‘The international reputation achieved by Talbot products has gained an added lustre through racing successes, but is fundamentally based upon the good repute which these cars enjoy amongst Talbot owners in all countries.

The make is definitely numbered in that select group of cars of distinction, which endear themselves to the heart of the true enthusiast.’ The Motor, May 1935.

The most successful division of the Anglo-French Sunbeam-Talbot-Darracq combine, Talbot might well have escaped takeover by Rootes in 1935 had it not been shackled to its weaker partners.

The company’s then healthy position had been achieved by a succession of well-engineered products penned by its designer, Swiss-born Charles Roesch, whose obsession with the pursuit of high performance through increased engine revolutions led to some of the most memorable cars of the 1930s.

Talbot’s Chief Engineer from 1916, Roesch rescued the company from the brink of failure with the launch of the seminal 14/45.

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