About Swallow Doretti
Swallow Doretti made a 2 seater sports car based on the Triumph TR2 between 1954 and 1955.
The company name came from Swallow Coachbuilding Co. (1935) Ltd. which was sold in 1945 by Jaguar formerly S.S. Cars Ltd. to the Helliwell Group which was taken over in 1946 by the British conglomorate the Tube Investments Group (TI).
The first and only model produced by Swallow under TI ownership was the Doretti which had a tubular Reynold 531 Cromolly chassis with a body made of a steel inner skin and aluminium outer. Most cars were supplied with overdrive and they were capable of 100mph. 276 cars were made including a single fixed head coupe version. The car was designed by in-house engineer Frank Rainbow, and produced in the TI factory at the The Airport, Walsall, Staffordshire, England.
Production stopped in 1955 when the parent company TI changed policy. Pressure from the British motor industry, most notably Jaguar itself, lead to the cease of production of the Doretti. It is thought that the Directors of TI were convinced that continued production of the Doretti sports car placed TI in direct competition with their customers for raw materials creating a serious conflict of interest.
