A Talbot "First"

Sir,
A Talbot “First” ? I think not. My 1926 1,616-c.c. 4-cylinder GM Mathis tourer used sump-oil in the gearbox. A detachable aluminium U-pipe connected sump to clutch house, the flywheel and clutch (a dead smooth multi-plate disc type) thereby running in oil from the sump.

Oil level in the gearbox was maintained by splash via specially positioned holes drilled in its front wall. A simple system that worked admirably.

This sprightly engine had phospher-bronze mains and big-ends and the helical timing gears were interposed between flywheel and rear main bearing, the resultant overhang of the flywheel necessitating yet another main bearing—in the gearbox!

Twickenham, A.E. Stage.