In 2000 I did a body and paint restoration on a car that I had never heard of at that time. The car was a Talbot Lago. It was a 1954 T26 GSL. GSL stands for Lago Grand Sport. The GSL’s were produced from 1953 to 1955. One source I found said there was a total of 30 T26 GSL’s produced. With about 15 produced in 1954. These cars were powered by a 4,482 cc DOHC 6 cylinder with triple carburetors with close to 200 horsepower @ 4,500 rpm. These same engines were used in Talbot’s Grand Prix cars which were the T26C. The two seater T26C claimed Talbot Lago’s biggest victory by winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1950.
The Grand Sport also used a four speed Wilson pre-selector gear box. The front supsension was coil spring and the rear was leaf spring. I remember having the car on a lift and cleaning and painting the complete underside of the car. They also had four wheel drum brakes which as I remember were huge.
I stripped the car down to bare metal and started all over. The car had previously been restored but not very well. They had painted over surface rust. After taking the car down to metal I noticed that the main body was steel and the doors, hood and trunk were aluminum. I spent some time getting the doors to line up too. The car turned out very nice and went on to be shown at Meadowbrook.
Car at Meadowbrook Concourse
Notice the car is right hand drive.
Great looking car from this angle. The picture shows the car redder than it actually is.
The car looks good with the dark maroon color. Photos Courtesy of Creative Interiors
Also visit these sites for more info about the Talbot Lago
http://www.shorey.net/Auto/British/Talbot/T26/htmltree.html
http://www.thoroughbred-cars.com/cars/france/talbot/history.htm
6 responses so far ↓
1 Mark Stefan
// Oct 10, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Man I remember this car in your shop in Peck…wow brings back memories. Love the blog…been going through your archives reading stuff….it’s cool
2 Steve
// Oct 10, 2008 at 11:01 pm
Hey Mark,
Good to hear from you. Thanks for the kind words!
3 Maier, Thomas
// Nov 23, 2008 at 4:57 am
Hello Steve
do you have some more information about the history of the car. ( Talbot Lago Grand Sport)
The Talbot Lago Club in France would appreciate in having some more information or photos about this loveley car.I’am member of the Talbot Lago Club in France and responsable for updating the register. So any information about the car, we lost the trace since 1997 would be great. Concerning our documents it seems the car from D. Peter Larsen. Can you telle me please the Chassis-No.
Sincerely yours
Thomas
4 Steve
// Nov 23, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Thomas,
I will send you an email with some information. Thanks
5 mark besson
// Nov 30, 2008 at 1:05 pm
I am restoring a 1967 cougar and i would like to paint it a dark maroon color. I know it is not the original color, neither is the 600hp 351 winsdor motor. however, the exterior will be as close to original as can be kept. I would like it a dark maroon with dark windows and all the chrome that came with the original car. my question is, what would be the exact color of a nice looking dark maroon color? Any information would be helpful.
6 Steve
// Nov 30, 2008 at 9:56 pm
Mark,
I would suggest you visit your local automotive paint supplier or visit a local autobody shop. Either one should be kind enough to let you browse through some color chip books. I don’t remember the exact color of this car but I think it was a Ford color. You can also visit http://www.tcpglobal.com Then visit their online color library. 1967 Ford/mercury had a nice burgandy/maroon color that year.
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