As you know, one of my favorite things to do is walk home from a party and hope I'll see something cool along the way (that's how I saw the DAF). Last Friday was no exception, around 11.30 pm, I was walking home and saw a graffiti that made me laugh : "Bruce"; not original but seemed hillarious at the time.

Then 2mins after Bruce, I saw a Simca 1100, my parent's first car ; I remember loving the glorious sound of its engine (probably faulty exhaust in retrospect) and deeply hearting that car. Ours was red/Orange, this one's green but it'll do.

A nearby restaurant owner told me it belongs to an old curmudgeon who doesn't drive it in winter but has been parking his car in this neighborhood for ever (must be a fair-weather Simca).

I came back the next day and the car was still there. Plenty of rust, but all the moving parts seem ok; exhaust also. Though this is a Simca, the grille they put in says Talbot, which had really confused me the previous night (not an absinthe evening, but Calvados works fine also I assure you) but actually tells us about its year:

With the unveiling of the Talbot name to replace Chrysler in July 1979, in France and other European markets the cars were renamed Talbot Simca 1100s, with Talbot badges on the bonnet and Simca badges on the tailgates. So this is the base version, the LS with 53 bhp, from 1979 or 1980. I love the rims, the three spoke steering wheel, and the hatchback design. cult car for me.

Here's Franzouse's report:

For my birthday I went home this weekend to my quaint little southern french town of St Geniez D'olt (yup try pronouncing that) in the beautiful Aveyron region and got a real nice present: race day! They wouldn't let me enter the mehari in the "course de cote" (road climb, 46 turns in 6 miles of beautiful asphalt with guard rails...), but I did get to see the vintage racers that were parked on the plaza during the racer's big sunday lunch. It being bastille day, so here are the French cars

Yes kids, it's the car that turned Simca, for a brief, shining moment into the second-brightest sales star in the nighttime skies over Bordeaux: the Simca Aronde. It debuted in 1951, and eventually made a whopping 70hp via its Rush Super engine, which is possibly the third greatest engine name in history, behind Toyota's Twin Squish and Mopar's Super Commando. Then Chrysler took over and we ended up with the Dodge Omni. Which in turn gave us one of the rarest Shelbys of them all: The Rampage. – Davey G. Johnson

Simca Aronde (P60 Models) [Simca Club, UK]

Related:
Hecklerspray on the Talbot Samba: Return to Form [Internal]

The Dan over at The Forbes has come up with a list of ten cult cars you shouldn't be without. We're still pissed he specifically rejected the 2CV and the Fiat Jolly, because well, Cadillac Eldos attract the wrong women, and it takes too long to explain a Talbot T-150. The list? Post-jump. Click.

Cadillac Eldorado
Citro n SM
Dodge Challenger
Ferrari 250 GTO
Ferrari Enzo
Jaguar D-Type
Lamborghini Countach
'61 Lincoln Continental
Porsche 356
Talbot T-150
– Davey G. Johnson

Coolest Cult Cars [Forbes]

Related:
More 2CVs [Internal]

The Talbot Wind could probably be fronted upon. After all, it's a subcompact with a pickup bed and a dorky name. It didn't sell all that well, and Talbots weren't exactly noted for their quality. But, but! It is an obscure factory-Camino shitbox, and due to Uncle Bumbeck's influence, we're falling in love with goofy subcompacts of the '70s and '80s, making the Wind a shoo-in for inclusion in our rapidly-expanding compendium of ElCo-type hits.

Talbot Wind [Rootes-Chrysler.co.uk]

Related:
More El Caminos [Internal]

Last week we wondered if Laverty was losing it his piece on the Ford Ka made us wonder if the ol' boy's mojo had gone off for a coffee break and never returned. Thankfully, he comes back today with a classic "Rubbish Cars We Love" piece on the Talbot Samba, which is about as far removed from a Talbot-Lago as one can get while still staying in the realm of items with four wheels and an internal combustion engine. Seriously, we've seen swankier riding mowers. But Laverty defends the wee rustbucket, and admits a special fondness for the 80hp Rallye Edition, exhorting, "Who gives a damn about a bit of rust when you can drive an eighty horsepower mayfly?"

Rubbish Cars We Love: Talbot Samba Weak As I Am [Hecklerspray]

More Bounce to the Ounce: Hecklerspray on the Ford Ka Mk 1 [Internal]