Talbots

Mr AR ‘Peter’ Warrilow, whose father was on the staff of The Electrician before the First World War, in which capacity he went as observer on the DumfriesLondon Run undertaken by an Arrokohnston electric car (see elsewhere), was with Warwick Wright and Rootes and became a great advocate of the Roesch Talbots.

His first was a 10/23 hp four-seater bought for £9. It gave untroubled service for nearly two years, running like a sewing-machine, and only a chipped tooth on the crown wheel caused Mr Warrilow to part with it. He sold it for £9. in his days at Warwick Wright Mr Warrilow ran a Talbot 95 with the close-coupled four-door saloon body.

He remembers it as virtually a 75 with a detuned 105 engine, which made it a really fast car for those days. But the Talbot 65 was not to be despised — it is remembered as not particularly quick, although able to cruise at 60-65 mph almost indefinitely. It also had plenty of room inside with admirable adjustable front seats and was good looking, too. The lovely lines of the short chassis Talbot 105 endowed with a saloon body designed for Noel Rees of Fox & Nichol!, Talbot agents with premises just off the Kingston bypass, are remembered. While working for Warwick Wright, Mr Warrilow sold the special 1936 Show model long-wheelbase 31/2-litre Talbot with its superb limousine body and ambulance double-reduction back-axle. its price had been reduced to £695 after it had served as a factory demonstrator.

In part exchange came a Safety Stutz which Warwick Wright had supplied to the client in the late 20s. A magnificent motor-car, which went to the trade for £35. While he was Rootes’ General Sales Manager Peter Warrilow ran a 1933 Talbot 90, the very last short-chassis 90 to be built at Barlby Road (AGN 898). It had a Darracq-built light four-door saloon body and its owner fitted it with 105 wheels, raising the overall gear ratios. He also gave it extra lamps and horns.

On his way to Devon (where he now lives) in 1939, with his sister, this enabled the Talbot to show 95 mph on its speedometer over Salisbury Plain. Then war broke out and it was sold to the trade for £45, just before Peter joined-up, later to be demobbed as a Lt Colonel. His admiration for the Georges Roesch Talbots is as strong as ever. He rode with Tony Ward in his special-bodied 105 at the 1992 Brooklands Reunion, when the Test Hill ascent troubled them not at all, and he has made reacquaintance with the Warwick Wright demonstrator 31/2-litre Talbot (CGP 1281 with open body by WW, whose plate still adorns the dashboard of this beautifullyrestored car, which Mr Warrilow drove many times and regards as better than any 41/4-litre Bentley.