Swift | Classic-car-images

A collection of images of classic Swift cars, and cars that are likely to become classics, taken at numerous visits to car shows, motoring museums, motoring events and on the road when the opportunity arises.

The Swift Motor Company made Swift Cars in Coventry, England from 1900 until 1931. It grew progressively from James Starley's Coventry Sewing Machine Company, via bicycle and motorised cycle manufacture. The cars ranged from a single-cylinder car in 1900 using an MMC engine, through a Swift-engined twin-cylinder 7-horsepower light car in 1904, and a 3-litre model in 1913. After the First World War a successful range was sold during the 1920s, but the Cadet of 1930 was its last vehicle as it could not compete economically with volume manufacturers such as Ford and Morris Motors.

1930

1931 Swift Swallow, GT 6133

Image taken at British Motor Museum, Gaydon, Warwickshire, on 10th November 2024.
Vehicle first registered on 7th October 1931.
1192cc petrol engine.

The notice displayed with the vehicle states:
One of only two known survivors.
This is a 1931 Swift 10hp Swallow, distinguished by the central rib to the radiator. Swifts of any kind are very rare today, and this car is one of only two known survivors to the Swallow version. It was owned by the late Bill Duff of Forfar, Scotland, from 1931 t0 1946 before passing through several pairs of hands until it found a good home in 1964. That owner overhauled the engine, retrimmed the interior and repainted the body in its original colour
scheme.
In 1972 it was featured in the exhibition to mark "50 Years Swallow to Jaguar" and has appeared in a number of Jaguar books as well as the film 'The Prime of Miss Jean Brody' before being acquired by the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust in 2001.
Like so many other Coventry motor manufacturers, Swift had its roots in the cycle industry, and had built its first car in 1900. Throughout the 1920's, their staple models were 10hp cars with four cylinder engines 0f 1,100 - 1,200cc, but they found it increasingly difficult to compete with the best selling Austin and Morris, and production was only a few thousand cars a year. The last throw of the dice was the 8hp Cadet introduced in 1930, but the company had to go into liquidation in April 1931.
The 10hp P-Type with an 1,190cc engine and a four speed gearbox with right hand change was introduced in 1926. It was rugged, but uninspired in appearance. With a tourer costing £220 in 1929, Swift was not able to compete on price, and there was nothing much to distinguish a Swift from many other competing cars. Perhaps for this reason, in 1929 Henlys, the Swift and Swallow agent in London, asked William Lyons' Swallow coachbuilding Company to fit a body on this Swift Ten chassis.
The resulting Swift Swallow was introduced at the 1929 Motor Show, Swallow's first Motor Show appearance, together with Swallow bodies on Fiat and Standard chassis. All these cars had saloon bodies, scaled up from the basic design offered on the Austin Seven chassis, showing a very clear family resemblance. The Swallow-bodied Fiat 509A and Standard Nine then cost £260, but the Swift was their most expensive model at £275. It was built on the Swift Ten 'Sports' chassis with wire wheels, and was said to be capable of 65mph (105km/h).
The Swift Swallow was offered in the 1930 and 1931 model years, and it is estimated that some 150 cars of this type were built, until Swift went bankrupt in 1931.
Registration mark: GT6133. Engine: 1,190cc. Chassis number: 43737. Price new: £257. Owner: The Jaguar Heritage Trust. Inventory no.: 22/5.06.

1931 Swift Swallow, GT 6133