Page 9 - Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport 110102

In polite company at the Ritz Garage. Jerome Sauls kept 110102 until 2000, when he advertised it in Hemmings Motor News. Note the chromed wheels. (Peter Larsen)
are numbered 101, indicating that 110108 was likely the first Grand Sport chassis built. The parts number for the rear springs on the build sheet for 110102 has been crossed out, a new number entered and "new suspension REAR" hand-written in the space. Importantly, the matching and correct numbers stamped into the engine block and in other places on 110102 do not show signs of overstamping. There is a semi-legible entry on the production card that the leather was furnished by a Mr. Simon, whose identity is unknown. The badge on the hood of 110102 and the chassis plate both read "LAGO", which indicates that this chassis was manufactured for export by the factory.
In conclusion, although there was sufficient time for the factory to perform the necessary alterations, there seems little reason to assume that the bodies on either 110115 or 110102 were a reconstructed version of 110108 or that the chassis were renumbered. In addition, it is not possible that the body on 110102 was transplanted from 110115. A period photograph of 110115 documents that car to have been in Morocco in April 1950. Another contemporary photo places 110102 in the USA no later than April 1950. Since 110102 remained in America, 110102 and 110115 cannot be the same car. Consequently, two high- roof Dubos coupés were manufactured, in addition to 110108, for a total of three bodies. The remaining conundrum is why the factory would first build 110108, then 110115 seven months later and finally 110102 four months after that. For this, there is no answer. As will be noted several times elsewhere in this book, there was in general little or no logic to the relationships between Grand Sport chassis, engine, gearbox and rear axle numbers and the corresponding delivery dates.
The identity of Mr. Whiting, the first owner is unknown. If he took delivery of 110102, he only kept the car for a very short time, as it almost immediately passed into the hands of car dealer Roger Barlow of International Motors in Hollywood. It is not known whether it was Barlow or Whiting, who imported the car to the USA. However, since 110102 was probably exported by the factory and Whiting's name is on the production card, it is possible Whiting was the importer. In the April 1950 issue of Road and Track, 110102 shared a page with 110101, the Saoutchik fastback coupé, which had been shown at the 1948 Paris
Salon. Both pictures were credited to Roger Barlow. The picture of the Saoutchik had not been taken by Barlow, but snapped by Saoutchik while that car was still in France. 110102, however, was photographed by Barlow in California and it showed his wife, Louise Barlow, behind the wheel. Given the deadline for delivering photographs to the magazine, 110102 could have been on the West Coast of the USA as early as December 1949 or January 1950. Factoring in the transit time from France to California, it seems that 110102 was very likely exported shortly after it was completed at the end of September 1949. The caption in Road and Track misrepresented the car as "...styled in the modern manner by Figoni & Falaschi." Maybe Dubos was an unknown entity to the journalist or perhaps namedropping Figoni was a ploy by Roger Barlow to entice a buyer.
The late Phil Hill was working for Roger Barlow at this time and it is rumored that he drove 110102 across west Texas in 1952. There is an auction catalog entry for the car which states that Hill recalled this drive in a conversation in his old age. Unfortunately, no photograph exists documenting Hill in 110102 or with the car.
Barlow sold 110102 to Otto Zipper, who raced it, but the year is unknown. Zipper was a Porsche distributor in California, who sponsored race cars, and a friend of Briggs Cunningham. An Austrian immigrant, Zipper was also a personal friend of Tony Lago having previously owned several Lagos including a Pourtout Teardrop and a GP car. Towards the end of the factory's life, Zipper ended up with several of the BMW V-8-powered Lago Americas as a partial debt settlement from the more or less permanently broke Tony Lago. There is a widely publicized picture, perhaps taken at Laguna Seca, showing Zipper working on 110102.
In a hand-written Grand Sport listing made by the late Roland Poncet, the name Schaeffer, USA is listed as a previous owner, but there is no data, which can shed light on his identity. Years later, 110102 passed on to Richard Straman, a well-known Southern California Ferrari restorer. Unfortunately, the year for this transaction is also unknown and there is no record of the car in the interim. The same auction catalog, which
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