PARIS.- Osenat auction house and its Collector Cars department will take over the Retromobile show from January 31 to February 4, 2024, to exhibit on their booth nine jewels of pre-war and immediate post-war French motoring that have been carefully assembled over decades by an enthusiast with exacting standards and passion. The cars will be auctioned on Saturday February 3 in Paris at Osenat, avenue de Breteuil.

Insiders aside, few people today remember that France was one of the pioneering nations of the automobile in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In fact, before the Second World War, the automotive industry was France's leading engineering industry.

Delage, Delahaye, Talbot … Three names that have made the French automobile famous, and that still resonate today in the minds of enthusiasts and collectors alike.
The collection that will be presented for sale is the work and passion of a man who wished to pass on his legacy by putting together this collection of authentic, historic French models that have been restored to the highest standards, with the aim of driving them and seeing them take part in numerous rallies.

This collection plunges us back into an era when the great automobile brands all bore the name of their coach- builder. With rare exceptions, manufacturers produced chassis and engines, leaving the design and manufacture of individual bodies to a large number of craft firms. This was the golden age of French coachbuilding, with such evocative names as Binder, Chapron, de Villard, Figoni & Falaschi, Franay, Gangloff, Labourdette and Saoutchik, now forgotten by the general public.

By presenting these masterpieces, we salute these artisans of automotive haute couture, whose reputation extended far beyond our borders.

Delage, Delahaye, Talbot. Three brands and nine exceptional cars from before and immediately after the war, including the unique Talbot T23 cabriolet prototype by Chapron, the only example of the Delahaye 135 MS coach bodied by Figoni, and one of only 5 known examples of the Delahaye 135 MS "Vedette" cabriolet by Chapron. Last but not least, what can we say about this "Usine" example of a Talbot T 150 C, with its mechanics directly derived from racing, and a pencil stroke attributed to Figoni...