Can anyone identify this car please?

[ERC]

These Taken at the Monaco historics and believed to be a French special of some sort, but I'd like to be able put a name to it if possible.

I hate filing something as "unknown".

23013

23014

[John McKechnie]

1937 Peugeot 402 Darl’mat Special Sport Roadster?

[ERC]

Brilliant! Many thanks John.

[David McKinney]

I was going tp say a Darl'Mats Peugeot, though the grille looks wrong.

The Darl'Mats were available to the public, BTW, so not really a special

[AMCO72]

Any of the photos I have seen of the 302 or 402 Darl'Mats Peugeot have had a 'waterfall' type grill.......vertical slats, but there could be other variations.... maybe better streamlining, especially for Le Mans....they are French afterall!!!!

[Powder]

There's a line in the body work that might correspond to where a typical Darl'Mats grill would come up to
(a lighter blue arc at the tip of the arrow).

So possibly an owner has done some customising that's reversible.

23015

[ERC]

Thanks for that. Agree. Looking at other pics of the cars, (isn't Google great!) it does seem that this one has been 'customised' - and probably for the better, but not having much more than a passing interest in French cars of that era, I'd never heard of the cars before Monaco.

[AMCO72]

Imagine trying to restore an original 'waterfall' grill. You couldn't go to the nearest Super Cheap for a spare!!!!! The one on the car looks as though it was made for the job and not 'borrowed' from another make. There must be a storey behind it.

Not sure what all the 'bling' down the side of the bonnet was for.......French 'louvres' perhaps!!!!!

[librules]

Just for interest's sake I found another pic of this car for verification. (5th pic down from top)
http://www.flickriver.com/photos/tautaudu02/tags/darl/

[John McKechnie]

librules- no doubt about this one -a Peugeot 302 Darl’mat Roadster.
The licence plates even confirm this is not just the same model , but THE car.
Well found.
This should satisfy even Rays eye for detail- the windscreen?
The reducing chrome embellishers that follow the line of the bonnet is a very European touch

[AMCO72]

Actually these things did quite well at Le Mans. In 1937 they came 7th 8th and 10th, and in 1938 managed a 5th and 1st in class in the 1500 to 2000 cc size. Not bad results for a 4 cylinder 2 litre engine. Mind you the French have always jacked up the rules to favour their small capacity cars to get class wins and indexes of performance, but these were outright placings.

[ERC]

It certainly looked a very nice car and the extra little bling as AMCO puts it, probably in keeping with many of the other little detail touches.

Epitomises all that is good about about classics and historics - they are different rather than bland. Apart from the current GT racing, where there is still variety, most moderns racing, now leave me totally cold.