Talbot 3 liter
|
Sunbeam Sunbeam Talbot |
|
|---|---|
 Sunbeam-Talbot 3-Liter
Six Window Saloon |
|
| 3 liter 4 liter |
|
| Production period: | 1937-1939 |
| Class : | upper middle class |
| Body versions : | Sedan , coupe , convertible |
| Engines: |
Petrol engines : 3.2 liters 4.1 liters |
| Length: | 4775 mm |
| Width: | 1524 mm |
| Height: | 1625 mm |
| Wheelbase : | 2997 mm |
| Empty weight : | 1644 kg |
The Talbot 3-liter is an upper mid-range vehicle manufactured by the British company Rootes from 1937. After initially being marketed as Talbot, Rootes sold the car from autumn 1938 under the Sunbeam-Talbot brand as the Sunbeam-Talbot 3-liter , without any technical or stylistic changes. A sister model is the Sunbeam-Talbot 4-liter presented at the end of 1938 , which has a more powerful engine. The 3-liter and the 4-liter are based on components from other Rootes brands. They are considered an early example of badge engineering . Shortly after the outbreak of World War II , production of both models ended.
History of origin
Sunbeam and Talbot were initially independent companies that each began producing automobiles in Great Britain at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1919, the French automobile manufacturer Darracq took over both Sunbeam and Talbot and formed the Sunbeam-Talbot-Darracq Group (shortened to STD or STD), which for a decade and a half produced independent, hardly coordinated cars in its British and French locations. In 1934 Sunbeam-Talbot-Darracq was insolvent. In January 1935, the London- based Rootes Group, to which Hillman and Humber belonged, took over the Sunbeam brand and - for the British market - also the Talbot brand. While Rootes discontinued the Sunbeam brand in 1936, the group continued car production under the Talbot brand. Initially, the British Talbots retained their independence; but gradually they were converted to Rootes technology. In the British-speaking world, this process is known as Rootesifying.
The Talbot 3-liter debuted in the fall of 1937. He is one of the first British Talbots to be out of touch with the STD-era models. It is largely based on high-volume technology from Hillman and Humber. After just a year, Rootes assigned the car to a new brand. Instead of Talbot, the 3-liter was now sold as the Sunbeam Talbot. Technical or stylistic changes were not associated with it. The 3-liter was positioned above the smaller model pair Sunbeam-Talbot Ten / 2-liter , which were closely related to Hillman products.
Production of the 3-liter ended in November 1939. After the end of the war, it was not resumed. There was also no direct successor. The same applies to the more powerfully motorized Sunbeam Talbot 4-liter, which was only added to the range as a new top model in October 1939.
Model name
The model name is derived from the rounded displacement of the engine used. Their spelling is not uniform. Rootes used different variants in contemporary publications: The model was sometimes referred to as the (Sunbeam) Talbot Three Liter, sometimes as a 3 liter (with a hyphen) and sometimes as a 3 liter (without a hyphen). In the more recent literature, the hyphenated variant is used, while the British Sunbeam Talbot Alpine Register dispenses with the hyphen.
Model description
Chassis and running gear
The (Sunbeam) Talbot 3-liter has a separate box frame made of steel. It came from the group's modular system and was also offered by other Rootes brands in different lengths and engine combinations. The basic version was available in the contemporary Hillman 14 hp with a 2.0 liter four-cylinder engine. The same chassis was used in the Humber Snipe 75 with a 3.2 liter six-cylinder engine. For the Talbot 3-liter, Rootes extended the chassis by 10 cm and connected it to the six-cylinder engine from Humber. Like the Humber and Hillman models, the 3-liter also has individually suspended wheels and transverse leaf springs . At the rear there is a rigid axle with leaf springs arranged lengthways. Overall, the chassis is described as inadequate; According to some sources, the 3 liter had "significant handling problems".
Motorization and power transmission
The 3-liter is powered by an inline six-cylinder Humber engine that was also used in the contemporary Snipe. The cubic capacity is 3181 cm³ here as there. In the case of the (Sunbeam) Talbot, the cylinder heads are made of cast aluminum. The engine output of the 3-liter was given as 80 bhp (60 kW; 81 PS).
Bodies
There were a number of different bodies for the 3-liter, some of which were used in a very similar form on other models of the Rootes Group:
- Six Window Saloon : a four-door sedan with three windows on each side. Its structure was manufactured by Pressed Steel . The radiator grille and the lining of the engine compartment are stylistically independent; in the passenger compartment, however, the body is identical to that of the Humber Snipe 75. The Six Window Saloon is the most widely used version of the 3 liter.
- Sports Saloon : a four-door sedan with an unusually designed window section in the rear area. There is no vehicle pillar on the rear doors, so that the windows of the rear doors and the side windows are directly adjacent to one another and appear to form a uniform surface. Rootes had already implemented a corresponding design for the smaller Sunbeam Talbot Ten.
- Tourer : an open two-door with four seats and a light hood. The body came from Whittingham & Mitchel . A total of only 12 copies of this version were made. The smaller (Sunbeam) Talbot Ten had a very similar, albeit slightly shorter, structure in the front area.
- Drophead Coupé : an open two-seater with a body made by Carbodies .
In the summer of 1939, Rootes also added a touring saloon , a limousine and a Phaeton to its range. To what extent these body versions were actually realized is doubtful. There is evidence that the Phaeton was never built.
Prices and Production
The Talbot 3-liter cost £ 398 in its simplest form when it launched. The Sunbeam Talbot 3-liter, launched the following year, was priced at a minimum of £ 415. By November 1939, the Talbot 3-liter and the Sunbeam-Talbot 3-liter taken together, a total of 1266 cars in the series.
Sunbeam Talbot 4 liter
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In 1938, Rootes added the Sunbeam Talbot 4 liter to the model range. It was "basically the same car as the 3-liter" and was also available with the same bodies. The main difference concerned the engine. The 4 liter is powered by the 4086 cm³ in-line six-cylinder engine of the Humber Super Snipe . The block is largely identical to the 3.2 liter unit of the Talbot Sunbeam 3 liter, but with the same stroke (120 mm) it has an enlarged bore (85 instead of 75 mm). The engine output is around 100 bhp (74 kW; 101 PS). This made the acceleration “significantly better” and the consumption increased slightly. The better acceleration was thwarted by the weak chassis.
The Sunbeam Talbot 4-liter was £ 455 when it launched. That made it £ 40 more expensive than the weaker Sunbeam Talbot 3-liter and £ 70 more than the Humber Super Snipe, which also had a 4.1-liter engine.
In the roughly one-year production period for the 4-liter, Rootes produced 229 vehicles, all body variants combined.
literature
- Geoff Carverhill: Rootes Story: The Making of a Global Automotive Empire , The Crowood Press, 2018, ISBN 9781785004803
- Graham Robson: The Cars of the Rootes Group , Motor Racing Publications, London 2007, ISBN 978-1903088296
Web links
- The Sunbeam-Talbot 3-liter at the Sunbeam Talbot Alpine Register
- The Sunbeam-Talbot 3-liter at the Sunbeam Talbot Alpine Register
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Graham Robson: The Cars of the Rootes Group , Motor Racing Publications, London 2007, ISBN 978-1903088296 , pp. 20 f.
- ^ Graham Robson: The Cars of the Rootes Group , Motor Racing Publications, London 2007, ISBN 978-1903088296 , p. 131.
- ↑ Illustration of contemporary advertisements on the website www.classiccarcatalogue.com (accessed on May 28, 2020).
- ^ A b c Graham Robson: The Cars of the Rootes Group , Motor Racing Publications, London 2007, ISBN 978-1903088296 , pp. 135, 136.
- ↑ Geoff Carverhill: Rootes Story: The Making of a Global Automotive Empire , The Crowood Press, 2018, ISBN 9781785004803 .
- ↑ a b c The Sunbeam Talbot 3-liter on the website of the British Sunbeam Talbot Alpine Register (accessed on May 26, 2020).
- ^ A b c Graham Robson: The Cars of the Rootes Group , Motor Racing Publications, London 2007, ISBN 978-1903088296 , p. 136.
- ↑ Note on the website www.classicdriver.com (accessed on May 27, 2020).
- ↑ The Sunbeam Talbot 4-liter on the Sunbeam Talbot Alpine Register website (accessed on May 30, 2020).
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