Phil asks about the insignia - volumes have been written about what it really
is and the argument continues. The following summarizes what I've been able
to deduce over the years.
There has been a lot of debate about what we lovingly call the "Talbot" logo.
Most of the discussion has been about the animal depicited in the design.
Is it a lion or a dog?
My copy of the Georges Roesch biography is presently out on loan, but as I
recall, the design was adapted from the crest of the Earl of Shrewsbury who
was the money behind the Talbot automobile in its British production. The
original family crest depicted a Talbot hound, which was a sporting breed
used by nobility - and which gave the name to the car. When the Rootes
Brothers joined Talbot and Sunbeam, they maintained the logo from the Talbot.
The animal gradually evolved from looking like a sleek hound to the lionlike
creature most of us are familiar with (you know how artists have to keep
tampering).
The Talbot hound was dropped from the British Kennel Club breed recognition
in the early 1900s when none had been registered for many years, and are now
thought to be extinct as an identifiable breed.
"Ole"
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