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Automotive Lifestyle
VINTAGE: A Rare, Spectacular Talbot Lago
The sporty 1938 cabriolet designed by Figoni & Falaschi survived with its original body to win its class at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
Still wearing its original Figoni & Falaschi body, the 1938 Talbot Lago T150 C cabriolet was back on the road during the Pebble Beach Tour d'Elegance in August. (Photo: Wouter Melissen)
The Talbot Lago T150C was during the late 1930s a particularly popular chassis for France's most prominent coach-builders, such as like Figoni & Falaschi and Pourtout. The most famous creation on the competition-bred chassis is no doubt the Teardrop Coupe by Figoni & Falaschi.
This Paris-based company also built three cabriolets, two on the short SS chassis and one on the long wheelbase S. This T150C SS is the first of these two shorter cabriolets and the only one surviving with its original body.
Completed in February 1938, chassis 90111 was the first of three cabriolet bodies built on the T150C chassis by Figoni & Falaschi. It was in the same family since the late 1950s and not seen in public until the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in August. Benefiting from a complete RM restoration, the striking Figoni & Falaschi Cabriolet not surprisingly won its class.
France's many luxury-car manufacturers struggled in the first half of the 1930s, and many did not survive. Those that did were often forced to look for financial support, usually by changing ownership.
One of these was the Darracq/Talbot combination that was bought from the Anglo-French Sunbeam-Talbot-Darracq company by Italian Anthony Lago in 1934. He was already involved with the company as the owner of gearbox manufacturer Wilson.
Lago acquired the French facilities in Suresnes and the rights to use the Darracq and Talbot names. The former was used for the Continental markets and the latter for the British Isles and the United States. For clarity, we will refer to all cars produced after 1934 as Talbot Lagos.
The new owner had quite something to live up to as the STD products were always very well engineered and performed very well on the track. Young engineer Walter Becchia was given the difficult task to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Louis Coatalen and Georges Roesch.
After almost a year of hard work, Lago unveiled the new Talbot Lago range for 1935 at the Auto Salon in Paris late in 1934. The broad lineup was a mix of old and new with some existing cars just receiving a name, others used existing chassis with Becchia's 17 CV six-cylinder engine, and the range was topped off by three completely new models sporting an underslung chassis in three different lengths with the 2,950 mm (116-inch) T150 model being the shortest.
With his new six-cylinder engine, Becchia did not break any new ground. It displaced just under three liters and used pushrod-actuated overhead valves. Exclusive to the T150 model were the triple Zenith Carburetors and the hemispheric combustion chambers, bumping it to at least 110 horsepower.
As usual, the cars were delivered as a rolling chassis for coachbuilders to body. The low underslung chassis made the T150 a good choice for the latest aerodynamic designs. It also formed a good basis for a new competition car, and in 1936 the T150C was debuted.
It followed the basic design laid out for the T150, but with an even shorter chassis and more importantly, a 4-liter version of the six-cylinder engine. Equipped with a purposeful cycle-fender body, the T150C was raced with considerable success in the 1936 and 1937 seasons, before being replaced by the 4.5-liter T26 model.
This Paris-based company also built three cabriolets, two on the short SS chassis and one on the long wheelbase S. This T150C SS is the first of these two shorter cabriolets and the only one surviving with its original body.
Completed in February 1938, chassis 90111 was the first of three cabriolet bodies built on the T150C chassis by Figoni & Falaschi. It was in the same family since the late 1950s and not seen in public until the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in August. Benefiting from a complete RM restoration, the striking Figoni & Falaschi Cabriolet not surprisingly won its class.
France's many luxury-car manufacturers struggled in the first half of the 1930s, and many did not survive. Those that did were often forced to look for financial support, usually by changing ownership.
One of these was the Darracq/Talbot combination that was bought from the Anglo-French Sunbeam-Talbot-Darracq company by Italian Anthony Lago in 1934. He was already involved with the company as the owner of gearbox manufacturer Wilson.
Lago acquired the French facilities in Suresnes and the rights to use the Darracq and Talbot names. The former was used for the Continental markets and the latter for the British Isles and the United States. For clarity, we will refer to all cars produced after 1934 as Talbot Lagos.
The new owner had quite something to live up to as the STD products were always very well engineered and performed very well on the track. Young engineer Walter Becchia was given the difficult task to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Louis Coatalen and Georges Roesch.
After almost a year of hard work, Lago unveiled the new Talbot Lago range for 1935 at the Auto Salon in Paris late in 1934. The broad lineup was a mix of old and new with some existing cars just receiving a name, others used existing chassis with Becchia's 17 CV six-cylinder engine, and the range was topped off by three completely new models sporting an underslung chassis in three different lengths with the 2,950 mm (116-inch) T150 model being the shortest.
With his new six-cylinder engine, Becchia did not break any new ground. It displaced just under three liters and used pushrod-actuated overhead valves. Exclusive to the T150 model were the triple Zenith Carburetors and the hemispheric combustion chambers, bumping it to at least 110 horsepower.
As usual, the cars were delivered as a rolling chassis for coachbuilders to body. The low underslung chassis made the T150 a good choice for the latest aerodynamic designs. It also formed a good basis for a new competition car, and in 1936 the T150C was debuted.
It followed the basic design laid out for the T150, but with an even shorter chassis and more importantly, a 4-liter version of the six-cylinder engine. Equipped with a purposeful cycle-fender body, the T150C was raced with considerable success in the 1936 and 1937 seasons, before being replaced by the 4.5-liter T26 model.
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