Louis Delâge
Louis Delâge (March 22, 1874 – December 14, 1947)[1] was a French engineer and pioneering car manufacturer. He founded the Delage company, which produced automobiles from 1905 until its dissolution in 1953.
Early life
Pierre Louis Delâge was born in Cognac, Charente, to a modest family. As a child he lost sight in one eye. At age sixteen, he began commercial studies at Arts et Métiers ParisTech in Angers, graduating in engineering in 1893. After completing military service in Algeria, he worked for a southern French railway company, then relocated to Paris in 1900, joining an automotive design and engineering department. In 1903 he accepted an offer to join the newly formed Renault company.
Delage company
Delâge quickly recognized the enormous potential of the automobile as demand outstripped production capacity. In 1905 he raised funds to open his own car assembly workshop in a converted barn in Levallois, on Paris’s outskirts. The Delage Automobile Company grew rapidly, earning acclaim for its vehicles’ style, quality, and racing successes.
Decline and later years
The Great Depression of the 1930s severely impacted Delage, and auto sales collapsed. By 1935 the company was forced into liquidation and the Delage brand rights were auctioned to Delahaye. The new owners dismissed Delâge, leaving him with a meager pension.[2]
Approaching sixty, facing financial and personal crises—including divorce—Delâge found solace in his Catholic faith. Too poor to own a car, he often made pilgrimages on foot or by bicycle to the Convent of Saint Teresa in Lisieux and the Lourdes shrine. Living in near poverty, he died in 1947 at age seventy-three, nearly forgotten. He is buried in the cemetery of Le Pecq, a Paris suburb.[3]
Legacy
- In 1990, his hometown of Cognac named an industrial high school after him: Lycée professionnel Louis Delâge.[4]
See also
- Delage, the automobile company founded by Louis Delâge