Franco-American entente: the concours Delage with a transatlantic twist

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We showed you a marvellous Duesenberg from Paris-based importer E. Z. Sadovich recently (click here) and found this picture in the same folder of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France.

Our first thought about this big speedster was that was it had to be another American car, surely. Not so, the French librarians tell us, who have it filed away as a Delage. The radiator grille is the giveaway here, but it’s certainly not your average-bodied Delage. The style of the coachwork seems typical of American trends, and there are some particularly fine details that wouldn't have looked out of place in a Beverly Hills garage, such as that ultra-low windscreen with its miniature wipers, the diagonally-cut louvres and matching door profile, the brightwork (look at that unusual front bumper) and those lines running from radiator mascot to underneath the windscreen frame and over the doors. We wonder if it also has a dickey seat, and if the mascot itself might have been inspired by Pierce-Arrow. We’d love to see what colour this car was painted. Could it be another Fernandez & Darrin creation? Does anyone know more about it at all?

The caption does tell us that the lady to the side is Mlle. Jeannette Ferney. She was another French actress at the peak of her career, it seems. In June, 1932, when this picture was taken, the picture L’athlète incomplet had just made it to the silver screen. Two more would follow that same year, in which she would star alongside Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Buster Keaton.

Words: Jeroen Booij
Picture: Bibliothèque Nationale de France

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