Clément Talbot was founded during 1903 and despite the French-sounding name it was, in fact, an English company; the name being taken from two of its directors, the Earl of Shrewsbury and Talbot and the French car manufacturer, Adolph Clément.

Initially the company imported the popular French Clément cars into Britain, although from 1905 Talbots were producing cars of their own design in London.

Edwardian Talbot cars soon gained an enviable record in competition and a special bodied Talbot 25hp, driven by Percy Lambert, was the first car to complete 100 miles in the hour, here at Brooklands in 1913.

Following the Great War, Talbot along with Sunbeam, was acquired by the Darracq Company, creating the STD combine.

The chief designer at this time was Georges Roesch, a gifted engineer who had joined the organisation in 1916 following a spell at Daimler.

Roesch's design philosophy of lightness and the increase of output by means of higher rpm was vindicated with the 10/23 model announc...