Talbot Maserati
Story and Photos by Brandes Elitch
This year the Pebble Beach Concours celebrated One Hundred Years of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. There were 29 cars on display of which fully 14 were outright winners!
This is an extraordinary collection, perhaps unprecedented. Among the most famous here are the two Speed Six Bentleys, Old Number One and Old Number Two, which won five times between 1924 and 1930, likely before most of our readers were born. I suspect that most of our readers are interested in what is called The Golden Age of the Racecar, generally described as the period from the first Formula One Championship race (at Silverstone in 1950) through the fifties and sixties. We saw Jaguar win five times (and once more in 1988, 31 years later), Ferrari win nine times, and Ford win 5 times.
The race is about endurance, the ability to balance speed with sustainability, and 24 hours is a long time to be driving flat out on what were originally unimproved public roads.
We cannot celebrate the cars without celebrating the drivers, particularly Phil Hill, who had a close connection to the Pebble Beach Concours for many years as a judge and as an entrant. Other famous winners include Jacky Ickx, Derek Bell, Olivier Gendebien, and Henri Pescarolo. The famous book, “The Cruel Sport, Grand Prix Racing 1959-1967” by Robert Daley, counted 29 driver deaths in the sixties and another 18 in the seventies. Jackie Stewart has said that anyone racing continuously then had a two-thirds chance of dying. Somebody called this period “a roll call of the quick and the dead.”
Looking at the cars on display here, we see charisma, excitement, glamor, emotion and yes danger that is lacking today in Formula One. What an honor and privilege to see these today on the lawn in front of the gentle and serene Monterey Bay, so far removed from their original purpose.
1936 HRG 1500
1937 BMW 328
1950 Cadillac Le Monstre
1964 Alpine M64 coupe
1965 AR TZ2 Zagato
Class R-1: Centennial Early
-29 Bentley Speed Six Old Number 1
-30 Bentley Speed Six Old Number 2
-36 HRG 1500
-37 BMW 328
-36 Bugatti type 57 G Tank
-50 Cadillac coupe
-50 Cadillac Le Monstre
–50 Talbot Lago T26
-52 Mercedes W 194
-53 Jaguar C type
-55 Jaguar XKD
-56 Talbot Maserati
-59 Ferrari 250 TR Fantuzzi
-62 Ferrari 250 GTO
Class R-2 Centennial Late
-64 Alpine M64 coupe
-64 Ferrari 250 LM
-65 AR TZ2 Zagato
-65 Iso Grifo A3/C
-66 Ford GT 40
-67 Ford GT 40
-75 Alpine Renault A441
-89 Sauber Mercedes C9 group C
-2007 Peugeot 908 Hdi
-2016 Ford GT
-2020 Glickenhaus 007 LMH Hypercar
I grew up at Watkins Glen, even raced there (Always last place). These were the days when you could tell a car from the sidelines. You could even go to a dealer and buy one. I can’t bring myself to watch contemporary racing, they all look alike. ………….Jim.
Great to see the Cunningham “Le Monstre” on the grass, looking for all the world as Grumman aerodynamicists envisioned a streamlined 1950 endurance racer SHOULD look!
Interesting to note that it finished 11th with Briggs and Phil Walters driving – BEHIND the “cooking” Coupe deVille sedan also entered by Briggs, in the hands of Miles and Sam Collier.
Go Revs Inst. !
Reading this issue, ref. Maserati Talbot Dubonnet N° 56 showed in Pubble Beach, I would like to point out that this car has been the body of this car has been designed and projected by Franco Reggiani an Italian Designer and Sculptor.
This car has not been realized by Stanguellini, but has been realized at Carrozzeria Campana in Modena Italy.
Emanuela