Swallow Doretti
The Swallow Doretti sportscar was built by the Swallow Coachbuilding Co (makers of the sidecar called Swallow), a company which had been sold by William Lyons in 1946 to the engineering group Tube Investments. Frank Rainbow, an ex Bristol Aviation man, was employed by the conglomerate. He had designed a scooter for his new employers that had proved successful, so next he was asked to design a car. The result that was the Swallow Doretti was a sportscar built around a Triumph TR2 engine, gearbox, rear axle / front suspension, with square section Reynolds tube chassis which made it longer and wider and heavier than the Triumph. The small team at Swallow in Walsall built close on 300 cars over a 10 month period, selling these expensive cars in higher numbers than the TR2 sold during this period, which puts things in perspective - things were going well for Swallow who had a small workforce of less than a couple of dozen! Most Swallow Dorettis were exported to the USA, with an improved version on the cards which eliminated any shortcomings that Frank Rainbow had found after testing in California. There were optional extras such as overdrive, and wire wheels in place of the standard steel wheels. But perhaps surprisingly in this very short period the Swallow Doretti was impacting on sales of Jaguars in the USA and Lyons somehow encouraged TI management, who were also components suppliers to Jaguar, to stay out of motor car manufacturing, and production of the Swallow Doretti ceased in early 1955, only 10 months after it started.
Tyre size for the Swallow Doretti was 5.50x15, but the radial ply tyre that will suit the Doretti best is our 165R15 size. See details of this cross ply 165VR15 radial ply tyre (and a cross ply 550x15 alternative) at the links below:
