4 cylinder L head side valve engine. 80mm x 120mm. 2414cc. Single carburettor. Magneto ignition. 4 speed crash gearbox. Rear wheel brakes. Coachwork by J. Rothschild et Fils of Westminster.
Model History
Clement Talbot was founded in October 1902, matching the engineering genius of Frenchman Adolphe Clement with the money and social standing of English aristocrat, the 22nd Earl of Shrewsbury and Talbot. The purpose-built factory in Ladbroke Grove, London, initially assembled French manufactured cars, but from 1907 all cars were designed and built in London. The 4AB was launched in 1909. Designated 12hp (RAC) it was the ‘cooking’ model of the range and accounted for 50% of all Talbot production prior to WW1. The same basic engine design was stretched to 4.5 litres in the 25hhp model. The L head allowed higher compression and greater revs. It achieved immortality at Brooklands in February 1913 when a streamlined Talbot 25hp, driven by Percy Lambert, became the first car in the world to cover 100 miles in one hour. D5575
D5575 was built in December 1909 and was first registered to an Edgar Withers in Faversham in 1910. However it is post Second World War when it came to competition prominence. Richard Samuelson campaigned the Talbot firstly in 1950 at Prescott Hillclimb and then VSCC events at Silverstone. R.D. Grossmark drove the 4AB at the Brighton Speed trials in 1952 against modern machinery, recording a very respectable 58.5 seconds. In the 90s Ian Polson, the marque expert, often campaigned the car at Prescott and used it for travelling the length and breadth of Great Britain. More recently James Fack, the motoring historian, drove the Talbot down to Le Mans. It retains all its original components and is thus a matching numbers car and is the oldest car in the Talbot Owners Club.
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