Story and Photos by Dan Scanlan
Imagine the year 1956: Dwight D. Eisenhower is president; Congress has just said “yea” to the Highway Act and put our interstate system into motion; “Blue Suede Shoes” and “Don’t Be Cruel” are rockin’ the radio; and gasoline is 20 cents a gallon.
Now picture Robert E. Lee High School in balmy Jacksonville, Florida. …
I used to own one of these. When I tore it down, I was surprised to see that Swallow had anticipated all of the bugs in the early TR-2 design and had fixed them before Triumph did (little things like rear shocks and front lower A arm mounts tearing off the frames etc.....)
Kind of wish I still owned it sometimes....
WOW!!!
I have one set up to vintage race in my shop right now. Probably taking it to Amelia next year.
Only ever made 275, 60+ years ago, and two of them are accounted for here. (Ok, one in the past, but still..) wow!
In reply to dculberson :
I was just thinking the same thing. Came here to say I know of one and couldn't believe someone beat me to it.
Heh, heh, heh ... she said swallow
In reply to fiesta54 :
How about a picture.
In June 1985, the American MGB Association held its national convention in Santa Barbara, California, not coincidentally near the Moss Motors HQ in Goleta. There was a driving tour of the hills around Santa Barbara, which was remarkable in many ways, not least of which for the increased look of astonishment on the face of a hitchhiker as 72 two-seater sports cars, all with people in both seats, drove past him as we merged onto 101 for the drive.
But my favorite part: Howard Goldman, one of the three founders of Moss Motors (along with Al Moss and Mike Goodman), was leading the tour in his M.G. TC, the purchase of which inspired the founding of Moss Motors many years before.
One of our first stops was at a park above Santa Barbara, and as our cavalcade pulled into the lot, we noticed a pair of uncommon sports cars parked by the swingset. Howard, of course, recognized them as Swallow Dorettis.
He quipped as he climbed out of his TC, "Looks like the Swallow Doretti Club is ALSO having their national convention." Big laffs.
In reply to sfisher71 :
Ha, nice.
Two MGs? Not that big a deal.
Two Dorettis? Now you have something.
I have only ever seen one other Jensen CV8 in the flesh, at a Jensen meet in California. That was a similar moment - and all the people that were spectating who said "Oh yeah, I've seen these before!" made us wonder what they were thinking of - the other owner had ever seen another one either.
The chances of seeing two Dorettis together is very small unless at a special event. Heck, even seeing a Solstice coupe (~70 in Canada, ~12 in BC) is so small as to be negligible. When I owned my Doretti, I was not aware of any others in BC.
Here is a pic of a run I made - a widened TR3 with Nissan engine, my GM engined Jamaican MGA and a Panther J72. Wonder what the chances of seeing those together were....
Two of the Dorettis, each with a Buick V8 were built by Max balchowski and sold to a fellow in Las Vegas. On the trip from the Hollywood Shop to Vegas...the Nevada Highways were speed unlimited. I can tell you that the Dorettis rarely went under 100 mph. Balchowski was feted for his Old Yellers...but the Dorettis were a real kick. Anybody know if any of the ¨Hot Ones¨ still exist? Mike Eberlein
There was even one at the 2012 Challenge. No seatbelts made for an interesting AutoX.
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