Swallow Doretti
Cars & Owners

The car was rescued from a scrap-yard by Kurt's father-in-law and used for daily transportation until 1981 when it was badly damaged in an accident. The car actually belongs to Kurt's wife who received No.1030 as a gift from her dad in 1985.

Over the years Kurt met Dorothy Deen on a number of occassions. The first time was more than 20 years ago when Tom Householder managed to round up a couple of Dorettis and their owners and brought them to her house. For several hours Dorothy entertained the group with stories of Dorettis, TRs and sports cars in the '50s.

Thomas Jordan acquired No.1032 from his father-in-law, David Reed of San Diego. David, the car's second owner, had bought the car in 1955 after the first owner had lost his license for driving his new Doretti at over 100 mph. Many miles and many years later when David became 80 years old he thought that the time had come to pass on the Doretti to his daughter Pam and her husband, Thomas.
For more about this car see San Diego Veteran.

In March 2002 Bill acquired chassis No.1033 as a basket case having been wrecked about twenty years ago and left under inadequate cover. However she's mostly there and Bill is intending starting a restoration.

Mike has owned his Doretti for about five years and has been racing it regularly in vintage sports car races on the US East Coast. The car was photographed during the 2nd Annual "Race at the Base" at Virginia Beach's US Naval Air Station Oceana, in May 2001. This popular event is a faithful modern-day attempt to recreate General Curtis LeMay's famous airport races of the 1950's. (Photo: Art Eastman)

This LHD light blue car with red trim was abandoned in the late '70s - moved to a field in Mariposa, California until 1992. At the last report it was for sale in Belgium.

One previous owner - reported to have only 43K original miles - last registered in 1968.
No body damage and zero rust.

When Ray aquired No.1039 it was in a partially dismantled state, but the bodywork was generally sound and painted in a silver-gray shade. A full restoration of the car was completed over the course of eight months and nowadays he's out enjoying the balmy SoCal climes in a metallic burgundy roadster that attracts more attention than many exotic cars costing a whole lot more. Ray's pride and joy was featured in the June/July 2004 issue of Triumph World in an article by Andy Wilsheer. For more details and pictures of the restoration of this car see Andy Wilsheer's complete writeup in Walsall Wonder.