Coachbuilding

People who know me well know that I appreciate finely crafted, especially hand-made, stuff. There is so much more meaning to something when you consider a skilled craftsman or artist spent hours, days, weeks, or even months to create something unique.

Back in the days of Body-on-frame cars, before the advent of crash testing, and mass-produced "luxury" cars you bought your luxury car (from any of a great number of providers such as Cadillac, Rolls-Royce, etc) as a chassis and engine, then sent that off to a coachbuilder to have your bespoke body and interior fitted. This produced some of the most beautiful works of art ever created, and you could drive them!

For the most part, coachbuilding today is "dead". Only a few in-house specialists remain (such as Bentley's Mulliner) but the greats like Hooper, James Young, and Fleetwood are gone. So what's one to do if you want a modern car wrapped up in some gorgeous sheetmetal (or carbon fiber, or fiberglass or whatever)? Today I came across Delahaye USA, named after (but not related to) the legendary French marque seen only in museums, and A-list Concours. From the pictures their vehicles are absolutely stunning. It is also refreshing to see someone use an engine other than the ubiquitous GM small-block to power their creations. I'll take mine with the BMW-V12 please (or even better how about the twin-turbo Rolls-Royce V12 from the new Ghost?)