Wednesday, October 31, 2018

The show-winning French car
named after a whale
 
 
 

 
The 1947 Delahaye 135 M Figoni & Falaschi Narval cabriolet shown at the Blackhawk Museum is one of only seven cars built with this style coachwork but none of the seven cars are the same. The series was named ‘Narval’ after the car’s noses which resemble a Narwhale, the so-called “unicorn of the sea” because of the single tusk that protrudes from their head.

Designed by young engineer Jean François, the Delahaye 135 was produced from 1935 until 1954, and its low-slung chassis of the 135 made it an excellent candidate for custom coachbuilders such as Figoni & Falaschi and Jaques Saoutchik, while it 3 ½-liter (195-cubic inch) six-cylinder engine produced from 90 to 105 or even 115 horsepower depending on whether it was fitted with one, two, or three carburetors.   
A successful pre-war racing car which won the LeMans 24-hour race in 1938 (as well as finishing second and fourth) the Delahaye 135M production car continued to be built until the company ceased operations in 1954.
 
 
 

The car shown at the Blackhawk Museum, designed by Joseph Figoni and built with his partner Ovidio Falaschi, was sold new to Mark Dietsch of Cleveland Ohio, President of the Prima Shoe Company. As a manufacturer of fine women’s show, in 1954 this car was used in the Prima Shoe Company’s ‘Cover Girl flats’ advertising campaign. Known as the ‘Cover Girl Narval,’ it was found in Switzerland in the late nineteen seventies and purchased by Bob Atwell of Texas who had the engine replaced before he sold the car to collector Russ Jackson of Barrett-Jackson Auctions.
 
 
 
Jackson’s son Craig Jackson (now familiar to television viewers) restored the car and painted it black with dark red snakeskin leather upholstery. The car was sold at auction to a Japanese collector in 1989 but in recent years the car returned to North America where it was returned to its original appearance. at the 2017 Pebble Beach Concours de Elegance, this car won the Postwar Grant Touring class and was awarded the French Cup as the most significant car of French origin.  
 
 

 Photos by the author

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