Final flings are always F interesting. Be it a case of 'what if' or simply 'why bother?', they generally make painful but very compelling reading especially when events take a lurid turn. Lipstick was smeared on to quite a few automotive pigs in the 1950s, in an effort (last-ditch or otherwise) to make them relevant in the face of cheaper, faster and more modern postwar competition. But the great grand routier marques of France at least faded from the scene with their dignity largely intact.
With no money for new models, and little buyer appetite for their existing products, Delage, Delahaye and Hotchkiss had all gone by the mid-'50s, and even Bugatti's post-war revival amounted to just seven cars, so hardly counts. Talbot-Lago was left as the last producer of large-engined, luxury machines for a domestic car trade that the French government appeared determined to legislate out of business.
First, in 1946, came the Plan Pons, a means by which the government decreed what type of cars and how many - each of the nation's 22 manufacturers could produce. As a maker of rarefied classe exceptionelle machinery, TalbotLago was only allocated enough raw materials to make 125 of its new T26 Record models in 1946, all supposedly for export. In fact, about 45 cars stayed in France, where petrol was still rationed, even tyres were hard to come by and buyers had to apply for a Purchase Tax permit.
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A Breath of Fresh Air- Alfa Romeo's exotic, V8-powered Montreal was like nothing the marque had made before, but can it compare with a Porsche masterpiece, the 911S 2.4?
The stereotype of the ItaloGermanic automotive rivalry is that the Latin car will be brilliant to drive, but poorly built and ergonomically flawed, while the Teutonic will be the opposite. Yet these 2+2 sports coupés both ran against orthodoxy. In the Montreal, Alfa Romeo created an outlandish-looking two-door more comfortable, more powerful and more refined than anything it had produced for decades. Meanwhile, Porsche continued to refine its back-to-front, austere and increasingly aged 911. Neither took a traditional development path, but both created thrilling and individual cars that have echoed through the decades.
Daring to be diminutive
AMC's Gremlin and Pacer, and Ford's much-derided Pinto, led America's response to the threat of imported European compacts
THE LONG WAY ROUND
There is a great tradition of overland trips by Land-Rover, but the tale of this 70s Aussie epic and the car itself was discovered by chance
Handsome cab
The Phantom V limousine marked the beginning of the end for coachbuilder James Young, but this Rolls-Royce represents the craft at its very best
DOING IT FOR THEMSELVES
Racing for their own F1 teams brought some drivers success and an enduring legacy. For others, it turned into a nightmare
20 30 LITRES CYLINDERS, 400BHP......AND MORE THAN A CENTURY OLD
Thunderous torque, flame-spitting stub-exhausts, white-knuckle thrills - and hopefully no spills - aboard a trio of Edwardian racing titans
ICON.
The three top-selling vehicles in the USA in 2023 were pick-ups, topped by the Ford F-Series. This is the truck that started it all
Blurred Lines
lan 'Del' Lines blended the V8 burble of Triumph's open GT with real practicality in his Stag V8 saloons and estates
Home of the brave
The innovative Silverstone proved a hit with keen amateur drivers. To mark its 75th, Healey's club racer returns to the circuit for which it is named
PLAYING ALL THE ANGLES
Alfa Romeo's wild RZ eschewed the jellymould styling of the period to offer a striking, wedge-shaped take on open-topped performance motoring