1913 Delage Type AI Sports Tourer

Registration No: EJ 143
Chassis No: 4954
MOT: Exempt

• Restored to a very high standard in the 1990s, and still presents very nicely
• Supplied new, five years after chassis production, by Fraser & Willsford of Sydney, Australia, clothed in four-seater Tourer coachwork
• Understood to have had just ten owners since manufacture!
• Marvellous Edwardian tourer with an interesting history
• Numerous participations in Veteran Car Club rallies

For much of the 1920s and 1930s, Delage was at the forefront of French automotive engineering. The firm's racing cars of the mid-1920s were advanced and successful: their complex engines, especially the two-litre V12 and 1½-litre straight-eight still command awe some 80 years later. Beginning with proprietary-engined light cars, from 1905 Louis Delage drove his firm forward and soon became a major manufacturer, building racing cars which competed with credit in the Grands Prix of 1913 and 1914; a Delage won the important Coupe de l'Auto race of 1911.

Rarely encountered today, the Delage AI was produced between 1913 and 1915 and was rated as a 12hp in France and a 14hp in England. Conceived as a replacement for the AB model, the chassis and four-cylinder, 2,296cc monobloc engine were designed by the talented engineer Arthur-Louis Michelat, who also originated the designs for the 1914 Grand Prix Delages. The AI uses a four-speed gearbox with gate change and Hotchkiss drive and, conventionally for the period, has foot-operated brakes on the rear wheels only, with a hand-operated transmission brake.

Chassis 4954 is an impressive machine, not least because it has survived with copies of paperwork from its supplying dealer, which details its first ownership and original specification. The chassis is of 1913 origin and was exported new to Australia, but the car was not sold until 16th January, 1918, through Fraser and Willsford Motor Importers – ‘Sole Agents, Sunbeam Cars, Delage Cars, Calthorpe Light Cars’ – of Canada Buildings, 822, George Street, Sydney. The first private owner was Mr. J. E. Best of Tyrone, a large farm set among the open plains of Coonamble, New South Wales.

The coachwork and fittings were described as follows: “Locally built four-seater body of best material and workmanship, one-man hood with side curtains and hood envelope, double folding wind screen, rug rail, foot rest, metal tool box on running board, speedometer, acetylene head lights with Prestolite tank, two oil side lights, one oil tail light, spare wheel with tyre complete, 815 x 105 tyres to all wheels. Hand Klaxonette horn, full kit of tools, lifting jack and tyre pump. Nickel-plated finish, brown leather upholstery, colour of paint to be selected.”

Best paid £450 0s. 0d. for the Delage, having part-exchanged his second-hand Adler for £200 off the original £650 price. Nothing else of its history is known until Jim Scott of Penrith, near Sydney, discovered it in a sad state in the remote village of Gulargambone in 1969. The chassis and mechanical parts were largely present, but the original body and lighting had been lost. In the 1990s it was sold, still in its unrestored state, to a “mechanical engineer and perfectionist” named John Riley, who later advertised it with the following information: “A three-year restoration followed to meticulous standards, during which nearly every component was rebuilt. The engine was fully reconditioned, the optional Rudge wheels completely rebuilt with butted spokes and a superb English-style sporting body designed and fitted using traditional construction methods. To this were fitted an English Eulos windscreen, Lucas bulb horn, Brolt electric lighting, and an English one-man hood mechanism. The car was brush-painted to an exceptional standard in dark green and the upholstery completed in black hide over curled hair and springs. The body was constructed in coachwood and panelled in aluminium.”

Mr. Riley himself was responsible for most of the renovations, though the panelling was done by Fred Hughes and the paint by John Hughes (no relation). The mechanical work included new valves and pistons, the remetalling of all the engine bearings, and the replacement of the bearings in the gearbox and rear axle. Reproduction tail lights were sourced, John Hughes supplied some original side lights and the Brown Bros. Autoclipse headlights were supplied by a dealer. The completed Delage was much enjoyed by Mr. Riley, even in Sydney’s rush hour, which it “ventured through with no difficulty.”

By the early 2000s, the Delage had come into the possession of Stephen Walker of Brisbane, from whom it was purchased and imported into Britain by the Ward Brothers. They soon sold it to Dr. Duncan Petty, who obtained its British registration in April, 2005. Dr. Petty fitted an electric starter and proceeded to drive the car on rallies in Yorkshire, most significantly the Hull-Scarborough Rally. It was then owned briefly by Mr. David Harrison, prior to Mr. Desmond Burnett taking ownership in 2008.

Mr. Burnett had the hood, tonneau and side screens remade in black Stayfast fabric, the work being completed in October, 2008, by the well-respected veteran and vintage restorer John Foy. In 2011, Pace Products effected a starter motor and alternator conversion, which also involved the creation of a new wiring loom, and in 2016 the brake shoes and clutch were relined by the Fastline Group. It entered the present ownership in 2019.

Throughout its time in Britain, the Delage has been used on a number of Veteran Car Club tours and rallies, where it has proved itself to be a very capable, swift and comfortable machine. Sold with a large paperwork file including the V5C, original sales correspondence from Fraser and Willsford, e-mail correspondence between past owners, and various invoices since 2008, this beautiful AI embodies the delightful gentility of Edwardian motoring and remains an ideal candidate for pleasure outings with the Veteran Car Club, or more demanding drives with the VSCC’s Light Car & Edwardian Section.

For more information, please contact:
Paul Cheetham
paul.cheetham@handh.co.uk
07538 667452