Francisco Carrion
On March 21, the first official meeting of the Talbot Spain club was held, which brings together all the achievements of the Barreiros factory in Madrid from the 60s to the 80s.
Although this club has started its journey relatively recently, it seems that it has brought together a real group of fans, because despite the bad weather that reigned throughout Spain, nothing less than about 50 vehicles participated, some from as far away as Galicia, Jaén or the Basque Country.
And we say this as "far away" because the rally was held in the outskirts of Madrid; Specifically, the meeting point was the bullring -covered- of Valdemorillo, to then move to the Museum of the Barreiros Foundation.
Surprising quantity and quality
The quality and variety of participation was really outstanding because, if we except the mammoth Dodge Dart and 3700 GT, it was present practically all production of Barreiros passenger cars, apart from the occasional “exotic” unit of those produced only in France such as a very rare Talbot Matra Rancho –especially for being a unit with national registration, although more modern- or two Talbot Tagora in perfect condition .
The models with the greatest representation were the popular Simca 1200 and Talbot Horizón, among which you could see some units with preparation for rallies that contrasted with many others in perfect originality and conservation, or some "special" version such as the much remembered Horizón of cop.
Saloon cars such as the Chrysler 180 and Chrysler / Talbot 150 were also seen, as well as various units of the Talbot Solara. It should be noted that most of these were perfectly restored or preserved, which is remarkable if we consider that they are models that have just come out of the dreaded "purgatory" and are now beginning to be considered "classics."
Successfully purged
There were even two Talbot Solaras with the exclusive "Pullman" ending; as we have learned later, thanks to a seasoned reader, these were two replicas made on the SX version -the most luxurious and equipped- very well made. So much so that one of them managed to fool us.
There was even a small participation from Talbot Samba, which shows that there is a whole range of Barreiros products that have come to be considered classics and that they are easy and cheap to acquire and maintain. Now we can only encourage all fans to start conserving these “youngtimers” that are part of Spanish automotive history. And of course, congratulate the Club Talbot Spain for the success of their first meeting.
* We thank Testanello Portfolio for providing the photos
