Is this the most confusing car brand of all time?

The new owners of the Earl’s old firm kept the Talbot brand for London-made cars and started using Talbot-Darracq for Paris-made cars. In short order, they bought Wolverhampton’s Sunbeam and put the lot under the unfortunately named umbrella of STD Motors.

Real excitement came in 1930 as Talbot ventured to Le Mans for the famous 24-hour race and upset the big players.

Bentley scored a one-two with its 6.6-litre monsters, but Bugatti, Alfa Romeo, Mercedes and MG were all outclassed by Talbot’s 2.3-litre 90s – “really remarkable”, said Autocar. It then twice repeated this impressive feat in the following years with its enhanced 105s.

However, all was not well, as the Western world had plunged into a terrible economic depression and Sunbeam had long been unable to replicate Talbot’s prosperity, eventually dragging STD under.

Rootes, owner of Britain’s Hillman and Humber car brands, came to the rescue of Sunbeam and Talbot, leading Autocar to proclaim: “Under this energetic new management, there is no doubt that the Talbot name will continue to rank high in automobile circles.”

It looked as though the Talbot-Darracq business would vanish – until an unexpected buyout by its managing director, the “large and determined” Italian Antonio Lago.

Henceforth two separate firms would use the Talbot brand, but to avoid confusion Lago’s cars were usually referred to in Britain as Darracqs or Talbot-Lagos.

The two firms trod diverging paths: Talbot built restyled humble Hillmans while Talbot-Lago went upmarket with its cars, provided chassis for coachbuilt stunners and competed in grands prix.

In 1938, Rootes decided to merge Talbot and Sunbeam, introducing yet another hyphenated name to this already muddled lineage.

Both Talbots enjoyed the 1950s: Talbot-Lago won grands prix and Le Mans with its T26 and crafted some beautiful luxury and sporting cars for the road, while Sunbeam-Talbot attracted envy for its saloons and convertibles – one of which also won the Coupes des Alpes in the hands of Stirling Moss.

However, confusion persisted, leading Rootes to shorten Sunbeam-Talbot to just Sunbeam in 1954 – “a short life but a merry one”, we said. And five years later, Talbot-Lago’s prolonged suffocation by postwar austerity and heavy taxation on luxury cars finally killed it, its assets being bought by Simca.