1950 Talbot-Lago T26 Record Berline For Sale

The glory years of the renowned French marque Talbot-Lago were primarily 1946-51. Equipped with a new 4½ litre engine with two camshafts mounted high in the block (in the manner of pre-war Rileys and the BMW 328), this engine powered the full range of cars produced from Grand Prix Formula 1 single seaters, the Le Mans winning two seaters (1950) and a range of four seater road cars (together with a limited number of Grand Sport machines on a different chassis). The production cars were the fastest four seater road cars of the period, with a performance sometimes described as ‘epoustouflantes’ (‘flabbergasting’).
The mainstay of production in this period was the T26 Record, of which this is a now very rare surviving and original example of the Berline (saloon) with the standard four door factory body.

Specifications: 4, 482 cc, 6 cylinder, compression ratio 7. 00, 170 bhp, 2 Zenith-Stromberg carburettors, Wilson pre-selector gearbox, max speed 110 mph.
Where else do you find a road car with the same engine and gearbox as the Grand Prix and Le Mans winning cars of the same marque?

Previous History
Manufactured 6th October 1950 and first registered 12th February 1951, the first owner is given as Alegre although it is not clear if this is the individual or the Spanish Talbot agent in Navarra.

Around 1977 the car passed into the collection of the Burgos family. By the 1990s the owner’s business fell into financial difficulty finally going into administration in 2007 owing large amounts of money including debt to the state/ province. The owner struck a deal to keep some of his land properties at the cost of handing over assets including his collection of around 40 cars to the province. For some years the province was uncertain what to do with the cars, but eventually they were put into a new underground car museum at the newly created motor racing circuit at Los Arcos near Pamplona, Navarra (inaugurated 2010). This did not prove a success and in 2014 the cars were sold in one lot to a consortium which included the new (English) owner. The car thus almost certainly spent the whole of the period 1951 – 2014 in Spain.

The new owner (2014 – 2017) spent some £14, 000 recommissioning the car, but probably did not drive it more than 7-800 miles due to a delay in getting the car UK registered. The car was also featured in The Automobile in December 2015.

The car is in highly original condition (albeit resprayed from the original black to a grey-green many years ago), with the original tan leather seating and the original fitted tools in the boot. In the current ownership money has been spent on mechanical issues and not on the bodywork.

History with current owner
31/ 08/ 2017 – Car collected (sale invoice 9/ 8/ 17)
2018 (1, 280 km covered) February-August 2018 – With IN Racing, Nottingham, for recommissioning work
2019 (1, 915 km covered) May-August 2019 – With Just Historic Cars at St Leonards-on-Sea for further work, including new wheels, hubs and spinners, and brake wheel cylinders
2020 (865 km covered) Nov 2019-March 2020 With Graham Whitehouse Autos Ltd, Halesowen for pre-selector gearbox recommissioning
April-June 2020 – With Just Historic Cars for further work
August-November 2020 – With Graham Whitehouse Autos Ltd for follow-up work on clutch problem and oil leak
2021 (1, 115 km covered)
2022 (2, 170 km covered) May 2022 – Fougeres Rally, Brittany – c. 1, 660 km/ 1, 037 miles
July-December 2022 – With Just Historic Cars for post rally remedial work: new engine mounts, dynamo reconditioned, new fuel pump, suspension oiling system rebuilt, rechecked steering/ front suspension tolerances
2023 May 2023 – Club Talbot Tour de France three days (period of the tour participated in) – c. 1, 350 km/ 845 miles