The lovely Swallow Doretti was made from early 1954 to Feb. '55. The equally
lovely Dorothy Deen was the enthusiastic promoter of the car in the US. She
also contributed the car's name, with an Italianized version of her own name
Swallow was Sir William Lyons' former company now owned by Tube Investments.
TI also supplied components to Jaguar, and it was Sir William himself who
objected to the competition from within, and contributed to the Doretti's
demise.
Doretti cars were fitted with Triumph TR 2 motors, but racer Max Balchowsky
hot-rodded six of them with 4 Buick, 1 Cadillac and 1 Chev motors. The car's
frame used the hi-tech Reynolds 531 tubing also found on Tube Investments'
Raleigh bicycles. Body was aluminum. Price was the same as an Austin-Healey
100.
Tom Householder trhouse@greenapple.com is one of the world's leading
authorities on the cars, and posts occasionally on the Healey list.
The Swallow Doretti currently has a keen following, and 175 of the 275 cars
produced are accounted for.
Peter
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