It's one thing to own a classic Delahaye, it's quite another to own the one-and-only Delahaye Woody. Nevada collector Steve Hamilton is the lucky man with that distinction, and his unique vehicle was the
talk of the town at the 2001 Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. While Europeans of the first half of the last century had no need for surf-mobiles, there was high demand for a special vehicle to take on hunting outings. After all, you needed room for the hunting party, the rifles, the dogs, the dead pheasants and foxes and what have you. The Break de Chasse (French) or "Shooting Break" or "Shooting Brake" (both are used in English) served the purpose perfectly.
The venerable French firm of Delahaye made its reputation producing top-of-the-market roadsters in collaboration with France's best coachbuilders. Their heyday was the swoopy-fendered 1930s, when Figoni, Falaschi, Chapron, Franay, Letourner & Marchand, and Guillore all clothed concourse-winning models of the Delahaye 135s. On the race tracks, a small posse of racing Delahayes (including a famous V12-engined model) campaigned against the all-powerful Germans, making enough of a dent to turn works driver Marcel Mongin into a celebrity.
Mongin established Delahaye as a racing presence in the late 1930s, especially at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where his 5th overall in 1935 would be followed by second overall there in 1937 (there was no Le Mans race in 1936 due to labor strikes). That race was famous for the six-car accident at Maison Blanche that took two lives; Mongin avoided the fray, as did the famous Bugatti "Tank" which came in just ahead of Mongin in first place. In 1938 Delahayes took first, second and fourth overall at Le Mans, but Mongin's 3.5-liter burst into flames in the night. While Mongin continued to fare well for Delahaye in less prestigious races, his luck failed again at the 1939 Le Mans--running in second place, fire came again, at two in the morning! Luckily neither Mongin nor his co-pilot were hurt, but the war intervened before Mongin and Delahaye could regain their place atop the list of French victors.
Delahaye survived the war with relative ease, but by 1946 Mongin was ready to retire, so Delahaye rewarded him for his many years racing with the gift of this special Shooting Break. The car had started as a 135 MS racer--perhaps one of Mongin's own--a six-cylinder, 3.5 liter, three-carburetor special. The body was entrusted to Guillore Carrossiers, and their elaborate, sweeping woodwork is of excellent quality.
In fact, that's why Steve Hamilton bought it. "I've always enjoyed interesting coachwork," he explained, "and I've always like Woodies. I was looking for a European Woody, a Shooting Break, because they were built to a much higher standard. This car has a headliner in it, and a lot of trick things. It doesn't have interior cabinetry--it's not built like a limousine--but it's certainly finished well on the inside. It is intended for somebody, like Mongin, with a country estate, who likes to drive; it's not for the chauffeur."
True to its race car origins, the Woody goes "pretty quick," Steve said. "You have to remember when you're having fun driving on a windy road that you're driving a Woody, because this drives very much like a Delahaye racing car." Steve is a veteran at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance and has an impressive collection of cars that once showed and placed--everything from Brass Era Rolls-Royces to a trio of exotic Italians from the magic sports car year, 1967. But "when it comes home, we drive it," he says. His intentions with the Woody are "never to restore it, because we're going to take it to the California Wine Country. The intent is to get four or five cases of wine back there. The hatch opens in the rear, but the bottom doesn't fold down. You have to kind of reach in there to stuff things in."
The car was semi-restored back in 1991, when it was owned by a German named Klaus Werner; it won the Woody Cup when he showed it at the 2000 Louis Vuitton Classic in London. "It's been painted once, and the woodwork's been restored," Steve said, "but the leather is all original, as is the engine. It was running when I got it; I cleaned it up a bit and fixed a few things that were wrong, but otherwise this is just the way I got it. What's interesting here is the wood, and things like the windshield wiper assembly that's up on top--it's kind of trick. The windshield lifts up. The wood bumper is also unusual."
Steve concluded that "this is the ultimate Wine-Country-weekend car, and I plan to drive it and do a lot of things with it." Like, maybe, hit the coast? It's only a mountain or two west of the Wine Country, and what could be cooler than a classic longboard hanging out the hatch of the Guillore Delahaye Woody? Now that he's got one of the coolest Woodies ever, Steve may take up surfing, after all.