Malcolm Stern with his dad's 1930 Sunbeam Talbot-Darracq 80 years ago and now
Malcolm's father sold it in 1942. The decades passed, and it became a family tale. Then in 2020, a 91-year-old Malcolm looked up the car online.
In a few clicks, he found a listing for a Talbot-Darracq — with a recent photo. It was still in one piece, and the license plate matched the one in their family photos. It was going on auction in a few weeks’ time.
Malcolm and his son Jonathan purchased the nearly century-old car for around $8,000 and began a refurbishment project that lasted three years. Last week, the Talbot-Darracq — complete with a new yellow paint job — hit the road again, capping the unlikely restoration of the Sterns’ family treasure.
Mr Stern said his son will inherit the car, passing it on to a third generation of the family.
Jonathan Stern said: "Dad's been working on this for such a long time and he's just such a stubborn and obstinate guy so there was no way that this was ever not going to happen - and he just made it happen.
"To see it come full circle from it being a wreck to something that we could reliably drive... is testament to the incredible amount of work my dad has put in."
