Offered by Bonhams | Beaulieu, U.K. | September 2024
Photo – Bonhams
There were French Talbots and there were British Talbots. This is an example of the latter, if you couldn’t tell by looking at it. It looks just like many other British luxury cars of the 1930s, be they from SS (Jaguar) or whoever.
The Talbot 18-70 of 1930 through 1932 was given a displacement increase of their straight-six to 2.3 liters. These cars were referred to as the Talbot 70 or 75. It’s unclear when this car was built, as Bonhams doesn’t list a model year.
It is said to have been ordered new by the British ambassador to Spain but never delivered. Its first owner bought it in 1936, and it remained in their family until 2009. It was restored in 1998 and now has an estimate of $33,000-$39,000. More info can be found here.
Offered by Silverstone Auctions | Northamptonshire, U.K. | May 28, 2022
Photo – Silverstone Auctions
We’ve covered the history of the Talbot marque before, and it’s very confusing. We’ll pick up the trail in 1935 when the Rootes Group had both Talbot and Sunbeam under their ownership. Sunbeam-Talbot was a marque that existed from 1935 through 1954, when the cars just became Sunbeams. This was because Talbot-Lago was operating in France and it was confusing. Still is.
Well Talbot-Lago only lasted five more years after that. The dormant Talbot name was then sold to Simca, which became part of Chrysler Europe in 1970. In 1977, Chrysler introduced the Chrysler Sunbeam model. It was a three-door hatchback. It was not very exciting.
However, Chrysler dumped Chrysler Europe on PSA (Peugeot/Citroen) in 1978 for $1. PSA in turn dumped the Chrysler name, rebranding all Chryslers in Europe as Talbots. So now, a few decades removed from Sunbeam-Talbot, there was a Talbot Sunbeam on sale in Europe. Around this time, they also wanted to make the Sunbeam (the model) more exciting.
The hot-hatch Ti variant was introduced in 1978. Chrysler had already been in talks with Lotus to build a rally version of the Sunbeam to take on the Ford Escort RS. Thus, the Talbot Sunbeam Lotus was born, and it went on sale in 1979. It was one of the best hot hatches of the ’70s/’80s.
Power is from a 2.2-liter high-compression version of the Lotus 907 inline-four. Road cars were rated at 150 horsepower. Rally cars were able to get up to 250 horsepower out of the engine. There were also suspension and exhaust tweaks. The car was responsible for Talbot winning the WRC manufacturer’s championship in 1981.
Only 1,184 right-hand-drive examples were made before production ceased due to the fact that they were more expensive to make than they could sell them for. Fifty-six of them were taken by Ladbroke Avon Coachworks to be turned into “Limited Edition” cars that featured the paint scheme seen here.
This limited-edition Sunbeam Lotus carries a pre-sale estimate of $30,000-$37,000. Click here for more info.
Offered by Bonhams | London, U.K. | December 3, 2018
Photo – Bonhams
The English arm of the Talbot company came under the control of the Rootes Group in 1935. The new owners began axing Talbot historical models and introducing replacement models. And before long, all of the cars were branded as Sunbeam-Talbot.
One of the last such models to be axed – in 1937 – was the BG110, which began life as the 110 in 1935. Power is from a 120 horsepower 3.5-liter straight-six. Top speed was 95 mph, and the car was sort of the pinnacle of pre-Rootes English Talbot design.
What’s semi-unique about this car is that it is one of 13 or 14 BG110s that were bodied by Vanden Plas in aluminum. The rest of the cars were all bodied in-house, and only 89 examples of the 110/BG110 were produced in total between 1935 and 1937. This restored example has had three owners since new and should bring between $120,000-$170,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
Offered by Osenat | Obenheim, France | May 1, 2017
Photo – Osenat
The Talbot marque has one of the messiest histories of any automobile brand in history. There were British and French Talbots and they manufactured cars simultaneously. And there were numerous prefixes and suffixes attached to the name. What we have here is a French Talbot, from the brand that sold cars from 1922 (prior to this they were sold as Darracq-Talbots) through 1936 (after which they were badged as Talbot-Lagos).
Yeesh. Anyway, the M67 was built between 1927 and 1930. It was a relatively nice car in its day and is powered by a 2.0-liter straight-six making 38 horsepower. Different body styles were offered, but this car wears a fairly standard sedan body.
The restoration on this particular example is about 10 years old but this is the same body, engine, and chassis combination from when it was new. It kind of reminds me of a taxi, based on its livery (which is the color it was when new) – but it isn’t. It’s a driver and should bring between $21,700-$32,500. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
In 1916, Talbot had yet to be taken over by Darracq (which would happen in 1918). In fact, production pretty much wound up by 1916 because of WWI and wouldn’t really restart until 1919, making this car among the last built before their wartime hiatus.
While it may have been one of the last built, it was at the same time a first: this car was the first automobile ever purchased by Qantas, the Australian airline. The 4CY is powered by a 2.6-liter straight-four making 38 horsepower. That’s enough to get it to 55 mph. Qantas’ purpose for this vehicle was that it was to be used as a recovery vehicle for downed aircraft, making jaunts into the Outback in order to rescue crew.
This car was discovered in the 1990s at one of Qantas’ “original sites.” It was restored in 2001 by its new Scottish owner and given a new body in the style of a “balloon car” – one that was used to rescue stranded hot air balloonists instead of airline crew. Since then, it’s covered nearly 10,000 miles in rallies and historic motoring events. It should sell for between $42,500-$52,500. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
First up in June is Mecum’s Seattle sale. Our featured Datsun 1600 Roadster failed to sell. The top sale was this 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T SE Hemi in the best MOPAR shade available. It brought $185,000. Full results can be found here.
Photo – Mecum
Russo & Steele held their Newport Beach sale in May and the top sale was a 2005 Porsche Carrera GT for $840,000.
Photo – Russo & Steele
Our featured Peerless GT failed to sell. Click here for complete results.
Brightwells liquidated the Stondon Museum in the U.K. in May. There were some really interesting oddballs at this sale that went to a new owner for next to nothing. The top sale was this 1950 Ford V8 Pilot Woodie for $33,390.
Photo – Brightwells
Both of our feature cars sold, as this was a no reserve auction. The Enfield 8000 brought $5,400 and the Replicar Cursor just shy of $3,500. Click here for full results.
Offered by H&H Auctions | Droitwich Spa, England | December 3, 2014
Photo – H&H Auctions
This is a very big, very attractive old tourer from the British Talbot. Talbot began producing cars of their own design in 1906, having been assembling and selling French-designed cars since 1904 (since 1903 if you count the Clement-Talbot brand).
The engine is a 3.0-liter straight-four rated at 15 horsepower. The body shows nicely and it looks to be an older restoration (I say that because the interior looks really nice and there’s no way that leather is original).
This particular car was sold new in Australia and the Roi-des-Belges body was constructed locally by Isaac Phizackerley – not exactly a household name, but he did very nice work on this large and imposing early automobile. It can be yours for between $78,500-$95,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
Offered by Bonhams | London, U.K. | November 30, 2014
Photo – Bonhams
Nothing like a lime green old race car, eh? This sporty Talbot is from the British Talbot and was a works race car. This is one of three Alpine Trial Talbots built for 1934. But this car had a bigger engine than the other two. It’s a 3.3-liter straight-six making 126 horsepower.
The 1934 Alpine Trial was the sixth such event run and it was a multi-day point-to-point race that ran through Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland and France. Imagine that scenery, blowing past at high speed! The three-car Alpine team shared overall top honors with the German Adler team.
This car went from the tour to Brooklands, where it competed in event after event, first averaging 85 mph over an hour run – later it would average over 107 mph. Subsequent runs would climb even higher – up to about 130 by the time racing at Brooklands ended. This was a serious speed machine in its day.
Bonhams has compiled an impressively immense history on this vehicle and you can read more about it here. It’s an incredible car and to the right person it will be worth a lot of money – as in between $1,300,000-$1,900,000. Check out more from Bonhams here.
Offered by Bonhams | Staplehurst, U.K. | June 14, 2014
Photo – Bonhams
Talbot began life in 1903 as Clement-Talbot – it was a British company financed by Charles Chetwynd-Talbot and Frenchman (and already successful automobile producer) Adolphe Clement-Bayard. Clement-Talbot was to produce Clement-Bayards under license in the U.K. Though after only a single model year, Clement-Talbot would become just Talbot for 1904, making this car from the first year of Talbot manufacture.
The CT4V-B was one of two four-cylinder Talbots offered for 1904. It made an additional two horsepower (16) over the base CT4V model from the 2.7-liter straight-four. The body is a big one – a Brougham with open chauffeur seat and closed passenger compartment. It’s well-equipped and the passenger section looks very much like the horseless carriage that it was in 1904.
This car entered the Michael Banfield collection in the 1970s and had been well restored. It’s a fine example of veteran motoring and can be yours for between $590,000-$760,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
Talbot is one of the most confusing marques in automotive history. The car you are looking at here is a British-built Talbot (the French cars were almost all hyphenated with another name). The standalone British Talbot began producing cars in 1904. And, as a separate make, Talbot ceased to exist in 1938 – before it was resurrected in 1980 (in France). It died again, unceremoniously, in 1987.
In 1919, Talbot was bought by Sunbeam – giving them access to superior engineering. This car uses a 1.7-liter straight-six making 35 horsepower. This car spent most of its life in its home country of the U.K. but the current Austrian owner acquired it a few years ago.
This is a very old car that is in very good condition. Only a few Talbot 14/35s are known to exist. This one should sell for between $13,000-$20,000. Click here for more info and here for more from Coys in London.
