1931 Talbot at the VSCC Silverstone meeting

The 11 Hand built AV105 Talbots

The Clement Talbot Company had enjoyed a dominant position in the 3 litre class of international sports car racing in 1930 and had achieved promising outright results. This was in spite of the proposal that they should build a team and compete having not been agreed by the Board till March 12th of that year, and the cars which they were able to produce in the very limited time being 724cc below the 3 litre limit because of the need to use existing components. These cars were AO 90s which were based on lightly modified 14/45 Scout chassis frames and AO70 engines and gearboxes. Buoyed up by the relative ease with which their 1930 successes had been achieved, the company decided to make a much more serious attempt in 1931 with a purpose designed competition model, and so the AV105 was planned. As time and resources were limited only 11 of these cars were produced in 1931 and all had the aluminium engine, 2” front springs, Perrot shaft brake actuation, steel brake drums machined from solid billets and many magnesium components. These cars are referred to in contemporary correspondence and magazine advertisements as the “hand built cars”.

The first of these, 3 Team Cars, were delivered on May 7th and the Demonstrator (see below) was also completed early in May. The 4th Team Car, GO54, was delivered on the 29th of August. The AV105 as a

production car was launched at the Motor Show at Olympia in October 1931, by which time Talbot 105s had been racing for 5 months. The cars at the Show were 1931 specification. By the end of 1931 all of the hand built cars had been delivered. The first production specification AV105 cars, with iron engines, left the factory in February 1932.

A breakdown of the 11 1931 cars follows:-

31051-4 These are the 4 GO cars. These cars were totally rebuilt at the end of the 1931 season with new chassis frames, engines, gearboxes, front axles with brake actuation by cables, revised brake drums, wider front springs and new radiator caps and necks. Their replacement engines had cast iron cylinder blocks. All of these revisions were incorporated in the 1932 production cars. Recently discovered Fox and Nicholl correspondence shows that the aluminium engines were refitted to the GO cars for the 1932 TT.

31055 This chassis initially carried the first Brooklands Speed Model body and was shown in this form at the 1931 Motor Show. This chassis, with body removed, was sold in December 1931. The Brooklands body was subsequently fitted to a 1932 specification AV105 chassis which was delivered in April 1932.

31056 This chassis, fitted with a GO type body and the number plates from GO54, was used for the 1931 Alpine Trial, which it completed without loss of points. It was subsequently exhibited at the 1931 Scottish Motor Show and made the news by beating the time of the Scots Express from Glasgow to London by 33 minutes. On this occasion it carried the registration number 015LB, probably a trade plate. It is listed in the Clement Talbot sales ledger as a “Demonstrator“ with a further note in the delivery column “This chassis has been dismantled & is not in existence”

31057, 31058, 31060, 31066 and 31067 are the remaining cars sold in 1931. All were sold as chassis and all went to Warwick Wright. Only 2 registration identities are known at present, 31060, the chassis shown here today carried the registration number PJ2288, and 1 of the remaining 5 Warwick Wright chassis was fitted with Wylder 2 door coupe coachwork, registered GT7860, and used by its owner, Adrian Harrington-Harvard in the 1932 Monte Carlo Rally. I have a photograph of another early 105 with 2 door coupe coachwork, GW2092 and it is likely that this is one of the 1931 cars.

I would be extremely grateful for information on any of the 5 missing 1931 cars, or for any information on my car, PJ2288, before it was exported to Australia in 1935, and any photographs of my car carrying its original coachwork which was removed before it was exported.

I would also be interested to hear of the existence or fate of the missing 12 aluminium engines. Numbers 7,8,11,12 and 3A were fitted to the missing Warwick Wright cars, 5 was fitted to the demonstrator which was dismantled, 1, 2, 3 and 9 were fitted to the GO team cars during the 1931 season and, as noted above, for at least one race in 1932. Engines 4 and 6 were not fitted to chassis and may have been used in a bench testing programme or kept as spares for the racing programme. It is possible that they were scrapped by the works.

Prepared and written by Ian Polson.