Clement Talbots Swiss-born Georges Roesch, whose obsession with the pursuit of high performance through increased engine revolutions led to some of the most memorable cars of the 1930s. Developed from the highly successful 14/45, the 2.3-litre '75' offered rapid, comfortable transport at a competitive price and, like all Roesch's Talbot creations, was powered by a smooth and flexible six-cylinder overhead-valve engine endowed with a remarkably high output for its size. The quality of this engine was amply demonstrated by its numerous competition successes during the 1930s at classic races such as Le Mans, the Ards TT and at many races at Brooklands. Available in two wheelbase lengths (114" and 120"), the chassis was a substantial, affair featuring semi-elliptic front and quarter-elliptic rear springing, and equipped with very effective brakes. The Wilson pre-selector, 'self-changing' gearbox came as standard.
Based on the sought after shorter 114” AW chassis, this model has the desirable low radiator and unusually is fitted with Talbots excellent ‘silent third’ manual gearbox. This 75 is a very rare example of the model being fitted with open tourer coachwork- almost all 75s being bodied as saloons. It is believed only a handful were built from new as tourers. This car is one of three AW75s bodied in this style by the respected coachbuilder and Talbot dealers Grose. It is the only known survivor. There are photos on file of the car as completed by Grose prior to it being delivered.
This car was purchased new by L.E. Taylor from Grose in 1933. As shown by an old style buff logbook on file other known owners are W.Chambers 1946, D.S.Molyneux 1969,
‘NG 5337’ passed to John Cowley in the 1970s. At this point it remained a very original car and complete, but in need of restoration (see images on file). The car remained with Cowley undergoing gradual restoration until his death in 1991. Following this Mr Cowley’s widow sent the car to our sister restoration business I.S.Polson to have various mechanical restoration jobs carried out (see invoices on file). Again, though progress was not great until the car passed to its next owner in 2003.
A keen Talbot owner having previously owned two Vanden Plas bodied AV105 models and a seasoned historic racer, he could see that the combination of the ultra-smooth and light 75 engine, with the very elegant and sporting coachwork on the short AW chassis would make an excellent combination. He entrusted the mechanicals, bodywork and paintwork to I.S.Polson, the engine was rebuilt by Pace Products, being upgraded to Talbot ‘90’ specification (retaining the original cylinder block, making it matching numbers engine/chassis) in the process.
This delightful car changed hands again in 2023, passing to David Thomson, himself an experienced Talbot owner for over 30 years. Since the engine rebuild in 2010, the car had only covered about 2500 miles, and was still going through the running-in and snagging phase post-restoration.
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