Although the British Talbot concern was part of the larger Anglo-French Sunbeam-Talbot-Darracq (STD) combine, it was struggling to stay in business when Swiss-born engineer Georges Roesch returned to the company in London in 1925. Starting with a new six-cylinder engine, in the 14/45 of 1926, he transformed the prospects of the business, and was only ousted when Talbot fell into the hands of the Rootes Group in 1935.
Faced with almost non-existent sales of the older models, which had ageing technical features, Roesch was encouraged to start again – and did, from the ground up. The first of the new- generation cars was the 14/45. Its chassis, like that of the other ‘Roesch Talbots’ which would follow, was conventional enough, but the engine was quite superb.
Even in original form, when it measured a mere 1,666 cc, and had only four crankshaft main bearings, it seemed to be years ahead of contemporary British opposition: in later years, developed, enlarged and even more magnificent, it would reach 3,377 cc and 123 bhp. At first it had only a single carburettor, but its potential was obvious.
The 14/45 model started life as a full five-seater saloon on a 120 in/3048 mm wheelbase. Other bodies – open, closed, ‘family’ and sporting – soon followed, and renamed the ‘65’, the car sold until 1935. Clearly under-powered (or too heavy, depending on one’s viewpoint), it was a car at the very beginning of its development life, but the quality of its engineering shone out from every corner. |
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The asking price of £485 in 1926 ensured that it was a hit, and order books were immediately full, to the very limit of the North Kensington factory’s capacity. Soon at least 50 14/45s were being built every week.
The chassis itself was neatly detailed, with deep side members and sturdy cross-bracing, and came complete with quarter-elliptic leaf spring rear suspension, a right-hand gear change, and torque tube transmission to the spiral bevel rear axle. Bodies were neat and impressive, rather than beautiful, but it was the obvious potential of the design, particularly of the engine, which attracted so much custom.
Motor traders, they say, did not like the new-fangled 14/45s because they required skilled, specialist attention, but the customers loved them. The handling was good, the quality of the engineering was high, and future prospects were enormous. By 1930 Roesch had developed the Talbot 90, with its 2.3-litre engine, the 3.0-litre-engined Talbot 105 followed in 1931, and an impressive string of race and rally results ensued. It was no wonder that the 14/45 was so popular, and before it finally died out (as the 65) no fewer than 11,851 cars had been produced.
With good handling and high quality of engineering on these cars, customers flocked to buy this impressive five-seater saloon.
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