Talbot-Lago T150 C-SS Teardrop Coupé, Light Blue

Talbot showed the coupé for the first time at the Paris Motor Show in 1937, and visitors took to it at once. Joseph Figoni of the coachbuilders Figoni et Falaschi drew the body as one continuous flowing form: front wings swelling over the wheels and running back into enclosed rear wings, a tapering tail, and headlamps set into the bodywork behind grilles. The French called it the goutte d'eau, the drop of water; in English it became the Teardrop. Underneath was the T150 C chassis with independent front suspension, a four-litre six-cylinder engine and a Wilson gearbox. Only a small number were built between 1937 and 1939, and the coming of war ended any commercial prospects. Few shapes say more about French coachbuilding at the end of the 1930s.

CMC's original release is painted in a period greyish blue, set off by red leather, right-hand drive and French plates reading 4107-FG. The louvred bonnet opens on a support rod to the six-cylinder engine with its ancillaries, pipes and wiring; the doors open, the metal sunroof works, and the boot holds a removable spare wheel. Inside, the leather bench has a folding backrest and the dashboard carries its full array of instruments. The wire wheels show at the front, while the rear pair sit half-hidden beneath the swept wings. CMC builds it at 1:18, from 1,488 parts.