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Moving away from railroad engineering, Emile Delahaye started designing and campaigning his own motorcars in the 1900s. He personally raced his cars in events such as the Marsailles-Paris 1000 miles. It was this competition, during the dawn of motorsport, which laid the foundation for all future Delahayes.

Up until the 1930s, Delahayes were produced in limited numbers. Not until a merger with Delage in 1935, did Delahaye move towards larger scale production. Delage helped introduce concept of coach building and elegance to the Delahaye product. These luxurious appointments combined with Delahaye engineering quickly made a desirable product, especially among the French high class.

Coachbuilders such as Figoni at Falaschi, Chapron, Franay, Letourner & Marchand, and Guillore all had their turn at building an image for the Delahaye name. Many of these cars were built specifically for Concours events which demanded elegance and uniqueness.

At the center of the 135 chassis was a robust six-cylinder engine. It's simple pushrod design ensured reliability while the modest capacity gave good fuel economy. For almost fifteen years Delahaye used this engine for their most celebrated chassis.

During the late thirties the 135 sport competed in grand prix, rally and endurance racing. Delahayes experienced great success in motor sport, winning the 1936 Marsailles GP and closely missing the French GP (but still taking second, third, forth and fifth place). Such success greatly increased the interest in the Delahaye name. Furthermore, the highlight of the 135's career came at the 1938 LeMans two year later. During the event Eugene Chaboud and Jean Tremoul took overall victory with their 135 S.