Description
This lot will be auctioned via Iconic Auctioneers, The Iconic Sale at the BRDC Classic 2026 - Collectors' Cars on Saturday the 25th of July, The Wing, Silverstone Circuit, NN12 8TN. The Doretti sports car was built at Walsall in Staffordshire by the Swallow Coachbuilding Company (1935) Ltd, which was the part of William Lyons' empire that specialised in building motorcycle sidecars. Somewhat paradoxically, another of Lyons' companies, Swallow Sidecars, made the 'SS' cars that adopted the 'Jaguar' name post-war. Sold by Lyons to Tube Investments after the Second World War, and facing a declining market for sidecars, Swallow used its spare capacity to launch the Doretti sports car in 1954, aimed at the Californian market. The stylish two-seater adopted the Triumph TR2 engine and running gear, which went into a bespoke chassis fabricated from Reynolds 531 tubing and clothed in aluminium outer body panels supplied by Panelcraft. The design was the work of one of TI's engineers, Frank Rainbow, who, working alone, managed to get the Doretti from drawing board to the prototype stage in a mere ten months. Robustly built with a chassis longer and wider than Triumph's TR2, the Doretti handled more securely and had more refinements including a heater and fitted luggage. Basically a 'cottage industry', the 18 strong workforce at Walsall turned out about five cars per week. The styling was unashamedly borrowed from the contemporary Ferrari 166MM 'Barchetta' and the name 'Doretti' was an Italian derivation of the first name of Dorothy Dean, a California Triumph distributor. Offering 100mph performance at a relatively bargain price, (although more expensive than the TR2), the Doretti sold well in California where its hand-built exclusivity had much appeal. More than half of the total production went for export. One of its chief rivals was the Jaguar XK120, and consequently Lyons was not best pleased, pressuring TI to axe the Doretti by threatening to look elsewhere for the components they supplied to Jaguar. TI caved in and the Doretti ceased production in 1955 after only 276 had been completed, however, testimony to the build quality and the discerning nature of the original customer base is the remarkably high survival rate of the marque and model.
Offered here from the Anthony Hamilton Collection is perhaps the most famous of the existing Dorettis with a direct family link back to the factory. Jill Royal was the daughter of Sir Ivan Arthur Rice Stedeford, Chairman and Managing Director of Tube Investments (T. I.) the global powerhouse that owned Swallow Coachbuilding.
Jill was gifted a pre-production Doretti in 1953 for her twenty-first birthday and went on to own later derivatives eventually moving to more practical vehicles in the late fifties. Often remarking how much she missed her Doretti, the family discovered one for sale which was secretly purchased, gift wrapped and presented to her for Christmas in 1995. The car was a 1955 Mallard Green Mk I registered STT 24 and was enjoyed as a ‘high days and holidays’ fun car for a few months until serendipity intervened when, in 1996, the prototype MkII Doretti, which she had previously owned in 1955, was chanced upon and duly purchased. STT 24 was sold and was subsequently enjoyed by two further custodians before being purchased for the Collection from its Dutch owner.
The comprehensive history file contains a multitude of past owners notes and hand-written accounts and an early V5 documents Jill's earlier ownership at a Cotswold address commensurate with the daughter of a wealthy industrialist.
Since becoming part of the Collection it has been subject to a meticulous in-house restoration and presents superbly in Mallard Green complemented by a beautiful Tan leather interior with Cinnamon carpets. The sheer quality of this restoration is evident from our images.
Arguably the closest existing Swallow Doretti with family roots to its Walsall origins, a must for a collector of British classics or marque enthusiast.
