In the 1930s, Peugeot tried to enter the world of competition again, something it did with the help of Emile Darl’mat, a collaboration that began in 1936 with the delivery of copies of the 302 and which crystallized the following year. , already with the 402 as a base, with the creation of special models, including the Peugeot 402 Darl’mat Special Coupe.
In total 105 examples were built with various categories, of which the Coupé was only applied to 20 examples, and the Coupé with the light chassis was even rarer: there were only six. Of them it is believed that today there are only three survivors and this one is going to go up for auction this month.
It was given at Christmas 1938 to Alfred Giauque, Director of Mechanical Studies at Peugeot, who had supported Darl’mat all the way (in 1937 they finished 7, 8 and 10 in the 24 Hours of Le Mans). He chose a more discreet color scheme than the current one, combined beige and black, but in his complete restoration he opted for yellow.
It is a specimen that has seen a lot of the world since it survived World War II, spent the following years in France, at some point in the 60s or 70s it was acquired and transferred to the United States and was unaccounted for until the beginning of the century.
At the beginning of the 2000s it was partially dismantled, but it was bought in 2002 by a specialist, who carried out a complete restoration that lasted until 2004. Currently its condition is impeccable and it will surely arouse a lot of interest among potential buyers.
RM Sotheby’s estimates that the winning bid for the Peugeot 402 Darl’mat Special Coupe will be in a range of between 1.08 and 1.47 million euros. We will clear up doubts during the event held in Monterey, United States, between August 18 and 20.
