Car Style Critic: Saoutchik's Delahaye 175 Coupe de Ville

Thursday, February 24, 2022

Saoutchik's Delahaye 175 Coupe de Ville

I used to think that most postwar designs by Saoutchik were outrageously decadent. Actually, I still do. But the overly-sculpted bas-relief décor on many recent cars and SUVs tends to make Saoutchik's work more mainstream.

Today's post presents some images of a 1949 Saoutchik-bodied Delahaye 175.

Because it is a closed (or semi-closed) car, its proportions are more normal than Saoutchik roadster and cabriolet designs of the same vintage. As noted below, my main complaints about the featured car are its fussy chrome swaths on the front fenders. And the grille / front end design is fussy as well, though that's due to Delahaye, not much to Saoutchik.

As best I know, the car is unique. However, the Barrett-Jackson auction web site does not mention that the car they were featuring was displayed at the Bay Area's Blackhawk museum. Yet the Blackhawk site has photos of what seems to be the same car, though information about it is deleted because the car seems to be no longer in its collection. Might there have been two such cars? Or did Barrett-Jackson miss the Blackhawk detail?

Gallery

Photo by Gooding auctions.

Side view. This image and the next two are from Barrett-Jackson. An interesting feature is the low-relief hint of a rear fender that extends forward over the door: both details were unusual.

Low front quarter view showing the standard Delahaye grille along with flanking intakes that Saoutchik seems to have styled. And there are those chrome fender accents.

This rear quarter view shows a simple, nicely-shaped fastback in contemporary General Motors mode. The chrome rear fender accents are modest compared to at the front, yet still are more bold than necessary.

Similar view via the Blackhawk web site.

Blackhawk side view. The car is nicely proportioned. Of course I like the long hood. Nice touches are the angles of the A and B pillars, providing some visual tension.