Page 6 - Sample Motoring Magazine
P. 6
Wh at 's New in
Mo t o r s po r t s
Gooding and Company Put s 99 Cars
Under t he Hammer at Amelia Island
Auct ion
While Gooding's sale catalog was dominated by
Porsches, fully a third of the cars on offer hailing from
the German firm, including some very rare offerings,
the car that was wxpected to top the sale was a 1937
Talbot-Lago T150-C-SS Teardrop Coupe vslued at
over $10 million dollars.
Never Old but Vint age
Recently, The Sports Car Vintage Racing
Association opened its 2022 season with 100
cars circling the track at Auto Club Speedway in
Fontana, California--make that 100 cars and one
74-year-old SVRA rookie driver.
Steve Melina (below) piloted his 1965 Triumph
Spitfire in the Group 1 division, proudly
displaying his age as his racing number. #74
finished seventh in the event, an indication that
Melina's career in vintage racing is off to a lucky
start.
While not a household name, Talbot-Lago had a
Melina says his Triumph is running with a race
storied run as a manufacturer before the Depression
tuned to 80 HP stock Spitfire engine. The extra
and World War II brought about it's ultimate demise
extra kick is provided by a Weber with 13:1
compression. in 1959. Talbot or Clement-Talbot Ltd was an
English French manufacturer in 1903, producing both
Although the Triumph's engine is smaller than luxury and racing cars, but with the collapse in the
the 1200cc engine found in a 1960 VW, Melina 30s of STD Motors Rootes bought out the London
says his entry has "twice the horsepower and the Talbot factory and Antonio Lago, an Italian- British
suspension is built like a brick." businessman was put in charge of the Paris Talbot
"It's never too late to dream," says Melina about factory. Eventually Lago would buyout the Paris
beginning his SVRA rookie season at 74. " Paul facility from receivership and began to produce
vehicles under the name Talbot-Lago.
Newman raced until he was 82." ##
Exquisitely designed, and containing advanced
engineering, the cars were designed for a luxury
market and struggled during the Depression years as
well as during the war years and in the post war
period. At one point the factory produced fewer than
50 cars in a year. By 1959 the Talbot-Lago was no
more. Antonio Lago died the following year in 1960.
In the years that followed the remaining examples
were highly sought after on the collector market,
bringing multi-million dollar prices at auctions in the
21st century. continued on page 7
