Talbot-Lago

The Suresnes factory had been built by Alexandre Darracq for his pioneering car manufacturing business begun in 1896, which he named A. Darracq & Cie. It was very profitable. Alexandre Darracq built racing as well as “pleasure” cars and Darracq rapidly became famous for its motor racing successes. Darracq sold his remaining portion of his business in 1912.

New owners renamed the Darracq business Automobiles Talbot in 1922. However, though its ordinary production cars were badged as Talbots, the new owners continued incorporating the Darracq name in Talbot-Darracq for their competition cars.

Owing to the simultaneous existence of British Talbot cars, French products when sold in Britain were badged Darracq-Talbot or Talbot-Darracq,[3] or even simply Darracq.[4]

In 1932, after the onset of the Great Depression, Italo-British businessman Antonio Lago was appointed managing director in the hope that he might revive Automobiles Talbot's business. Lago began this process, but the owners were unable to stave off receivership beyond the end of 1934. The receiver did not immediately close Automobiles Talbot, and in 1936 Antonio Lago managed to complete a management buy-out from the receiver.

Although the proliferation of cars types and model names that followed Lago's acquisition of the business is at first glance bewildering, it actually involved only four standard chassis lengths as follows:

Pre-War Talbot-Lago models

1939 Talbot-Lago T-150 CSS. Body by Carrosserie Marcel Pourtout, designer Georges Paulin

1937 Talbot Lago T150 SS. Teardrop Coupe bodywork by Figoni & Falaschi

Talbot Lago Minor T4 1937, a 2,323 cc (141.8 cu in) which competed with equivalent models from Hotchkiss and Salmson

Figoni & Falaschi teardrop coupé on a 1938 SS 150 chassis

Short Châssis (2,950 mm (116.1 in) wheelbase):

Minor T4 (4 cylinders, 2323 cc)

Junior 11

Baby-15 (6 cylinders, 2696 cc)

Baby 3 litres (6 cylinders, 2996 cc)

T150 3 litres (6 cylinders, 2996 cc)

Baby 4 litres (6 cylinders, 3996 cc)

Lago Spécial (6 cylinders, 3996 cc with twin or triple carbs)

Extra short Châssis (2,650 mm (104.3 in) wheelbase):

Lago SS (6 cylinders, 3996 cc with triple carbs)

Normal Châssis (3,200 mm (126.0 in) wheelbase):

Cadette-15 (6 cylinders, 2696 cc)

Major 3 litres (6 cylinders, 2996 cc)

Major 4 litres (6 cylinders, 3996 cc)

Long (7-seater) Châssis (3,450 mm (135.8 in) wheelbase):

Master 3 litres (6 cylinders, 2996 cc)

Master 4 litres (6 cylinders, 3996 cc)

During the early years of the war Walter Becchia left Talbot to work for Citroen, but Lago was joined in 1942 by another exceptional engineer, Carlo Machetti, and from then the two of them were working on the twin camshaft 4483 cc six-cylinder unit that would lie at the heart of the 1946 Talbot T26.

Talbot Lago T26 Record cabriolet

The "Talbot Lago Record T26" was a large car with a fiscal horsepower of 26 CV and a claimed actual power output of 170 hp, delivered to the rear wheels via a four-speed manual gear box, with the option at extra cost of a Wilson pre-selector gear box, and supporting a claimed top speed of 170 km/h (105 mph). The car was commonly sold as a stylish four-door sedan, but a two-door cabriolet was also offered. There were also coachbuilt specials with bodywork by traditionalist firms such as Graber.[8]

1951 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport Cabriolet by Stabilimenti Farina

The "T26 Grand Sport (GS)" was first displayed in public in October 1947 as a shortened chassis,[9] and only 12 were made during 1948 which was the models's first full year of production.[10] The car was noted for its speed. The engine which produced 170 hp in the Lago Record was adapted to provide 190 bhp (140 kW) or, later, 195 bhp (145 kW) in the GS, and a top speed of around 200 km/h (124 mph) was claimed, depending on the body that was fitted.[8] The car was built for either racing or luxury and benefited directly from Talbot's successful T26C Grand Prix car. As such it was expensive, rare and helped Louis Rosier with his son to win the LeMans 24 Hour race in 1950. The GS replaced the Lago-Record chassis which was named for its remarkable top speed. The GS was one of the world's most powerful production cars at the time. It had several special features from the T26 Grand Prix cars, such as a 4.5-litre inline-6 aluminum cylinder head, a hollowed camshaft, multiport exhaust system and triple carburetors.[11] Chassis details were similar to the Grand Prix cars, but it was longer and wider. It came it two wheelbase lengths -104 and 110 inches (2,800 mm).

Almost all the Talbots sold during the late 1940s came with Talbot bodies, constructed in the manufacturer's extensive workshops. The T26 Grand Sport (GS) was the exception, however, and cars were delivered only as bare chassis, requiring customers to choose bespoke bodywork from a specialist coachbuilder.[10] The GS was a star turn in a dull world and coachbuilders such as Saoutchik, Franay, Oblin, and Figoni et Falaschi competed to trump Talbot's own designers with elaborately elegant bodies.[8]

Talbot-Lago T15 Baby Berline d'Usine ca. 1950

The Talbot Lago Baby (1948–1951) marked the return of a pre-war Talbot model name and was the third model presented by the company during the 1940s. The car was commonly sold as a four-door sedan, but a two-door cabriolet was also offered. Its engine comprised only four cylinders, but the twin overhead camshaft with cylinder valves on both sides of the engine block was again featured:[8] at 2690 cc the engine capacity equated to a fiscal horsepower of 15 CV,[7] which was enough to attract the punitive levels of car tax applied by the French government to large cars. The power output was initially 110 bhp (82 kW), which in 1949 was increased to 120 bhp (89 kW).[8] Although the postwar Baby sedan closely resembled the more powerful Record on a brief glance, the Baby's 2,950 mm wheelbase was slightly shorter than the 3130 mm wheelbase of the Record, and the overall length was correspondingly 200 mm shorter, reflecting the shortened 4-cylinder engine block.[8] Additionally, the cheaper car sat on a simplified suspension set-up. Baby customers could specify as an option a Wilson pre-selector gear box.[8]

Talbot Lago manufactured three special made seven-seater presidential cars; one for the President of France, one for the President of Tunisia and one for the royal family in Saudi Arabia.

1948 Talbot-Lago T26C

The Talbot-Lago T26C is an open-wheel formula race car, designed and developed by French manufacturer Talbot-Lago, and built to the new Formula One racing rules and regulations, in 1948.[12][13]

In 1951, as rumours of the company's financial difficulties intensified, a new Ponton format body appeared for the Talbot Baby and Record.[8] The wheelbases were carried over from the earlier models. Although in many ways strikingly modern, the new car featured a two piece front windscreen in place of the single flat screen of its predecessor, presumably reflecting the difficulties at the time of combining the strength of a windscreen with curved glass at an acceptable price and quality. The new car's large rear window was itself replaced by a larger three-piece “panoramic” wrap around back window as part of the car's first face-lift, which took place in time for the 1952 Paris Motor Show.[7] The engine specification of the four-cylinder unit was unchanged as was the claimed performance even though the new body was some 100 kg heavier than the old. A new development with the Ponton-bodied cars body was the availability of the larger six-cylinder unit from the Talbot Record in the top-of-the-line Talbot Baby, which in this form was called the Talbot Baby/6 Luxe, and had the slightly longer wheel-base and overall length enforced by the greater length of the six-cylinder engine.[8]

1956 Talbot-Lago T14 LS

At the 1954 Salon de L'Automobile de Paris, Talbot-Lago presented their last new engine: the new four-cylinder still had the typical twin laterally mounted camshafts, although it was upgraded to five main bearings. The new 120 PS (88 kW) 2,491 cc engine was called the T14 LS, but it did not have a car to go in until May 1955 when the Talbot-Lago 2500 Coupé T14 LS was finally presented.[14] The first car had all-aluminium bodywork, but later cars used more steel. Fifty-four of these coupés were built, but they proved hard to sell - the stylish bodywork couldn't quite hide the thirties' underpinnings, and the rough engine offered little elasticity nor longevity.[15]

Lacking the resources to engineer the necessary improvements, for 1957 Talbot-Lago had to resort to buying in an engine. They chose the V8 2580 cc made available by BMW, albeit with the bore diameter slightly reduced, to 72.5 mm, which gave rise to a 2476 cc engine displacement, positioning the car (just) within the 14CV car tax band.[16] Reflecting the company's export plans, Talbot now rebranded the car as the "Talbot Lago America" and (finally) came into line with other French automakers by placing the driver on the left side of the car.[16] However, market response remained lukewarm, and only about a dozen of the BMW powered Talbot Lago Americas were produced.[16] In the early summer of 1958, Tony Lago decided to accept an offer from Simca president, Henri Pigozzi, for the sale of the Talbot brand to Simca.[16] The sale of the business went ahead in 1959.[1]

With the sale of the business to Simca, the new owners found themselves with a handful of the final Talbot Lago Americas which were awaiting engines.[17] There was now no question of Simca being permitted, or wishing, to produce cars with BMW engines, and the only solution available was to fit the last batch of cars with Simca's own 2351 cc V8.[8] This engine had its roots in 1930s Detroit, and was originally provided by Ford to give the (then) Ford Vedette produced by their French subsidiary a flavor of the driving experience offered by an unstressed US style V8 sedan.[17] It was by no stretch of the imagination an engine for a sports car, and even with a second carburetor produced only 95 bhp (71 kW), as against the 138 bhp (103 kW) of the BMW-engined cars from the previous year's production.[17] Claimed top speed was now 165 km/h (103 mph) in place of the 200 km/h (124 mph) listed the previous year.[17] At the 1959 Paris Motor Show a stand had been booked for what was by now the Simca-Talbot brand, but a late decision was taken not to exhibit a Lago America and the stand was instead given up to a hastily constructed "motor show special" prototype of which, after the motor show, nothing more would be heard.[17]