Baillon Barn Find of the Century Part 1

By Peter M. Larsen

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Read Part 3

There are barnfinds. And then there are barnfinds. Imagine the reaction when the corrugated siding of the lean-to next to the secluded château in the west of France came down and a long-lost Talbot-Lago T26 Record chassis came to light. And more: this T26 chassis # 100239 was not just fitted with a factory body, but with a unique and rakish fastback coupé design built by the Carrosserie Jacques Saoutchik in the rue Jacques Dulud in Neuilly-sur-Seine!

This incredibly rare and outstanding automobile was one of three such Saoutchik barnfinds in the 60 cars of the collection of the late Jacques Baillon. All three are superb examples of the swoopy and extravagant styles designed by Pierre Saoutchik after the Second World War. In truth, one can call the Baillon collection the barnfind of the century. As Pierre Novikoff of the Artcurial auction house remarked: “Never again, anywhere in the world, will such a treasure be unearthed.”

Here is the first of three articles about the three extraordinary Saoutchik cars found in the Baillon collection.

1949 TALBOT-LAGO T26 RECORD SAOUTCHIK # 100239

The collection was assembled during the 1950s by Roger Baillon, an entrepreneur who ran a
transportation company named Enterprise Générale de Transports, based in Niort in the west of France and in Paris. As an enthusiast from the early days, he exhibited a roadster he had built at the 1950 Paris Salon. The trucking business went well, and like Fritz Schlumpf, Baillon began to buy up cars in the early 1950s. The names are impressive: Bugatti, Hispano-Suiza, Talbot-Lago, Panhard-Levassor, Maserati, Ferrari, Delahaye, Delage, many with unique bodies by highly celebrated coachbuilders such as Million-Guiet, Chapron and Saoutchik.

Roger Baillon’s dream was to conserve the heritage of pre- and post-war automobiles in a museum which he planned to construct on the grounds of the château. However, during the 1970s, the Baillon business was nearly bankrupted and some 50 cars had to be sold off. The remaining 60 cars then remained in sheds on the property. There they sat, forgotten by the world, some of them partially exposed to the elements. Nothing was restored, nothing was touched. Slowly the dust settled on the glass, and plants grew up around the cars while spiders wove their webs in the interiors, the paint flaked and the metal slowly rusted.

For the T26 Lago Record, life began in a rather more lustrous manner. In late 1946, Anthony Lago had presented his new T26 Lago Record chassis to the press. Derived from the pre-war 23 CV Lago Spécial, the Record rode on a chassis extended from 295 to 312 cm, fitted with a new independent front suspension with coil springs. It was a large luxury chassis with sporting pretensions in the grand prewar manner.

The engine was the heart of the sporty nature of the car. Capacity was 4,482 cc, which equaled 26 fiscal horsepower, hence the T26 model name. Twin camshafts in the upper part of the block, large valves, hemispherical combustion chambers, and good breathing ensured performance. Power was 170 hp at 4,200 rpm, which made the T26 one of the most powerful passenger car engines in the world at the time.

Several factory body styles were available, making the Record a grand routiére in the classic manner, and it looked the part with its conservative elegantly-proportioned bodies and long, long hood in the 1939 idiom. In spite of the availability of desirable factory bodies, Lago and Talbot offered this lovely new chassis to the carriage trade. Prominent carrossiers flocked to body it, including Figoni and Saoutchik. Both would create some of their most memorable postwar styles for the T26 Record.

T26 Record chassis 100239 carries one of these remarkable one-off creations, built with no concession to cost. Jacques Saoutchik’s son Pierre had taken over the day to day running of the Carrosserie in 1946 and developed his remarkable talent as a designer. In early 1948, he had designed the extraordinary and voluptuous fastback coupé shape to clothe Lago’s new T26 Grand Sport chassis, one of which is also included in the Baillon collection.

For 100239, Pierre Saoutchik developed this design into a svelte conduite intérieure, or coupé, for the longer Record chassis, thereby creating a large four-passenger car of extraordinary elegance. From the edge of the windshield, the roof slopes in an unbroken delicate curve all the way to the rear bumper, creating an impression of extreme length. The chromed accent surrounding the rear window slopes down on either side of the fastback as a chromed trim piece which contributes to an impression of lowness, while the semi-pontoon fenderline with a “hip” over the rear wheel makes the side profile dramatic. The design is further rounded off by a raised panel around the front wheel arch and fully skirted rear fenders. It is a design of great equilibrium and in very good taste.

This exciting style was a success for Saoutchik. Two Delahaye 175 chassis were bodied to this style in 1950. One of them, chassis 801566, was the star of the Saoutchik stand at the 1950 Paris Salon. No period images have survived of 100239, and this exceptional car has remained secret until its remarkable discovery this year. No one has seen this exquisite automobile for six decades, making its discovery all the more unique and unrepeatable. Once restored, 100239 will be welcomed at any concours on the planet and be a serious prize-winning contender.

Incredibly, 100239 was just the beginning. Two more Talbots by Saoutchik were in the Baillon collection. Next week, we will cover T26 Record chassis 100272, an incredible one-off cabriolet sold to an Egyptian princess and exported to Cairo.

TALBOT-LAGO T26 RECORD SAOUTCHIK # 100239 will be sold at the Artcurial Auction at Retromobile in Paris on Friday February 6, 2015.
Estimate: € 120,000 – €150,000
Peter M. Larsen is the author of the prize-winning book Jacques Saoutchik, Maître Carrossier, which can be ordered via Dalton Watson online.

Read Saoutchik Book Review

Read Part 2 chassis #100272

Read Part 3 chassis #100239.