Ultra Luxury Vehicles
Commonly the larger dealers or distributors of ultra-luxury cars would order for stock chassis and particular bodies thought most likely to sell and have them made in suitable quantities for sale off their showroom floor.
Though automobile manufacturers brought body building skills in-house, the practice of bespoke or custom coachbuilding remained in favour among the rich who continued the habit of centuries past. All ultra-luxury vehicles sold as chassis only. For instance, when Duesenberg introduced their Model J, it was offered as chassis only, for $8,500. Other examples include the Bugatti Type 57, Cadillac V-16, Ferrari 250, Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8 and all Rolls-Royces produced before World War II. Delahaye had no in-house coachworks, so all its chassis were bodied by independents, who created some of their most attractive designs on the Type 135. Most of the Delahayes were bodied by Chapron, Labourdette, Franay, Saoutchik, Figoni & Falaschi, Pennock and many more.
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