Talbot 3-Litre Sports Saloon

Click Here for Full Screen Image - Click Here to Download Image

A wealthy aristocrat, Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 20th Earl of Shrewsbury, invested heavily in personal transportation, initially running fleets of upmarket hansom cabs in London and Paris during the late 1880s. These could be summoned by the new-fangled telephone, each cab being drawn by a fine horse with a plaited mane, driven by a man in uniform, with luxuriously appointed interiors, noiseless rubber tyres and coachwork monogrammed with a coronet flanked by the initials S and T (‘Shrewsbury Talbot’).

It was therefore a natural progression to move into motorcar production and in 1903 he founded Clement-Talbot which operated from a palatial works on Barlby Road in Acton, with marble columns, gilded frescoes and stained glass windows. Initially adapting French-made Clement cars, the works began producing its own upmarket Talbot cars in 1906 which were the equal of rival machines from Vauxhall and Sunbeam, a 25hp Talbot 100 famously becoming the first production car to cover 100 miles in one hour at Brooklands in 1913.

In 1919 Clement-Talbot was bought by Darracq who also took over Sunbeam the following year and renamed the conglomerate STD Motors (Sunbeam Talbot Darracq), producing everything from small, fast city cars to luxury grand tourers to 3-litre straight-eight Grand Prix cars. In 1935 STD was in turn taken over by the Rootes Brothers who renamed it Sunbeam-Talbot and continued to produce a range of large luxury saloons.

The flagship model was the Talbot 3-Litre, effectively an upmarket version of the Humber Snipe, which was available in saloon, sports saloon, drophead coupe and sports tourer versions, all luxuriously appointed with independent front suspension and powered by a 3,181cc side-valve straight-six developing 80hp at 3,800rpm. A total of 1,263 were made at the Acton Barlby Road works from 1937 to 1939, the earlier cars being badged as Talbots and the later ones Sunbeam-Talbots.

According to factory records, the build of this Talbot 3-Litre Sports Saloon commenced in April 1938 and the finished car was delivered on 1st June to Dunham & Haines of Wardown Garage, Luton (Chassis no: 8528; Engine no: 41512; Body no: 5912; Registration no: CBM 287). An old green logbook shows that by 1969 it was owned by a Donald Griffith of Rugby from whom our vendor acquired it in 1972.

He then began a restoration which, as you can see, has never been completed. The car appears remarkably sound, having slumbered in two garages over the past 46 years, and we are told that it was last started just a few years ago using an external fuel supply. Partially dismantled but believed to be complete, it shouldn’t take too much work to get it back on the road where it belongs.

Previously unknown to the Sunbeam Alpine Talbot Register, it is believed to be one of only around half-a-dozen examples surviving worldwide, three in the UK and three or four in Australia/New Zealand. Documentation includes a V5C, old green logbook, original Clement Talbot spare parts catalogue and a dating letter from STAR.

Every bit as imposing as a Rolls-Royce or Bentley from the same era and propelled by a wonderfully smooth and lusty 3-litre straight-six, this luxury Sports Saloon is being offered here from a deceased estate and needs to be saved for future generations to enjoy.

Please note: the last three photos are of an otherwise identical Sunbeam-Talbot 4-Litre Sports Saloon recently sold by Brightwells and show what this fine machine could look like once finished.