The Sunbeam-Talbot Ten is a

compact executive car A compact executive car, also known as a compact luxury car, is a premium car larger than a premium compact and smaller than an executive car. Compact executive car is a UK term and a part of the D-segment in the European car classification. A ...

or small sports saloon manufactured by Rootes Group in their Clément-Talbot factory in North Kensington between 1938 and 1939, and then reintroduced after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

and sold between 1945 and 1948. It was at first a two-door then a four-door sports saloon. A

drophead coupé A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary among eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving exp ...

version and a sports tourer version were also available.

Talbot Ten

The Clément-Talbot and then the Sunbeam Motor Car Company businesses fell into the hands of Rootes in 1935, and the new owner's strategy was clearly to use the prestige of the Talbot name for selling larger numbers of lower priced cars than hitherto. This Rootes' Talbot Ten was one of the first products of the Rootes strategy intended to open Talbot's planned shift down-market and add a genuinely small car to the proposed range. A star of the 1936 Motor Show it was a lengthened Hillman Aero Minx with a stronger chassis all updated at short notice by Talbot's Georges Roesch and rebadgedJohn Bullock, ''The Rootes Brothers'', Patrick Stephens, Sparkford Somerset and so another variant of the existing middle market saloon, the

Hillman Minx The Hillman Minx was a mid-sized family car that British car maker Hillman produced from 1931 to 1970. There were many versions of the Minx over that period, as well as badge-engineered variants sold by Humber, Singer, and Sunbeam. From t ...

. Reviewers described the car as an attractive refined and well-equipped small car.Anders Detlev Clausager. ''Sunbeam-Talbot & Alpine In Detail: 1935-1956'' 2010 Herridge & Sons / Michael Sedgwick Memorial Trust.

Bodies

The pillarless two-door saloon body made at the

Darracq Motor Engineering Company Darracq Motor Engineering Company Limited was a London importer, retailer and wholesaler of French-made Darracq and Talbot automobiles, a coachbuilder making regular production runs of bodies for S T D group products and a property holding compa ...

works in Acton was probably shaped by Rootes' Ted White, manager of Rootes' body engineering department. The open tourer was made by

Whittingham & Mitchel Whittingham & Mitchel of Fulham United Kingdom were motor coach and body builders. A company named Whittingham and Mitchel Limited was formed in 1929 to buy that business. During the second World War it made light alloy components for the arm ...

and the drophead coupé with an intermediate '' coupé de ville'' position was made by Abbott of Farnham.

Sunbeam-Talbot Ten

The Talbot Ten was rebadged Sunbeam-Talbot Ten in August 1938. Rootes had decided to make no large luxury car using the Sunbeam name but keep the name alive by linking it with Talbot. Although apparently just a rebadged four door version of the Talbot Ten the new Sunbeam-Talbot Ten was given a whole new all-steel body with four doors. Changes included pressed steel wheels but covered by wheel discs, a normal lever for the gear changes, better instruments, and slightly reshaped front mudguards. Synchromesh was dropped from first gear and then later from second gear.When a car was at rest the then current synchromesh device could block a gear's engagement The new body was on effectively the same chassis but the engine and the radiator were moved 3.5 inches forward. This body was again made in Acton but by

British Light Steel Pressings British Light Steel Pressings Ltd was a company at Warple Way, Acton, London producing bodies for the vehicle industry. British Light Steel Pressings Ltd (BLSP) was formed in 1930. In its early years it made pressings for various purposes. In 19 ...

in their Works next door. Cars exported to Europe were badged Sunbeam. The car was undoubtedly the most elegant small saloon of the period. The classic saloon featured the streamlining increasingly characteristic of mainstream British cars in the later 1930s, along with "stand-alone" headlights. Power came from a 1185 cc side-valve engine for which of power output was claimed. All four wheels were suspended using semi elliptical leaf springs. Top speed was quoted as . In 1948 the Sunbeam-Talbot Ten was almost exactly twice the price of the new

Austin A40 Devon :''See Austin A40 for other A40 models and Austin A40 Sports for the sports car version of the Devon.'' The A40 Devon (and similar 2-door A40 Dorset) are automobiles that were marketed by Austin from 1947 to 1952 – the first post-war sa ...

and slightly slower on the highway. Visually the faster

Sunbeam-Talbot 2 Litre The Sunbeam-Talbot 2 Litre is an automobile which was manufactured by Sunbeam-Talbot in the United Kingdom from 1939 until 1948. It was offered in 4-light sports saloon, foursome drophead coupé and 4-seater sports tourer body styles as well as ...

was virtually indistinguishable from the Ten, but it was actually about longer in wheel-base and overall body length.

Production

* Talbot Ten 1935 to 1938: :2-dr saloon: 2,450 DHC: 581; tourer: 554; open two-seater: 0; Other: 9; chassis: 56 * Sunbeam-Talbot Ten 1938 to 1948: :4-dr saloon: 5,655 DHC: 767; tourer: 822; open two-seater: 11; Other: 2 In 1948 the Sunbeam-Talbot Ten was replaced by the full-width bodied

Sunbeam-Talbot 80 The Sunbeam-Talbot 80 is a 4-door 4-light automobile, sports saloon which was produced by English manufacturer Sunbeam-Talbot from 1948 to 1950.Ian Nickols and Kent Karslake, ''Motoring Entente'', Cassell, London 1956 The 80 was introduced in Ju ...

which was essentially a restyled version of the same car and shared the same roof pressing. File:1947 Sunbeam-Talbot Ten Drophead Coupe 1.2 Front.jpg, 1947 Sunbeam-Talbot Ten Drophead Coupe File:1948 Sunbeam Talbot Ten Tourer 9682994106.jpg, 1948 Sunbeam-Talbot Ten sports tourer

References

Notes

External links

* *{{commons category-inline, Sunbeam-Talbot Ten 80 Cars introduced in 1938 1940s cars Compact executive cars Sedans Convertibles