The Talbot line of racecars had quite a storied racing history, despite the fact that they were constantly out-powered by the likes of Maserati->ke51, Mercedes-Benz->ke187, and Alfa Romeo->ke1386. Talbot always relied on its impeccable fuel mileage and extreme durability to conquest these giants of the race world in endurance racing, such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

By far, Talbot’s biggest achievement was its 1-2 finish in the 1950 24Hours of Le Mans, using T26 Grand Sport and a Talbot-Lago Monopasto. The chassis that was originally scheduled to run in the 1950 24 Hours of Le Mans, chassis No. 110057, but hit a few snags and was not quite ready for the race. Following the victory, the driver of its replacement in the Le Mans purchased it and began its racing history.

Unfortunately, this 1950 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport had none of the success that its replacement had, as it had a long string of did-not-finish results stretching from 1951 through 1953. The curse of 110057 came to a head when Guy Mairesse was tragically killed in it when he crashed this T26 during testing at Coupe de Paris at Montlhèry.

After that tragedy, its owner at the time, Georges Grignard, parked it in its transporter and laid little more than an eye on it for four years until a savvy T26 enthusiasts, and its current owner, caught wind that one was sitting unused at Grignard’s house. The purchase almost never happened, as it was reported that Grignard wanted an unreasonably high price for this crashed racer, but apparently the two eventually came to terms.

If you have ever wanted to own a piece of Le Mans history, this is the time, as RM Auctions is offering chassis 110057 up for auction on May 12, 2012. Despite its cursed past, this is a rare model that is sure to fetch a premium and will only continue to go up in value.

Click past the jump to read our full review

1950 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport

Specifications
  • Make: Array
  • Model: 1950 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport
  • Engine/Motor: inline-6
  • Horsepower: 190 @ 4200
  • Transmission: Four-speed Wilson pre-selector
  • [do not use] Vehicle Model: Array
Pros
Cons

Exterior

Between its purchase in 1958 and its return to racing in 1961, this vehicle was repaired and restored to its original closed-wheel racing form, not the open-wheel form it debuted as. After pulling the 110057 chassis from racing, due to it not being competitive any more, the owner decided it was time to switch it back to its truly original open-wheel form.

Robert Peel was responsible for re-skinning the original body with brand new aluminum and getting it as close to its original form as possible. In 1968 the car was just about completed, as it made its debut bearing an unpainted body. Unfortunately, the mud guards on the newly restored body were not quite accurate to the car’s originals, but this was rectified in 1988.

In 1989, engine issues marred this Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport, so a near-compete disassembly was required and this is when the car was completely brought back to its all-original condition. Unfortunately, there is no date given on the paintjob, but we could imagine that the beautiful medium-blue paint that we see today was laid on during its 1989 redo.

The body of this T26 Grand Sport is nothing like you will ever see again. In those days, the idea was to make your car look as much like a rocket as possible, and that’s what Talbot did. The entire body is modeled almost after a jetliner’s fuselage, as it has a rounded nose and the entire body is almost cylindrical. Up front, you get four headlights – two upper and two lower. There is a wire grille that acts as the entryway for engine-cooling air. The top and sides of the hood area are covered with heat extractors to try and keep this engine as cool as possible. The front mudguards are simply curved aluminum attached to the body via a pair of rods.

After its extremely long hood you run into the fender mounted spare tire with the same wire wheel and center spinner that is on each of the four corners. Blocking the wind is a rather petite windscreen, which looks to be pretty useless for anyone over about 6 feet tall. Just under the windshield is a white number plate, but there is no number on there. What is in the number plate is the signature of the late Louis Rosier, who oddly enough died in 1956 in an accident on the same track that his former teammate Mairesse did.

On the backside you get a tapered body, much like the rear of an airplane tapers, with three taillight. This is not a street-legal ride, so there are no turn signals or reverse lights, of course. On the left side of the rear end you will see the single exhaust pipe, which actually protrudes out from the front, left fender and travels down the left side of the car before exiting out the back. You also get a slick locking aluminum gas cap.

Overall, the exterior is a little weathered, but not too badly. The emblems show a little chipping, cracking and fading, but that’s to be expected. This car is certainly no trailer diva that sees no action. It is obvious that its current owner was proud to have this car and proud to run it in vintage races.

Interior

The inside is very much a race car and really shows some use, but not excessive use. This simply looks like a car that the owner was not shy about throwing on the track once in a while, and we commend him for that.

You get a single vinyl sear that looks rather inviting, for a racing seat, and a massive four-post steering wheel. The steering wheel posts are aluminum while the hub and grip are black. The instrument panel looks to be made up of aluminum sheet metal, which would make sense, as steel would likely get extremely rusty over time.

The gear shifter is a lever to the right of the steering wheel and shows off some character, as hand written on the lever’s guide is “MA

PN

1

2

3,” which obviously are to indicate the gear. You also get some very basic instrumentation, including water temperature, amps, oil pressure, a tachometer and another gauge that is too obstructed to see what it is. Notice there is no speedometer. That’s because all that matters in endurance races is that you are faster than the guy behind you and gaining on the one in front.


The rest of the interior is just like sitting in a tin can, just like a true racecar should be. An interesting thing is the ignition system, as it appears as if you insert the ignition key, then turn over a lever to start this 1950s racer. Oh, and there is an oddly placed lightning bolt sticker just next to the tachometer. We don’t know what that’s all about, but it’s there.

Engine and Drivetrain

Okay, enough about the stuff that doesn’t interest 90 percent of those looking to buy a racecar, let’s talk about what powers this aging beast.

Under that extremely large hood is a 4,482 cc (4.5-liter) inline six-cylinder engine that RM Auctions claims pushes out 200+ horsepower. According to multiple sources in the industry, however, this 4.5-liter cranked out 190 horsepower at 4,200 rpm. Sitting on the right side of this long six-cylinder engine are three Zenith-Stromberg carburetors.

The cylinder head was a dual-ignition style. This means that every single cylinder had two of each major ignition component, including things like spark plugs, magnetos, wires, etc. This first off increases the Talbot’s fuel mileage, something it was well known for, and also gave it a redundancy in case one component failed, it could limp back into the pits on the second component.

Connecting the engine to the rear axle is a four-speed Wilson pre-selector gearbox. This is an extremely interesting gearbox, for those that are unaware of what it actually was. With this gearbox, you simply place the shifter in the gear you want to shift to next, then once the vehicle reaches the correct speed, it automatically shifts to that gear. Though many pre-selector transmissions required a clutch to initiate the gear change, the Wilson design did not use a clutch.

Despite the fact that this engine only pushes out about 200 ponies and it only hit 125 mph, it is extremely modern and we love how Talbot thought outside of the box with its design. Instead of trying to play to its competitors’ strengths, they exposed their weaknesses by increasing reliability and fuel economy, so while a Mercedes-Benz is getting fuel or repairs, the Talbot is slowly pulling away from it, absolutely brilliant in our minds. This truly shows how racing used to be a sport based on science, ingenuity and driving skill, too bad those days are gone.

Suspension and Braking

The front suspension is fully independent with two wishbones on each side, which is unusual for a 1950s racer. A transverse-mounted leaf spring helps keep the left and right sides of the car tied together, while allowing some flex, similar to anti-roll bars on today’s cars. The rear suspension is your standard semi-elliptical leaf spring design.

Stopping this machine can prove a little tricky with its four-wheel Lockheed hydraulic drum brakes. Don’t let the “Lockheed” names memorize you, as that’s simply what we know today as drum brakes. They use the term Lockheed because there were several styles of drum brakes in the `50s and the Lockheed – yes, the same as today’s Lockheed Martin – hydraulic design was the best.

The front suspension system gets a huge thumbs up, but the rear suspension is kind of "blah" to us. The four-wheel hydraulic drums were awesome in their day, but are sorely outdated today. Then again, with this machine likely doesn’t weight too much, so they may work just fine.

Price

Okay, the love affair stops here, as RM Auctions anticipates a hefty €1,150,000 ($1,490,514) to €1,500,000 ($1,944,149) final auction price. Phew, that’s a lot of dough for a very much used racecar that doesn’t have too much history behind it. Then again, there are only a few examples of it in the world, so it’ll get whatever the market will bear at the time.

Don’t be shocked to see this car go for a fraction of this estimated bid, as we just don’t see a good reason for buying it at that price.

Competition

There is no real competition for this 1950s racer, unfortunately. Unless, of course, you can dig up another Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport for sale at a better price.

Conclusion

Look, we love this car, we really do. However, that price tag is really out there and there is really no reason for it to be. The car hasn’t been sold since the 1950s, so there is little record of what the true market value may be. If you are looking to vacation in Monaco around May 12th, and want to give bidding on this car a try, you may get lucky and find out that the market only bears about half of the anticipated gavel price.

If you can get it for about half of the anticipated price, you have yourself a good deal on your hands. Short of that, this is a very risky purchase, so tread carefully.