Automobiles Talbot

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Talbot logo (earlier version)
Talbot T120 "Baby" Roadster, factory body based on a design by Figoni (1935)

Automobiles Talbot was a French automobile manufacturer that existed from 1920 to 1959 and sold cars under the brand name Talbot and from 1935 as Talbot-Lago . Talbot went back to the takeover of the British manufacturer Clement Talbot by the French company Darracq in 1919 and existed until bankruptcy in 1959 and sale to Simca .

The Talbot brand was to be revived later (1979-1993) as the Talbot car brand of the French PSA group .

prehistory

Creation of the British Talbot brand

The British Clement Talbot Ltd imported French automobiles of the Clément brand to England from 1903 and sold them under the brand name Clement-Talbot . Starting in 1904, the company produced its own cars, initially with kits from Clément, and limited the brand name to Talbot .

Takeover by Darracq (1919)

The French company Darracq from Suresnes took over the British company in 1919 and used the brand name Talbot-Darracq for passenger cars produced in France for a year . This brand name was used for racing cars from the production facilities in both countries until around 1930. The brand name of the British passenger car was still Talbot .

The Sunbeam-Talbot-Darracq phase (1920 to 1935)

Talbot DS (1923-1925)

In 1920 Darracq also bought the Sunbeam brand and thereby founded the STD (Sunbeam-Talbot-Darracq) group. The brand name of the French vehicles was now Talbot . However, the old brand name Darracq was still used for export to England .

The Talbot-Lago phase (1935 to 1959)

Talbot T26 Grand Sport Coupé by Saoutchik (1948)
Talbot T26C Grand Prix (1950)
Talbot-Lago T26 Berline (approx. 1950)
Talbot-Lago Sport (2500 Europa Coupé)

In 1935 the STD group became insolvent. The Italian Antonio Lago took over the Talbot plant in Suresnes . Under his direction and with the brand name Talbot-Lago, two completely new car models with six-cylinder engines (2.7 and 3 liters displacement) were developed by 1937. In the following years, some of the most exciting vehicles in pre-war history were created in cooperation with the most well-known coachbuilders in Europe. These coachbuilders included: Figoni & Falaschi (T 150 SS Coupé from 1937 and the world famous Teardrop Coupé from 1938), Chausson, Saoutchik, Partout and Henri Chapron. A convertible was even made by the Swiss body manufacturer Graber and one by Ghia. (In January 2006, Gooding & Company, USA, sold one of the teardrop coupes for $ 3,905,000.)

In the 1939 racing season, two Grand Prix vehicles were developed in Suresnes. Due to the political situation at that time, however, the cars were not used. After the Second World War, Lago presented the Talbot-Lago Record and the Grand Sport with a 4.5-liter engine and a Wilson preselector gearbox and thus achieved sporting successes such as the Le Mans victory in 1950 with Louis Rosier at the wheel achieve. Also in 1950 a new model called Baby (four-cylinder engine with a displacement of 2690 cm³) appeared. 400 automobiles were produced in 1950. The following year there were fewer than 100 automobiles. A significant change in the years from 1953 onwards was that a conventional 4-speed gearbox from Pont-a-Mousson was installed instead of the Wilson preselector. The chassis of the Talbot-Lago Baby could also be purchased without a body. These chassis were used in the Grand Sport Coupés with a 4.5-liter six-cylinder engine until the end of production in 1955.

The last major design by Talbot-Lago was presented in 1955. It was the 2500 sport. Antonio Lago opted for a four-cylinder in-line engine, which with its 2491 cm³ exactly fulfilled the racing classification of the 2.5-liter class without a compressor. A total of 54 copies were made. Two vehicles left the factory without a body, in order to be completed later, presumably as open sports cars. A distinction is made between the variants for Europe and America (15 of 52 exemplars) among these 52 bodyworked exemplars. The American models were equipped with a BMW 2.5-liter V8 unit, known from the BMW 502, and have more massive chrome applications than the European models. The factory production lists show that two prototypes with a six-cylinder Maserati engine were built for the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1956. The whereabouts are unknown today.

In 1959, the sales opportunities for Talbot-Lagos had sunk so much that Antonio Lago had to sell his company to Simca . The brand name Talbot was initially discontinued.

Models

Revival of the brand through PSA (1979 to 1993)

Simca was owned by the brand name Talbot. Chrysler Europe took over Simca and was in turn taken over by PSA Peugeot Citroën . This company started using the Talbot brand name in 1979.

Timeline

Timeline of the Clement Talbot / Automobiles Talbot / Talbot (PSA) / Chrysler Europe / Simca / Rootes / Matra models from 1945 to 1986
Type SIMCA until 1957 ,
Rootes Group independent until 1967		 Entry of Chrysler , formation of Chrysler Europe Part of PSA (Peugeot) from the end of 1978
40s 50s 60s 70s 80s
5 6th 7th 8th 9 0 1 2 3 4th 5 6th 7th 8th 9 0 1 2 3 4th 5 6th 7th 8th 9 0 1 2 3 4th 5 6th 7th 8th 9 0 1 2 3 4th 5 6th 7th 8th 9
Small car Imp / Imp Californian / Husky 4 Sunbeam 5 Sunbeam 5
Chamois 4
Stiletto 4
... 5/6 1000/900/1005/1006 Samba 8
Compact class Avenger 5 Avenger 5 Avenger 5
... 8 / 8/1200 1100 7 1100 7
Horizon 7 Horizon 7 Horizon 7 Arizona
Middle class ... Minx (Mk I-Mk VII) / Husky Mk I Minx / Husky (SI-SIII) 1 Minx / Super Minx / Husky 2 New Minx / Hunter 3 Hunter 3 Hunter 3
SM 1500 Hunter Gazelle 1 Gazelle / Vogue 2 New Gazelle / Vogue 3
... Ten / 2L 80 / 90 (MkI) 90 (MkII) Mk III Rapier (SI – V) 1 New Rapier / Rapier H120 3
Scepter I + II 2 New Scepter 3 Solara 6 Solara (GB: Minx / Rapier) 6
Hawk (Mk I-III) Hawk (Mk IV – VI) Hawk (SI-IV) Alpine 6 Alpine 6 Minx / Rapier 6
9 Aronde Aronde Aronde (P60) 1300/1500 1301/1501 1301/1501 1307/1308 6 1510 6 1510 6
upper middle class ... Snipe / Super Snipe (I-III) Super Snipe (VI) Super Snipe (SI – V)
infant Ariane 160/180 160/180 / 2L 1610 / 2L 1610 / 2L Tagora 9
Upper class Pullman / Imperial (Mk I IV) Imperial
Record Vedette
Coupé / convertible Imp Sport 4
1000 coupe 1200 p
Alpine MkI / III Alpine SI – IV / Tiger New Alpine 3
Comète America
Sports car T26 Grand Sport / Saoutchik Sports Djet jet 530 Bagheera Bagheera Murena
SUV Rancho Rancho
Box van 1100 VF2 / VF3 City truck City truck
Talbot-Lago , sold to Simca in 1959 SIMCA: Fiat production under license SIMCA: 1954 by Ford France SA hinzugekauft SIMCA: partially developed on the basis of Fiat or Ford Chrysler-Simca Humber, a brand of the Rootes group, is discontinued in 1976 Sunbeam Talbot, a brand of the Rootes Group until 1953 Sunbeam, a brand of the Rootes Group from 1953, is discontinued in 1976 Singer, a brand of the Rootes Group since 1956, is discontinued in 1970 Hillman, brand of the Rootes group Chrysler Automobiles René Bonnet sports car Matra Matra-Simca Talbot Matra Talbot- Simca Talbot, brand discontinued in 1986

1 common platform of the Rootes group based on the Hillman Minx 1956
2 common platform Audax of the Rootes group based on the Hillman Super Minx
3 common platform Arrow of the Rootes group
4 common platform of the Rootes group based on the Hillman Imp
5 common platform - Chrysler Avenger, Project 424
6 shared platform - Chrysler Project C6
7 shared platform - Chrysler Project C2
8 shared PSA platform with Peugeot 104 and Citroën LN
9 Chrysler Project C9, technology largely from Peugeot 504/505/604

literature

  • Jacques Borgé, Nicolas Viasnoff: Talbot automobiles. History of a great European brand. Schrader & Partner, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-922617-02-6 .
  • Larry Edsall; Valeria Manferto: Legends of automotive history from the beginning to the 21st century. Wiesbaden White Star Verlag 2006, ISBN 3-939128-52-X , pages 74-77.

Web links

Commons : Automobiles Talbot  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Talbot-Lago  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ George Nick Georgano (Editor-in-Chief): The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 , pp. 1566-1567. (English)