Pebble Beach 2008: Talbot-Lago sells for $4.4 million

Its time on the block came and went. The early lively bidding in Bonhams & Butterfields tent dwindled quickly to just two bidders — one present, one on the phone. Wham! Sold, for $4.4 million. Applause. The crowd turned its attention to a dark green 1962 Citroen 2CV. The auction tenders then pushed the Talbot-Lago 150 CSS with Pourtout body work, a real Ecurie Nice race car shrouded in the body of an elegant sports car, out of the tent and — unceremoniously, I think — into the sun.

A few minutes later, Betty Locke (pictured with the car) came out to say goodbye — though she might deny being particularly sentimental. Locke's late husband, Lindley, was a keen collector of Talbot-Lagos, and when he died in 2001, he left her with five of them. One, with astounding Figoni & Falaschi coachwork, she donated to the Nethercutt Collection and Museum in Sylmar. "That was my favorite," the diminutive lady in the straw hat said. "That was our first one."

The couple, who met as undergrads at UCLA, loved Talbots. "They were fun to drive, fast cars," Locke said. And she loves driving. Locke still logs thousands of miles a year in her 1977 VW Beetle. She still has her first car, a 1938 Cadillac Opera Coupe.

This car sat more or less undisturbed in the Lockes' garage since 1962, which makes it one of those extraordinary "barn finds" with original patina that are so prized in the collecting world. One reason the Talbot is such a find is that it can be a double winner at Pebble Beach — first in the unrestored original class and then, with a few thousand hours of meticulous restoration, as a contender for the Concours "Best in Show" title.

Of the remaining Talbots, Locke said, she would like to get one or two back on the road, to sell or perhaps show them. What would her husband say about the auction today? "I don't know that he would have wanted to let it go," Locke said.

She then posed beside the car for her friend. "I think I might use the picture as my Christmas card."

— Dan Neil

Photo credit: Dan Neil / Los Angeles Times

Find related Pebble Beach storys here.

Comments

[Ryan Mortensen]

look at the age that shows on the wire wheels and the front fender; very cool. but to call this a 'barn find' displays the author's lack of familiarity with the term. this car's value was understood - more or less - while it was stored. a '40 ford full of mice, but with fifteen-thousand original miles is a barn find. these cars - the bugattis, too - are displaying something of a strange curse, which leaves their piped and cognac-sipping owners either deceased or savagely murdered at the hands of their wives, who've teamed up with the coinciding 26 year-old mistresses to cash in these rolling gold poker chips.

Ryan

[PRGuySF]

Just for the record, the auctioneers add a buyer's premium to hammer prices, so the new owner of the 1939 Talbot-Lago T150 C SS paid more than $4.8-million ($4,847,000, an auction world record price). Shame that the LATimes dashed the former owner's secret plans for her super special Xmas card -- publishing her photo for the world to see! I do feel for her too, noting she has several others in the garage, we can assume every motorcar auctioneer in the world will be ringing her doorbell, trying to wrangle another for a future sale. Hopefully Bonhams has booked lunches with her far in advance for the next year or so...