Cars
Beautiful but unlucky
This article discusses the history of the Delage V12 Labourdette, a car designed by Louis Delage and his team for the 1931 French Gran Prix. The vehicle, designed by renowned engineer Jean Andreau and powered by a 4.5-liter V12 engine built by Albert Lory.
Louis Delage brought together an extraordinary team to build a car to race in the 1931 French Gran Prix. The vehicle was designed by renowned engineer Jean Andreau, and the engine, a 4.5-liter V12, by Albert Lory, who had built the 1926 and 1927 Delage single-seaters. Finally, the construction of the bodywork was entrusted to Labourdette, whose panoramic windows offered excellent visibility for racing.
After having to pull out of the 1931 French Gran Prix, the Delage V12 Labourdette was a real hit at the Paris Motor Show.
The general layout was very similar to that of the Peugeot 402 N4X, which was also designed by Andreau (see our last piece in this section). With this new design, however, everything was taken to extremes: this two-door car was low and incredibly sleek with its teardrop shape and large rear fin. In this case, too, meticulous attention was paid to every feature: the deep-set headlights, the tapered fenders and the rear wheel fairing.
