AWARDS

First in class, Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, California, USA, 2005.

AUTOBODY AWARDS

Aluminium body panels on a wooden frame.

SPECIFIC HISTORY OF THIS CAR

Well crafted, well made, with sensuously flowing coupé coachwork by French carrossier Franay, it is believed this 1947 Talbot Lago T26 GS is one of just three of the Grand Sports ever built with Franay coachwork—this car, a coupé in California and a roadster now in Austria.

This Talbot Lago T26 GS is chassis number 110113. Approximately 30 Grand Sport (GS) model cars were built in total. Only 8 of the GS models were built on the short, 2.65m chassis.

The car was originally purchased in Geneva in 1947 and was found again in Tennessee in 1988. It
was recently fully restored by Auto Restorations in Christchurch, New Zealand between 2002–2004. The car is finished in black paint with a sumptuous red leather interior.

Many of the T26 Grand Sport automobiles were used by leading coachbuilding firms to display their artistic creations at Motor Shows while others sat atop shortened chassis and were used for sporting events.

Marchetti and Lago created a 4.5-litre version of the six-cylinder engine, and used it in the T26 Record and T26 Grand Sport cars. The 4.5-litre displacement size was selected because it met requirements for Grand Prix competition. In 1948, the Talbot Lago T26C made its racing debut at the Monaco Grand Prix.

The Talbot-Lago T26 models were exquisite creations outfitted with coachwork provided by some of the world’s greatest coachbuilders. Never produced in large numbers, these T26 models are extremely rare and exclusive by today’s standards. In total there were around 750 examples of the T26 constructed, with only 23 being the T26C version. There were about 30 examples of the T26 GS (Grand Sport) constructed with eight built atop the short chassis of 2.65m.