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Based in Paris, de Villars was one of France's most exclusive coach-builders with a typical annual production of just 25 bodies. In 1933 they created this fabulous Roadster for the Delage D8 S chassis. The elegant design makes the most of the low chassis with a relatively long bonnet and a very low, raked windshield. Finished in white, the car was one of the stars of the 1933 Paris Auto Salon. After the show the de Villars Roadster was displayed in the main Delage show room in Paris where it was advertised for over 100,000 French Francs.
The hefty price was no objection for Aurelio Lerroux, who was the son of the Spanish prime minister at the time. He kept the car on the French Riviera throughout the summer of 1934 and appeared at all the fashionable events. In the fall of that year the Delage D8 S was featured in the prestigious 'Vu' magazine and described as "triumphant in any concours d’elegance". Lerroux sold the car the following year to the brother of the mayor of Madrid and the car would remain in the Spanish capital for some time to come. During the 1940s it was driven by Spanish movie star Rosalia Gullon and a decade later it was owned by the "Gran Hotel Velasquez". Here it probably served as a courtesy car for the hotel's most prominent guests.
At the end of the 1950s the Delage finally disappeared from the limelight and did not appear in public again until the RM Auctions Monterey sale in August of 2007. In those five decades the car was beautifully preserved, although painted red. Before being offered at auction, the car was sympathetically restored in France. The exquisite de Villars Roadster found a new owner for a staggering $3,740,000. Shortly after the sale, the new owner delivered chassis 38012 to RM Restorations for a meticulous restoration to its original configuration. In 2010 the Delage Roadster was brought to Pebble Beach where it continued its 1934 record and claimed a well deserved 'Best of Show'.
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D8 S de Villars Roadster
