The Delahaye Type 175 is a luxury, bespoke, coachbuilt automobile manufactured by French automotive product manufacturer Delahaye. Production build numbers were formally recorded from early 1948 to mid 1951, validating that 107 cars were built. This run of 4.5-litre chassis was offered in a variety of 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. Little is known about the Type 175 and its siblings, the sequentially longer wheelbased 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, at least one of which was factory-built with both 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. Initial design The Type 165, a 4.5-litre, V12 engined, grand-touring car, elevated Delahaye's prewar prestige to the pinnacle. But it was a flash-in-the-pan that could not economically be sustained. The Type 165 was replaced by the 4.5-litre Type 175, in early 1948. Managing Director Charles Weiffenbach had planned to debut the Type 175 at the October 1939 Paris Auto Salon to sustain the momentum generated by the discontinued Type 165, of which just 4 were built. The Paris Salon was where Delahaye wrote most of its purchase-orders, but the venue was cancelled without notice, due to an impending German invasion. The shareholders had decided that a simpler, practical, 4.5-litre engine - one litre larger than the Type 135, but familiar to Delahaye's workers - accompanied by a new, state-of-the-art chassis was to supersede the impractical Type 165, and replace the Types 134, 135, 138 and 148L by 1940. That, however, did not occur as France was plunged into war in early June 1940. The prototype evolved beyond its initial 1939 guise and was finally presented to the shareholders for production approval in March 1944. The four-wheel independent suspension was a first for Delahaye, and it was the first Delahaye to be built exclusively in left-hand drive. Testing of the untried and unproven mechanicals was not yet possible, due to the ongoing German occupation of Paris and the factory. The introduction had to await the belated return of