1954 Swallow Doretti

The Swallow Doretti was produced by the Swallow Side Car Company between 1954 and 1955. It used a Reynolds 531 tubular chassis, running gear mostly sourced from the Triumph TR2, and wore an Italian-inspired aluminum body designed by Frank Rainbow (an engineer at Tube Investments). The body panels were supplied by Panelcraft. During its short production lifespan, a total of 276 examples were built.

The Swallow Coachbuilding Company was part of William Lyons' empire that specialized in making sidecars. Another one of Lyons' companies, Swallow Sidecars, made the 'SS' cars that adopted the 'Jaguar' name following World War II. After the war, it was sold by Lyons to Tube Investments (TI), and as the sidecar market declined, the firm used its spare capacity to make the Doretti in 1954.

From the drawing board to the prototype stage took a mere ten months. Power was from a four-cylinder inline engine with overhead valves sourced from the TR2. Additional TR2 components included the gearbox, rear axle, front and rear suspension, and interior instruments and switches. It was 7 inches longer and 5.5 inches wider than the TR2, allowing the engine to be placed farther back in the chassis resulting in nearly perfect weight distribution. Compared to the TR2 upon which it was based, the Doretti was heavier and slightly slower, but its handling was noticeably better. It also came with fitted luggage and a heater as standard equipment, unlike the TR. Due to being hand-built, the Swallow Doretti was priced twenty-five percent above the Triumph.

The Swallow Doretti was popular in California, and one of its chief rivals was the Jaguar XK120. This did not please William Lyons who pressured TI to cancel the Doretti project, going so far as threatening TI with sourcing components for the Jaguar from other vendors. TI reluctantly made the business decision to keep its lucrative contracts with Jaguar and ceased production of the Doretti in 1955 after 276 examples had been completed.

by Daniel Vaughan | Jun 2021