Newsletter No. 6 - September 2001

So far only six people have expressed an interest in the new chrome radiator grille surrounds. The surrounds are to be pressed from 20G brass, polished, then copper, nickel and chrome-plated. They will be available for £235 each, plus shipping charges, if a minimum order of ten can be guaranteed. For years people have been asking for these items to replace damaged or missing grilles so contact me now if you want to buy one.

Chassis No.1016 , originally a left-hand-drive California car was sold to Italy around 1996 after spending a few years back in the UK with the registration MSU 474. I recall Jack Booth a former UK owner, telling me that he ran the car in the 1989 Pirelli Marathon then shortly afterwards selling the car to Peter Billington. Does anyone know the present whereabouts of the car or its owner?

Peter Bradley a previous owner of PMB 999, Chassis No.1100, recently contacted me to fill in some of the early history of the vehicle that has been re-registered in Guernsey as 8003 by John Machon. The car was subjected to an extensive restoration by Marksdanes and John was very pleased with the final result.

Norway is home to three reported cars and one has just acquired a new owner, Knut Skoglund, who says the car is complete and in good condition. More details in the next report.

This website, is proving to be of tremendous help in locating cars around the world. A recent addition to the Register is a Ray Atwood, a Doretti owner from Nebraska, USA who was surprised to find that there were so many other cars around. He was also a little disappointed, since he thought he owned a unique piece of motoring history. I don’t have any many details yet but hopefully Ray will send me pictures and more info. Over on the East Coast, a Doretti driven by Michael Fatsi was entered in the May 10th 2001 race-meeting held at the US Navy Base Oceana, Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA. Does anyone have any contact with Michael or know anything about the car?

Windscreens have been causing furrowed brows over the past weeks. Variations in glass size between the early cars with exposed frame securing screws in the pillars and the later smooth-type seem to be the cause of the problem. Hopefully we’ll be able to sort things out in the next week or so. The hood hold-down fittings were also changed from a peg-and-screw arrangement to a hooked catch fitting when the windscreen pillars were modified.

Did you know that a Swallow Doretti participated in the 1956 Australian Tourist Trophy race? The driver was R. Starr and the race was won by Stirling Moss in a Maserati 300S. I came across this snippet of information in an article about the assembly of Triumph TR3 cars in Australia. The author, Graeme White, is the historian of the Triumph Sports Owner’s Association an Australian car club.

Don’t forget that if you would like your car featured on the website, you can send pictures and information to me at E-mail: swallow@doretti.co.uk

Have you ever noticed that if you try to please everybody - nobody will like it?

Newsletter No. 1 Feb 2000
Newsletter No. 2 Jan 2001
Newsletter No. 3 May 2001
Newsletter No. 4 June 2001
Newsletter No. 5 July 2001