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Cabriolet gallery

Early on during the Samba's development programme, PSA decided that something "extra" was needed for its new baby in order to have added market appeal. The Cabriolet was an obvious answer, especially following the success of the Volkswagen Golf Cabriolet...

Although the cabriolet was announced at the time of the Samba's launch in November 1981, it did not appear until the following year. Pininfarina were the coachbuilders commissioned to produce the cabriolet, and as can seen from the pictures in this gallery, it produced a smart and chic open-top.

Cabriolet proposals

In order to give Talbot something unique to offer in the supermini market, a cabriolet was rapidly developed by Pininfarina. The emergence of the Volkswagen Golf cabriolet in 1978 and its subsequenct success had European producers scrambling to jump on the bandwagon. Unlike most, the Samba was a stylistic success. These Pininfarina sketches appear to be based upon the Peugeot 104...

The crash test

The result of a head-on crash at 50km/h... (Picture: talbot.fr.st)

In the wind tunnel

Hood down, one can only imagine the drag co-efficient...

The finished article

Profile view of the cabriolet - very pretty...

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Copyright © 2001-2004 Keith Adams; Copyright © 2005 Allpar, LLC

 

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