Delage D8 105 S-Coupe, Chassis 40123, at the 2011 Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este, by Wouter Melissen - Ultimatecarpage.com
The D8 was a car made by Delage between 1929 and 1938.
The D8 focused on refined elegance, the type that would gain acclaim at the then upcoming Concours scene.
An early prototype featured Delage's first production car eight, but it's 7-litre engine was too large for realistic production. Instead, Delage chose a 4-litre engine that could cope with more idling produce 105bhp. Attached was a single Delage Ccarburettor built under Smith license. Automatic starting was provided by a near silent Bendix Éclipse unit.
Maurice Gaultier was responsible for the D8s design and he used the model 17CV for the D8's basis. Both cars used similar engines. These were powerful enough to propel the large steel bodies from various French coachbuilding design houses.
The D8 was ordered in three different chassis lengths: Sport, Normal and Long. The Sport was the shortest of these measuring 3310mm, compared to the Normal being 3430mm long. To accommodate the larger, more luxurious bodies, a Long version extended both these to 3640mm. A 4.7-litre engined version, known as the D8 S was also offered. One of these was equipped with a minimal body in 1931 to beat many endurance records including a 24-hour average speed of 96.89mph (156kph).
The D8 was first shown at the 1929 Paris Auto Salon where La Journée Industrielle called it a "perfect model in every respect."
Delage prepared many in-house body designs for the D8, but would still offer a rolling chassis for discerning clientèle. 18 different bodies were offered on the three chassis. Occasionally a car was prepared for the Concours D'elegance which promoted the Delage along with their successful racing program.
Price for the D8 ranged from the D8 Normal at 63,500FF or 500 more FF for the Sport or Long variants. These directly competed with Rolls-Royce and Talbot-Lago.
Later models included the 2.66-litre D8-15, the 3.75-litre D8-85, the 3.57-litre D8-105, eventually reaching 4.743 litres with the D8-120 in 1938.