Is This The Car For You?

Reading a novel, a detective story, I came across a car, but not just any old car. The story’s main character drives a 1939 Delahaye 165 M Figoni & Falaschi Cabriolet.
(A Gambling Man by David Baldacci)

No, you are not alone, I had never heard of Delahaye. A few taps on my keyboard brought up all that I needed to know. (If you want to know more, you can tap on your own keyboard.)
On the spot, I decided to buy one. There aren’t many around. Between 1935 and 1954 some 2,000 were built. It wasn’t cheap: the Convertible Coupe would have set you back $365,074 while the Roadster was $499,446.

I checked my bank account. Yes, I had $446 although the remaining $499,000 might be a problem. But another glance at the web page brought me to reality – these were the prices back in the day, today the average sale price had been $1,611,037. Good condition, one careful owner, models top out at $6,600,000 (yes, the zeros are all in the right places). One can only imagine how much the insurance costs.

Another problem, all to familiar to residents of Rehovot, is the state of our roads. While Rehovot means “open spaces”, streets in Rehovot are far from open. Bumps vie with potholes for the driver’s attention. The Delahaye, while appearing to float above the road, would be just inches away from losing its underwork.

It was time for hard thinking and some legwork. It took me a day or two, and several trips to the bookstore, but I finally found it. Yes, I am reading a book where the hero drives an old Toyota RAV4, just like me.

If there are any Delahaye 165 M owners in Rehovot, would they please send me a picture, all that I have found are copyright and I wouldn’t want to upset a Delahaye owner.