Rare Talbot-Lago up for auction in Auckland

Tuesday, 15 June 2021

A surprisingly rare car has turned up for auction in New Zealand, with a largely original 1949 Talbot-Lago Record T26 going under the hammer at Webbs Auction, due to get underway at the end of June.

A total of 750 Records were produced between 1946 and 1953, powered by a then-new 4.5-litre overhead-valve inline six, which had twin camshafts, hemispherical combustion chambers, centrally mounted spark plugs and a block with seven main bearings. It generated a healthy 126kW, brisk for the years following WW2, enough for a claimed top speed of 170kmh.

Bodies for the T26 were hand-made traditionally with an ash frame along with steel and aluminium panels. Add in independent front suspension and the T26 was a capable racer, going on to win the 1950 24 Hours of Le Mans race.

This gorgeous 1949 Talbot-Lago Record T26 is going under the hammer in Auckland at the end of June.

Unfortunately, a variety of reasons prevented Talbot-Lago from prospering as a car manufacturer beyond the 1950s. That makes the Record T26 quite a rare thing, especially considering it is one of “possibly four” in New Zealand and Australia.

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The body was all hand built, using an ash frame with steel/aluminium panes.

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The 4.5-litre straight six produced a healthy 126kW, enough to push the car to 170kmh.

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Working from the faded copy of Details De Construction Carrosserie, it seems that the car here for auction at Webb’s was sold new in Amsterdam on 14 December 1948 by Ets Cobar, a car dealer who existed there from 1937-1956.

Sadly, this is the limit of the car’s European history. Its New Zealand chapter begins with the vehicle being registered at Paraparaumu Beach on 29 December 1956 to a Mrs Gerarda Wilhelmina Frederika Maris-McArthur. It is assumed that she was the wife of Mr. S.A Maris-McArthur, a passenger from London to Wellington per the M.V. Rangitata in July 1955.

With a science qualification under her belt, McArthur was employed in the laboratory of the City Engineer’s Department in Wellington City. She must have been well regarded in this environment, with a paper on the Karori Reservoir published in 1973 in the ‘New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research’.

The next reference to the car was on 22 November 1957 is to a Christopher Patrick Treahy of Khandallah who owned the car for about 18 months before moving it on to D.W. Wild Motors of Victoria Street, Christchurch.

Thereafter, the car passed through a succession of North Island keepers spanning from Hamilton to Parnell, back down to Huntly, then up to Greenlane and Devonport before being purchased by the current Dunedin-based vendor in the late 1970s, and being registered on 21 January 1983.

As for the car itself, it has been lightly restored with an engine rebuild and an Aston Martin-sourced ‘Evergreen Frost’ coat of paint. Otherwise, it seems to be mostly original, with factory leather seats, twin horns, a skylight, rear blind, a Talbot badge on the radiator with the correct Jaeger instruments and some original manuals.

Webb’s estimates the car will sell for between $200,000 and $250,000 when it goes for auction on June 27 at ASB Showgrounds in Auckland.