Page 14 - 1948 Talbot-Lago T26 Grand Sport -- Chassis 110101

JACQUES SAOUTCHIK:MAëTRE CARROSSIER
An extremely sleek 1927 – 1928 design for a Mercedes S chassis. Note the scallops on the fenders, the beltline that followed the curvature of the trunk and the prominent fiacre. (Peter Larsen)
predicament of the French luxury car trade provides justification enough. Joseph Figoni was working closely with Delahaye, and Anthony Lago needed Saoutchik to give grace and elegance to his new sports chassis, just as much as Saoutchik needed Lago’s powerful Record and GS chassis to remain the star of the Salon. It was a question of high-end pragmatism: everyone was in the same boat and beggars couldn’t be choosers. All were forced to swallow whatever prewar aversions they might have had against one another, and make a virtue of necessity. By 1948, Saoutchik was having as much trouble paying the bills as Anthony Lago, and vice versa.
Saoutchik bodied a number of Lago Record chassis as rather extravagant convertibles, some of which bordered on the elephantine. More important from an aesthetic point of view, the Carrosserie clothed the lion’s share of the approximately 32 to 33 T26 GS chassis. No less than eleven of these were bodied in the rue Jacques Dulud, and no two were completely alike. Two or three were bodied to a cabriolet décapotable design with variations in door design and trim: 110110, 110119 and 110120 (which may have been 110119 renumbered).
Six chassis were fitted with the iconic fastback coupé design discussed below, again with variations in trim as well as roof height: 110101, 110109, 110111, 110114, 110116 and 110122. Chassis 110151 received a fastback coupé design with smooth pontoon fenders, while the last Saoutchik-bodied T26 GS, chassis 110156, was built on the 280 cm wheelbase and received a flamboyant notchback coupé body. In 1949, a photograph was taken in the atelier at the rue Jacques Dulud where Pierre is seen in the corner, developing the fastback coupé design. This supports that by this time, Pierre had taken over most of the design duties at the Carrosserie, and that this and the other GS
ABOVE: Jacques Saoutchik in his office in the rue Jacques Dulud, as pictured in the October 1927 issue of La Carrosserie. (Peter Larsen)
OPPOSITE TOP: Jacques leaning against the door of the Saoutchik Cadillac that was shown at the 1949 Salon, perhaps trying to sell the car. Pierre Saoutchik is standing to the right, smiling secretively at the camera. Note the dark upper body, light lower fenders and the extravagant painted canework. Pierre had developed quickly as a designer. (Fonds Saoutchik Nanterre)
OPPOSITE BOTTOM: At the Salon on October 5, 1950, President Vincent Auriol paid a high profile visit to the Saoutchik stand. Auriol (center-left) joked about the cars to the obvious enjoyment of Jacques (left) and Pierre (right). Meanwhile, Marius Franay, chairman of the coachbuilder’s association, is looking directly at the camera as if to say that the joviality was all a sham, none of it made any difference, and everyone would end up going bankrupt anyway. (Fonds Saoutchik Nanterre)
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