Delahaye Type 145 V12 Grand Prix, French Racing Blue

In 1937 the French government dangled a one-million-franc prize for any French car that could lap Montlhéry faster than a set benchmark, and Delahaye built the Type 145 to claim it. Behind that imposing horseshoe grille sits a 4.5-litre V12, an engine conceived to drag France back into the front rank of grand prix racing against the dominant German teams. The bodywork tells the story: a low, hand-beaten aluminium torpedo, riveted panels, exposed cycle-style wings and tall wire wheels, finished in French Racing Blue with the red-white-blue tricolore sweeping down the flank. It is a car of national pride as much as engineering: beautiful, slightly improvised, and quick enough that René Dreyfus famously beat the Silver Arrows at Pau in 1938.

The model captures the riveted seams, the louvred bonnet straps and the delicate spoked wheels, the gloss French blue carrying the tricolore stripe cleanly across the bonnet and door. Minichamps presents it at 1:18 on a cobblestone display base.