THE BIG PICTURE

“When I heard mention of three cars that had been sitting in an underground parking lot in Manhattan for 40 years, it piqued my interest,” says Adolfo Massari of Pennsylvania-based classic specialist LBI. He quickly arranged to take a look: “Sitting before us, partly obscured by boxes, were three vehicles covered in dust. We had stumbled across something quite special.”

That’s quite an understatement, because he had actually unearthed a 1937 Packard hearse, a 1937 Rolls-royce with Franay coachwork and this stunning Delahaye 135M. Fitted with a unique cabriolet body by Belgian coachbuilder Vesters & Neirinck, chassis 800611 was first shown at the 1948 Brussels Salon. The 135 was carefully photographed in situ to capture its magnificent patina before the cars were extricated.