as bare chassis, requiring customers to choose bespoke bodywork from a specialist coachbuilder. The GS was a star turn in a dull world and coachbuilders such as Saoutchik, Franay, Oblin, and Figoni et Falaschi competed to trump Talbot's own designers with elaborately elegant bodies. Talbot Lago Baby The Talbot Lago Baby (1948–1951) marked the return of a pre-war Talbot model name and was the third model presented by the company during the 1940s. The car was commonly sold as a four-door sedan, but a two-door cabriolet was also offered. Its engine comprised only four cylinders, but the twin overhead camshaft with cylinder valves on both sides of the engine block was again featured: at 2690 cc the engine capacity equated to a fiscal horsepower of 15 CV, which was enough to attract the punitive levels of car tax applied by the French government to large cars. The power output was initially , which in 1949 was increased to . Although the postwar Baby sedan closely resembled the more powerful Record on a brief glance, the Baby's 2,950 mm wheelbase was slightly shorter than the 3130 mm wheelbase of the Record, and the overall length was correspondingly 200 mm shorter, reflecting the shortened 4-cylinder engine block. Additionally, the cheaper car sat on a simplified suspension set-up. Baby customers could specify as an option a Wilson pre-selector gear box. Talbot Lago manufactured three special made seven-seater presidential cars; one for the President of France, one for the President of Tunisia and one for the royal family in Saudi Arabia. Talbot-Lago T26C The Talbot-Lago T26C is an open-wheel formula race car, designed and developed by French manufacturer Talbot-Lago, and built to the new Formula One racing rules and regulations, in 1948. New bodies for 1952 In 1951, as rumours of the company's financial difficulties intensified, a new Ponton format body appeared for the Talbot Baby and Record. The wheelbases were carried over from the earlier models. Although in many ways strikingly modern, the new car featured a two piece front windscreen in place of the single flat screen of its predecessor, presumably reflecting the difficulties at the time of combining the strength of a windscreen with curved glass at an acceptable price and quality. The new car's large rear window was itself replaced by a larger three-piece “panoramic” wrap around back window as part of the car's first face-lift, which took place in