Page 16 - Apr2022
P. 16
Wh at 's New in
Mo t o r s po r t s
Gooding and Company Sells 66.5
Million Dollars Wort h of Cars, 92%
sell t hrough rat e, at Amelia Island
While Gooding's Amelia 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 topped the sale with roars of
excitement was a 1937 Talbot-Lago T150-C-SS
Teardrop Coupe valued 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 Sold for a record set t ing $13,425,000
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 its ultimate
tuned to 80 HP stock Spitfire engine. The extra demise in 1959. Talbot or Clement-Talbot Ltd was an
extra kick is provided by a Weber with 13:1 English -French manufacturer in 1903, producing both
compression. luxury and racing cars, With the collapse in the '30s
of STD Motors, Rootes bought out the London Talbot
Although the Triumph's engine is smaller than
factory and Antonio Lago, an Italian- British
the 1200cc engine found in a 1960 VW, Melina
businessman, was put in charge of the Paris based
says his entry has "twice the horsepower and the
Talbot plant. Eventually, Lago would buy the Paris
suspension is built like a brick."
facility from receivership and began to produce vehicles
"It's never too late to dream," says Melina about under the name Talbot-Lago.
beginning his SVRA rookie season at 74. " Paul
Exquisitely designed and containing advanced
Newman raced until he was 82."
engineering, the cars were intended for a luxury
market but struggled, first during the Depression
years, then during the war years and, finally, 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
became highly sought after on the blue chip collector
market, bringing multi-million dollar prices at auctions
in the 21st century. continued on page 17
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