Malaise Is A French Word: 1979 Simca Talbot 1100 In Paris

This is Down On The Street Bonus Edition, where we check out interesting street-parked cars located in places other than the Island That Rust Forgot. We've seen a couple of Peugeots and a Renault in DOTSBE this week, so today we need to give equal time to a marque you rarely see on the North American street. Franzouse found this extremely rusty Simca 1100 while staggering home from a party one night, and had a Proustian flashback to his parents' old 1100. Make the jump and you shall see and read more about this car.

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.