About Talbot
Talbot is an automobile brand, whose history is one of the industry's most complex.
Inception of the British Talbot
Talbot was originally the British brand name used to sell imported French Clément-Bayard cars. Founded in 1903, this business venture was financed by Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 20th Earl of Shrewsbury, who lent his name to the firm. Starting in 1905, the company branded its imported cars as Clément-Talbot and began assembling French made parts at a new factory in North Kensington, London, selling them under the name Talbot. Locally designed cars followed from 1906 and by 1910 50 to 60 cars a month were being made. A Talbot was the first car to cover 100 miles (160 kilometres) in an hour in 1913.
Parallel Talbots in Britain and France
During World War I, the firm manufactured ambulances. French and British operations continued in separate, parallel production and marketing processes until 1919, when British-owned but Paris-based Darracq took over the company; Darracq-made Talbots were marketed as Talbot-Darracqs. The following year, Darracq was reorganised as part of the Sunbeam-Talbot-Darracq (STD) conglomerate.
In 1916, Swiss native Georges Roesch became chief engineer, and in the early 1920's, Talbot built a number of successful models, including the 14/45 hp, or Talbot 105, which was first built in 1926. In the 1930's, Roesch-designed Talbots enjoyed success in racing with the Fox & Nicholl team, with drivers including the Hon. Brian Lewis, Johnny Hindmarsh, and John Cobb (better known for his land speed record attempts). They were also highly successful in the Alpine Trial.
