahaye to talented ERA driver, Arthur Dobson. Dobson was narrowly beaten by Hugh Hunter’s Mille Miglia-winning Alfa Romeo 8C 2900 in the first leg, but in the second the Delahaye came from the back of the field to take victory after gearbox trouble struck the Alfa. With that, Walker was awarded £50 and a Gordon Crosby painting commemorating the race, and the Delahaye was declared 'Britain’s Fastest Road Car'. However, the crowning moment of the racer’s early career would come the following year, when it was entered for 1939 24 Hours of Le Mans—but not before modifications were made.

Just a week before leaving for France, Walker was involved in an accident in another of his Delahayes while attempting to test the theory that his Cotal electromagnetic gearbox-equipped Drophead could go as quickly in reverse as it could forwards; it could, he discovered, but in the process he lost control and crashed into a ditch, requiring stitches in his left thumb. As a result, chassis 47188 was spirited away to the Delahaye works in Paris, where its manual crash ‘box—which would have been a challenge to use with an injured hand—was replaced by a similar Cotal unit to his road car.

Walker called upon Ian Connell to share driving duties at La Sarthe, but the plan began to unravel early in the race. After just eight hours a damaged exhaust burned Connell’s feet so badly that he was forced to abandon, leaving Walker to take sole driving duties for the remaining 16. Despite becoming the stuff of legend for Walker changing into a pin-stripe suit in the early evening, the event was a gruelling test that gave a measure of the man; every time he drew into the pits he had to plunge his rope-soled shoes into a bucket of cold water. Walker would go on to finish 8th overall, following a final flourish as he stopped in the morning to change his pin stripe to a more hour-appropriate Prince of Wales check—and for a reviving glass of champagne, Heyden having realised that their stock had become perilously low. After driving directly to Paris for a post-race celebration, the Delahaye was put into storage and Walker went off to war, where he served as a pilot in the Fleet Air Arm and survived the torpedoing of the HMS Cleopatra.

THE POST-WAR YEARS

In 1940 Walker married on the understanding that he was never to race again. He made the promise and continued in competition as an entrant, with Guy Jason-Henry, who rented one of his garages in Chelsea, taking driving duties. In 1949 the Delahaye made a return to the Circuit de la Sarthe for that year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans, with Jason-Henry paired with Tony Rolt. The duoperformed well and were running in 5th place at lap 126, when the engine bearings failed. It turned out the 3.6-litre straight-six mill hadn’t been touched since 1939.

In 1950, chassis 47188 was fielded in a variety of Goodwood events, claiming two podiums, after which it was entered in the Montlhéry 12 Hours. The car showed up at the event before being quickly withdrawn citing mechanical maladies, but all wasn’t as it seemed. Having fallen in with the wrong sort, Jason-Henry allowed the car to be taken away and one of its 15-gallon fuel tanks replaced with a fake stuffed with thousands of Swiss wristwatches. On his return to Newhaven via Dieppe, Jason-Henry was detained and the car impounded. Having turned Queen’s Evidence he was later acquitted but, to Walker’s dismay, he was charged £300 for the release of the car. Indignant, Walker wrote a letter to The Times asking if Cunard Line had to buy back the Queen Mary every time a passenger was caught smuggling a pair of nylon stockings.

The Delahaye was entered into the British Empire Trophy for the final time in 1951, and at the end of the 1952 season Walker sold the car, then modified to reduce drag, to Dan Margulies. Walker continued as an entrant, running one of the most famous teams of the 1950s and 1960s, while his partnership with Stirling Moss yielded so many famous wins, including the RAC Tourist Trophy, the Daily Express International where in the wet he lapped the field twice (though Jack Brabham only once), the Monaco Grand Prix on two occasions, and the 1958 Argentinian Grand Prix that heralded the start of the mid-engine era—not to mention the Nürburgring, which he considered his finest victory alongside Monaco in 1961.

Margulies attended several events at Goodwood and Silverstone before selling the Delahaye, and after a brief spell with another owner, in 1954 it was acquired by shipping magnate Major Edward Thomson, Ecurie Ecosse’s major backer. When the Thomson collection was finally auctioned by Sotheby’s in 1970 in aid of the RNLI, Walker placed a winning bid of £5,000. Bought unseen, the Delahaye arrived in a sorry state, so Walker commissioned John Chisman to fabricate a new body copying the exquisite scale model of the car that had been created for Walker by Henri Baigent. Eight months later DUV 870 emerged in charming French racing blue and in its factory-style configuration. In 1973 the Delahaye returned to the Circuit de La Sarthe for a 50th Anniversary historic sportscar support race for the 24 Hours race. Tony Rolt and Stirling Moss were due to drive but Rolt struggled to fit so Moss did the race singlehandedly.

The car has remained in the care of the Walker Family ever since, and in addition to being loaned to a number of museums, was made famous to a new generation of fans in 2015 after being driven by Jude Law in the Johnnie Walker feature advertisement, A Gentleman’s Wager II. Three years later, the car took to the track at Goodwood with son Robbie Walker at the wheel.

Most recently, marque expert Jean-Paul Tissot has compiled a 19-page report on the car complementing an independent inspection by UK specialist I.S. Polson, while a letter from the RAC, a period ACO form, and ‘RAC’ stampings on the block confirm that the current engine was used during the 1949 24 Hours of Le Mans—given the retirement that year was due to old engine bearings, it is likely this engine did the 1939 edition as well.

With countless race victories everywhere from Goodwood to Brooklands, period Works history, and a roster of owners and drivers that includes motorsport luminaries such as Prince Bira, Albert Divo, Arthur Dobson, Stirling Moss, and future Le Mans winner Tony Rolt, this Delahaye 135 S ranks among the most significant pre-war racers ever offered at auction. But it’s the car’s long association with one of the most colourful and evocative characters in racing, Rob Walker, that make it truly special.

Owned by the family for 67 years, this magnificent racer boasts impeccable provenance and is highly eligible for the Goodwood Revival and Members’ Meeting, Tour Auto, and the Mille Miglia Storica, subject to FIVA papers and acceptance to the Registro 1000 Miglia. Its lucky next owner may even be tempted to take the car back to Le Mans, continuing a spectacular racing tradition that can be traced back to the very beginnings of the model.