Talbot was originally the British brand name used to sell imported French
Clément-Bayard cars. Founded in 1903, this business venture was financed by
Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 20th Earl of Shrewsbury, who lent his name to the firm.
Starting in 1905, the company branded its imported cars as Clément-Talbot and
began assembling French made parts at a new factory in North Kensington, London,
selling them under the name Talbot. Locally designed cars followed from 1906 and by
1910 50 to 60 cars a month were being made. A Talbot was the first car to cover
100 miles (160 kilometres) in an hour in 1913.
During World War I, the firm manufactured ambulances. French and British operations
continued in separate, parallel production and marketing processes until 1919, when
British-owned but Paris-based Darracq took over the company; Darracq-made Talbots
were marketed as Talbot-Darracqs. The following year, Darracq was reorganised
as part of the Sunbeam-Talbot-Darracq (STD) conglomerate...
