Talbot Tagora SX

[Kettmark]

A school friends dad had one back in the day. Very spacious. Rare even when they were newish. Like looking for hens teeth now.

[benjj]

I had never heard of the Tagora until just last week. There is one entered in my class in HERO's LeJog this December, I think with a Swiss or German crew, can't quite remember.

I wonder what kind of rally car it will make. Ours is a tough class, my Porsche 944, the Bakers' 911SC etc. Will be interesting to go up against in any case.

[N Dentressangle]

There was this one on Ebay last month:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1983-TALBOT-TAGORA-2-6-V...

Could see if the buyer really wants it?

eta Oops, it was a year ago. Probably scrapped by now

Edited by N Dentressangle on Wednesday 22 May 15:19

[LouD86]

I remember my Grandad having one of these! At an early age, I was excited the indicators worked with no key in the ignition!

[danoli777]

N Dentressangle said:

There was this one on Ebay last month:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1983-TALBOT-TAGORA-2-6-V...

Could see if the buyer really wants it?

eta Oops, it was a year ago. Probably scrapped by now

Edited by N Dentressangle on Wednesday 22 May 15:19

I sent a mechanic to inspect this last year and it was in far worse condition than I had hoped. It needed a new roof which was a deal breaker for me as I had just done this on another car and did not fancy doing (or paying for!) it again.

Thankfully, someone with far more mechanical talent than me bought it and it is being restored.

[iva cosworth]

I remember when these were new and never saw one back then either.

Were they popular in Coventry then ?

[tali1]

LordBretSinclair said:

tali1 said:

Ex- coventry city chairman Jimmy Hill had a GL

..... that says it all

.....no ... Fergie in Chevy Captiva

iva cosworth said:

I remember when these were new and never saw one back then either.

Were they popular in Coventry then ?

Coventry was HQ for Peugeot Talbot and Ryton plant

[MarshPhantom]

Always liked the Tagora, saw a few around when I was younger as there was a Talbot garage quite near where I lived.

I was always impressed by the performance of the 2.6, I think they quoted sub 8 secs to 60.

[anonymous-user]

Try asking on autoste,com, where a few have been seen.

[Mound Dawg]

My mate's brother had a 2.2 back in the 80s. I remember it being a lot better than any of us thought it would be, especially as it was four years old and had cost about 800 quid. He was the second owner...

If memory serves, it was an auto so accelerated like it was axle deep in treacle but it was very comfy and quiet.

[ClaphamGT3]

So not only do you want one of the most gim-crack, unreliable cars ever made, you want to pick the specific model with the PRV Douvrin engine - I like your style!!

[jith]

MarshPhantom said:

Always liked the Tagora, saw a few around when I was younger as there was a Talbot garage quite near where I lived.

I was always impressed by the performance of the 2.6, I think they quoted sub 8 secs to 60.

Was that going over a cliff when the brakes failed?

J

[Pothole]

There are a few Tagoras in Malta...

[Pistom]

ClaphamGT3 said:

So not only do you want one of the most gim-crack, unreliable cars ever made, you want to pick the specific model with the PRV Douvrin engine - I like your style!!

Hang on, who has found these unreliable? My dad ran 4 or 5 of these running up about 700k miles between them. None suffered any major issues in that time. They felt spacious, quiet and comfortable. The dashboard had a self test function to rival the Enterprise and was the first car I drove with cruise control.

Compared to the competition from Volvo, Ford, BMW and Renault, it was leagues ahead just like the Chrysler 180/2ltr was far superior to the likes of the Cortina and Cavelier.

What these cars suffered was lack of marketing and image. That of course is what makes them such a cool classic now but the chances of finding a worthwhile example must be close to zero. I've got a few V5s for old times sake though! I'm tempted to eBay some rare spares my dads got like headlamps and back lights just to see what they'd go for. I kept them as I hoped to have one again but I realise that I'm more likely to see a Veyron on my drive than a Tagora!

[danoli777]

Pothole said:

There are a few Tagoras in Malta...

I'm listening, if there is an SX for sale please send me the details....

[pshome]

benjj said:

I had never heard of the Tagora until just last week. There is one entered in my class in HERO's LeJog this December, I think with a Swiss or German crew, can't quite remember.

I wonder what kind of rally car it will make. Ours is a tough class, my Porsche 944, the Bakers' 911SC etc. Will be interesting to go up against in any case.

Hi there, its me and my buddy Michael on LeJog in a Tagora this year.

With 166HP out of a pair of triple Webers we can only win!

Actually, we have 3 Tagoras, one SX and two GLS.



We didn't yet decide which one to use for LeJog. The SX has plenty power, excellent acceleration and what a sound! But its a pain to work on because everything is covered by that giant air filter box on top of the PRV engine.

Its 50+ screws and lots of tubes and cables to remove before reaching about anything. Not sure if it is fun to take it off at freezing temperatures on a windy corner just to dry a distributor or fix a loose ignition cable. The GLS have 110 HP, that's probably enough and the small Simca block sits pretty lonley in that huge engine compartment with everything easily accessible.

We did buy the SX just a few weeks ago from an old lady who had it since new, it had just 73000km on the counter.

Click here for a video of the first start of the SX after we got it, it did run just fine, needed just a new clutch, oil change and new filters.

Tagoras do have racing history. Danielson prepared them with 200HP for the French Supertourisme.







If you want to buy a Tagora, best place to look is France of course. We bought the blue one in Bordeaux, rust free and we drove it home 1600km to Germany with no problems. SX do come up every now and then, there was one for sale in Austria last year, also with only 70K on the counter. You can find a decent GLS (no rust, +- 100k on the counter) for around 2000€. SX cost more unless you are lucky and find another old lady with a pristine SX sitting in her garage

Read more about the cars in our blog: http://www.altefranzosen.de

Greetings from Munich

Peter

Edited by pshome on Friday 24th May 21:20

Edited by pshome on Friday 24th May 21:49

[MarshPhantom]

Great first post.

Do come again.

[benjj]

pshome said:

Hi there, its me and my buddy Michael on LeJog in a Tagora this year.

With 166HP out of a pair of triple Webers we can only win!

Actually, we have 3 Tagoras, one SX and two GLS.



We didn't yet decide which one to use for LeJog. The SX has plenty power, excellent acceleration and what a sound!...

Hi Peter,

Excellent, I'll look forward to meeting you in the winter!

I love it when there are different cars entered, I get bored of looking at 911s and Escorts all the time. The Tagora will be a very nice place to sit and could be a really competitive car.

What are your plans to prepare it for LeJog?

[dartissimus]

pshome said:

benjj said:

I had never heard of the Tagora until just last week. There is one entered in my class in HERO's LeJog this December, I think with a Swiss or German crew, can't quite remember.

I wonder what kind of rally car it will make. Ours is a tough class, my Porsche 944, the Bakers' 911SC etc. Will be interesting to go up against in any case.

Hi there, its me and my buddy Michael on LeJog in a Tagora this year.

With 166HP out of a pair of triple Webers we can only win!

Actually, we have 3 Tagoras, one SX and two GLS.



We didn't yet decide which one to use for LeJog. The SX has plenty power, excellent acceleration and what a sound! But its a pain to work on because everything is covered by that giant air filter box on top of the PRV engine.

Its 50+ screws and lots of tubes and cables to remove before reaching about anything. Not sure if it is fun to take it off at freezing temperatures on a windy corner just to dry a distributor or fix a loose ignition cable. The GLS have 110 HP, that's probably enough and the small Simca block sits pretty lonley in that huge engine compartment with everything easily accessible.

We did buy the SX just a few weeks ago from an old lady who had it since new, it had just 73000km on the counter.

Click here for a video of the first start of the SX after we got it, it did run just fine, needed just a new clutch, oil change and new filters.

Tagoras do have racing history. Danielson prepared them with 200HP for the French Supertourisme.







If you want to buy a Tagora, best place to look is France of course. We bought the blue one in Bordeaux, rust free and we drove it home 1600km to Germany with no problems. SX do come up every now and then, there was one for sale in Austria last year, also with only 70K on the counter. You can find a decent GLS (no rust, +- 100k on the counter) for around 2000€. SX cost more unless you are lucky and find another old lady with a pristine SX sitting in her garage

Read more about the cars in our blog: http://www.altefranzosen.de

Greetings from Munich

Peter

Edited by pshome on Friday 24th May 21:20

Edited by pshome on Friday 24th May 21:49

Game Set & match

[pshome]

benjj said:

What are your plans to prepare it for LeJog?

We have most comfortable seats,



an electronic engine control system



and a top notch factory fitted "ordinateur"



that can even be switched to "imperial".

We just bought fantastic brand new 175SR14 tires at the local bicycle shop!

We are thinking about adding an auxiliary heating system, nothing beets a comfy start in the morning!

What else would we need to beat you ?

Cheers

Peter

Edited by pshome on Saturday 25th May 19:02