TALBOT LAGO
(1935 -
1958)
Major Tony Lago created the Talbot-Lago
marque in 1935 when he purchased the French branch
of the bankrupted Sunbeam-Talbot-Darracq combine. It
was following the Rootes buy-out that Tony Lago decided
to purchase Darracq, and immediately set about introducing
a new range of six-cylinder cars. His new engines featured
overhead valves and, at 3996cc, were dubbed the “Baby
4 liter”, but it
was the
“Lago Special” that would bring the company
to the public’s attention.
This special sports
racing version featured a 165bhp engine and was good
for a top speed in excess of 110mph (177kmh) and would
prove immediately successful in competitions, taking
out the first three places at the 1937 Montlhery sports
car Grand Prix and the Tourist Trophy race at Donington
Park.
But despite the touring cars being
well matched to the specialist body styles of the period,
strangely they were considered by most to not be as ‘chic’
as the Delahayes. Undeterred, Tony Lago would continue
to refine the wonderful 4 liter engine, and in 1938
the size was increased to 4.5 liters; racing successes
for the Lago Special would continue with a win in that
years Paris 12 hour race. The Lago Talbot road car
of 1947 used a 170bhp engine, with the bodies usually
being supplied by specialist coachbuilders in a wide
variety of styles – but
mostly very traditional for the day.
That year Rosier
won the “Albi” race while Chiron won the
French GP, and at Comminges the big Talbot Lago’s
came in first, second and third places! The
company would enjoy its peak production figures ever
in 1950, with some 433 cars being manufactured in total.
To top off a successful year, Rosier would use a two-seater
sports version of the racing car to win the 1950 Le
Mans race.
Pierre Levegh would come ever so close to
making it back to back Le Mans victories for the marque
in 1951; driving single handed for more than 22 hours,
it was unfortunate and somewhat unexpected (given the
engines prior reputation for reliability) that Levegh’s
engine would blow.
How quickly the fortunes of the
company would change, with 1951 production figures
falling to a mere 80! Financial constraints would continually
inhibit the companies ability to develop better engines
and more competitive cars – and so it came as
no surprise that 1953 offered no race track success.
This was no doubt very disappointing for the engineers,
for despite their financial constraints they had not
only developed a new lightweight car, they had fitted
Maserati engine!
In 1958 Tony Lago reluctantly allowed
his company to be absorbed by Simca, the last cars
to have any resemblance to the marque using a Ford
side-valve V8 as used on the Simca Vedette. Tony Lago
would die the following year, and inevitably the heritage
of Talbot-Lago would diminish over the following years
as Simca was purchased by Chrysler and that in turn
by the Rootes group.
Lost
Marques