The Delahaye 175 is a coachbuilt styles from Delahaye, built from 1948 to 1951, in a decade split by war, when civilian production stopped and restarted. Under the bonnet: 4,455 . Various coachbuilders drew it.
The background
The Delahaye Type 175 is a coachbuilt luxury automobile manufactured by French automaker Delahaye. Production build numbers were formally recorded from early 1948 to mid 1951, validating that 107 cars were built in the mechanically cloned three wheelbase series comprising the Types 175/175S, 178 and 180. This run of 4.5-litre chassis was offered in a variety of body-styles, exclusively built by coachbuilders. Delahaye did not have its own coachbuilding capability. A 1953 fire in the administration and drawing offices destroyed most of its files and technical drawings.
Consequently, little is known about the Type 175 and the longer-wheelbase Types 178 and 180. Club Delahaye has recorded 25 surviving cars, out of the 107 confirmed built. There were 51 Type 175 cars, most being the optional 175S variant. There were 38 Type 178 cars, a few of which were built with 175S options that were not offered on that model. There were 18 Type 180 cars, two of which have the optional 175S engine, both being heavily armoured Chapron-bodied limousines built for the President and Vice President of France's Communist Party.
The engineering
Power comes from 4,455 . It weighs 2100 kg. It shifts through a 4-speed pre-selector (Cotal). The layout matters: a front engine drives the rear wheels, the classic proportion — long bonnet, cabin set back — that most people picture when they picture a sports saloon or a grand tourer. The wheelbase is 2.95-metres. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Where it sits
Its family tree is legible: it took over from the Delahaye Type 165; its successor was the Delahaye Type 235. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Porsche 356, the Citroën 2CV, the Chevrolet Bel Air — show what else the money bought that year. Its Delahaye stablemates include the Delahaye 103 and the Delahaye 12CV.
What it costs now
There is no federal ownership record for the Delahaye 175 — it predates the complaint database or was never sold in the United States — so MotorJury publishes no running-cost figure for it. For a car of this age the price is set by the collector market and the condition of the individual example, not by a formula.