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Origins
The D6 family, emerging around 1930 and continuing in developed form until 1953, was Delage's backbone: a refined 3-litre-class six serving saloons and cabriolets of quiet distinction through the marque's independent years, the Delahaye takeover, and the war. Its competition record embarrassed grander machinery — D6-70-based cars took second at Le Mans in 1939, and the ageing design returned post-war to finish second again in 1949 with further podiums besides, extraordinary persistence for a road-car six. The last D6s of the early fifties were dignified anachronisms in a France taxing displacement to death; production ended with the Delahaye group's 1954 absorption into Hotchkiss. The D6 thus bookends French luxury's decline — present at the glory, dignified at the funeral.
1936 Delage D6-60 · Brian Snelson from Hockley, Essex, England · CC BY 2.0
