At the recent Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, the highly coveted 'Best of Show' award was won by this spectacular Delage D8 S de Villars Roadster. It is one of just 99 Delages of this type built, which featured a more powerful engine and lower chassis than the 'standard' D8. The latter is what made the D8 S such a popular choice with the most prominent custom coach-builder. Many of these rare cars were entered in contemporary concours d'elegance with considerable success. Our feature car was described by a French magazine as 'triumphant in any concours d’elegance' in the fall of 1934. That was the result of its highly exclusive coach-work by de Villars in Paris. During the 1950s the all-white car was owned by an luxurious hotel in Madrid, Spain. It then disappeared from the radar for almost half a century. Beautifully restored, it surfaced again at RM Auctions' Monterey sale where it sold for a staggering $3.7 million. Three years later the Delage D8 S de Villars Roadster reaffirmed its 1934 reputation by claiming the 'Best of Show' award at Pebble.
The Pebble winning Delage made its very first public appearance at the Paris show back in 1933. Two of the stars of this year's show will be this Citroen DS4 and Lotus Evora S. The all-new Citroen is the second 'DS' launched, following the much praised DS3 introduced last year. The DS4 is quicker and more luxurious than the standard C4 it is based on. The most potent engine available is a 200 bhp, direct injection 1.6 litre 'four', which comes as standard with a six speed gearbox. It will makes its showroom debut early in 2011. As the name suggests, the Evora S is a more poised version of the highly acclaimed Evora. The Lotus engineers have tweaked the Toyota-sourced engine to produce 350 bhp, instead of the 280 bhp available in the standard model. In Paris, Lotus will also debut an automatic six speed gearbox, which is at the moment is only available on the 280 bhp Evora.
Enjoy the links:
2010 Citron DS4 - Images, Specifications and Information
1933 Delage D8 S de Villars Roadster - Images, Specifications and Information
2010 Lotus Evora S - Images, Specifications and Information