Triumph TR2 vs Swallow Doretti: genetic engineering

By Malcolm Thorne

| 29 Jun 2023

Classic & Sports Car – Triumph TR2 vs Swallow Doretti: genetic engineering

Rarity. What an influence it can have on how a vehicle is perceived.

In the upper echelons of the classic car world, it is often rejoiced, adding exclusivity and reverence.

Yet at the lower end of the scale, among the ranks of the mass-market motor car, that exclusivity is often overwritten by excuses in a world of ifs and buts.

The cheeky appearance of the Triumph TR2 (right) contrasts with the Italianate lines of the Swallow Doretti

Success stories are churned out by the thousand, anything less makes you an also-ran.

But should scarcity of numbers necessarily indicate failure?

If it does, the Swallow Doretti might be viewed as such, and to do so would be a cruel injustice.

Triumph’s venerable TR2 is by far the better known of this early-’50s pairing today, its shape as instantly recognisable as the Doretti’s is mystifyingly alien to all but the well-read cognoscenti.

The Triumph TR2 was released at the Geneva Salon in 1953

Yet its success and resultant ubiquity were by no means assured from birth.

As Triumph struggled to unlock the recipe for post-war sports car success that MG and Jaguar had so successfully tapped into, the firm’s ideas and experiments seemed awkward and misguided.

The 1946 Roadster was overweight, antiquated and a bit too roly-poly to hit the mark, while the TRX that made its debut at the ’51 Earls Court show was a bold statement of intent, but ultimately a blind alley.

The TR2 is great fun on back roads

With its heavy double-skinned body, pop-up headlamps and hydraulically operated hood, it was altogether more modern than the Roadster, but still far from being the skimpy sportster that America wanted or the firm needed.

The project was canned after just three experimental cars had been built.

Third time lucky, goes the old adage, and the Standard-Triumph engineers almost hit the mark with their next attempt.

Sticking ruthlessly to the brief of a cheap, simple design – borrowing heavily from the company’s parts bin – the 20TS featured a chassis based on that of the pre-war Standard Flying Nine mated to Triumph Mayflower front suspension and rear axle.

Although the cabin is tight, the TR2’s dash packs a full set of instruments

A lightly modified Standard Vanguard engine and gearbox completed the mechanical specification.

The whole was clothed in a Walter Belgrove-designed body, which, from the front, featured the hallmark bug-eyed shape of the sidescreen TRs to come, but had a Noddycar-like curved tail with an exposed spare wheel set into it.

Sleek and sporting are not words you would use to describe the rump.

Alongside that other famous British debutante of the 1952 show – the Gerry Coker-designed Austin-Healey 100 – the Triumph was an oddly proportioned wallflower.

Finished with chrome bumpers, the Triumph TR2’s tail was a complete restyle of that seen on the 20TS

The firm persevered, nevertheless, and invited BRM engineer Ken Richardson to put the hastily assembled prototype through its paces.

His reaction was far from positive.

Deeply unimpressed, he is reported to have described the car as a death trap.

Yet rather than walking away from it, Richardson accepted an offer to join the development team and the design was fully re-engineered over the next six months.

A neat storage solution for the Triumph TR2’s spare wheel

The original car’s bend-me-shake-me chassis was ditched, the asthmatic 2-litre twin-carb engine was uprated from 70 to 90bhp and, most noticeably, the tail was completely restyled.

The result, launched as the TR2 at the Geneva Salon in ’53, was a far more coherent shape.

The strict counting of company beans meant that it still lacked the flowing grace of Jaguar’s XK120, but it was at least purposeful and a lot more practical than the prototype.

It was a whole lot faster, too, as Richardson proved with a 125mph run in a low-drag version at Jabbeke in May of that year.

Cutaway doors enhance the impression of speed in the Triumph

The ensuing commercial and competition successes of the TR range are well documented today but, had fate taken a slightly unexpected twist, the TR could have turned out quite differently.

Another car – the Swallow Doretti – might have become the model that’s remembered today.

The Doretti story begins with a transatlantic triumvirate of enterprising minds: Ernest Sanders of Walsall-based engineering firm Helliwells (a division of the Tube Investments conglomerate), Arthur Andersen of the Rome Cable company in California, and Standard-Triumph’s own managing director Sir John Black.

The Triumph TR2 is powered by an eager twin-carb ‘four’

Andersen and Sanders were both involved in the manufacture of steel tube, and had initially met when Andersen devised an improved manufacturing method employing the same American-built machines that Sanders used in England.

The two had gone on to become friends and, during one of their meetings, Andersen had expressed an interest in marketing sports cars in the United States.

Sanders promised to keep an ear to the ground and, in December 1952, had contacted Andersen to tell him of a potential deal.

At Sanders’ behest, the American arrived in the UK a few days later.

After months of development, the Triumph TR2 was a very different car to drive than its predecessor

As an old friend of Sir John Black and an employee of Tube Investments, Sanders was well placed to assist Andersen in his ambition, and the three men thrashed out a plan for a new sports car aimed primarily at the West Coast of the United States.

Black would supply the running gear, the TI-owned Swallow Coachbuilding Company (1935) would build it, and Andersen would sell it.

The task of designing the car fell to another TI staffer, Frank Rainbow.

A neat arrangement of dials in the Triumph TR2

For TI, the rationale behind the project was that it would use up spare capacity at Swallow as well as creating excellent publicity for the group’s various other activities.

And for Standard-Triumph it offered the chance to steal sales from Austin-Healey in return for almost zero investment.

Richardson was full of praise for Rainbow, a gifted engineer who learnt his trade at Bristol and had penned the Gadabout scooter, but was a complete novice when it came to car design.

Can the elegant Swallow Doretti (furthest) compete with the Triumph’s vintage charm?

Nevertheless, Rainbow met with Andersen and the lines were sketched out.

The shape he came up with was a vision of early-’50s elegance and far removed from the homespun styling of the Triumph, although maybe somewhat derivative when viewed objectively.

Critics will point out that there’s more than a hint of Austin-Healey to the rear three-quarters, as well as a strong Ferrari barchetta flavour to the front.

Unadventurous or not, though, it was a very pretty car.

The Doretti badge was adapted from businesswoman Dorothy Deen’s firm

Given that both Andersen and Sanders had a background in steel tubing, it comes as no surprise to learn that the Doretti’s chassis was constructed from Reynolds 50-ton chrome-molybdenum tube, produced by Helliwells in Walsall.

The body, in contrast to the cheap-to-press Triumph, was expensively curvaceous 16-gauge aluminium over a 22-gauge mild steel inner shell.

Oddly, given the maker’s coachbuilding pedigree, it was fabricated by Panelcraft in Birmingham – Swallow not being considered up to the task.

The end result was heavier than the TR but, thanks to those alloy panels, by less than you might imagine; just 56lb separated the two.

A stiffer chassis gives the Swallow Doretti less skittish handling than the TR2

So, contrary to popular belief, the Doretti was far from overweight.

It was remarkably strong, though, as Sir John Black would later discover.

Work began on the project in January 1953.

Rainbow’s team – three draughtsmen and a secretary – was allowed just nine months to complete it.

Given such constraints there was no time for mock-ups, so the prototype was built directly from the team’s drawings.

There are comfy leather seats in the Swallow Doretti

In the autumn of ’53, the completed Doretti was loaded onto the Queen Mary and shipped to New York, from where it was transported to Los Angeles.

The car was well received, although feedback from American dealers suggested the fitment of wind-up windows in place of the Perspex sidescreens, plus the need for a bigger boot.

Rainbow later recounted that to do so would have been easy enough at that stage of the project, but Sanders – probably bowing to pressure from his TI bosses – insisted that the car was pressed into production straight away.

In spite of those flaws, the Swallow proved to be a hit.

Leather stitching around the Swallow’s cabin adds to the classy finish

Slip behind the wheel and the Doretti feels the louche sophisticate – a car for the Riviera set, capable of mixing it with the big names.

That’s not to say that it’s a soft boulevardier, because it’s every bit as sporting as the Triumph, but with a wider – albeit cramped – cockpit and higher sides than the TR.

With its thickly upholstered seats, it feels more of a tourer than an out-and-out sportster.

Until you fire up the engine, that is.

The Swallow Doretti appeared one year later than the Triumph TR2, in 1954

Much like with that other TR-based remake, the Triumph Italia, the gruff, deep-throated soundtrack comes as a shock to the system.

The swoopy and exotic shape, not to mention the Italianate name, project a level of sophistication that’s somewhat at odds with the Triumph’s tractor-derived engine.

A creamy ‘six’ or free-revving V12 wouldn’t feel out of place here, such is the chic demure of the Doretti’s fancy clothes.

The hot TR engine made its way into the Swallow Doretti, too

Squeeze yourself into the narrow cabin of the Triumph, in contrast, and you feel every inch the ’50s rally hero, battling the weather on the RAC or storming an Alpine col.

The simple, rugged design of the cockpit is purposeful rather than graceful, with cutaway doors and close-set wheel that feel very vintage, as do the thinly padded bucket seats.

You want to grab it by the scruff and hurl it up a mountain pass, or hunch down low as you blast along a route nationale, with that lovely sprung wheel shimmying like a drunken sailor as the car finds its own way down the road.

It’s not a precision tool, but it feels wonderfully evocative.

There’s a hint of Ferrari 166MM in the Swallow’s front end

As you spend longer with the two cars you come to appreciate their individual characters, and have time to ponder how different they feel, in spite of sharing so many parts.

Although both feature identical instruments and switchgear, the dashboard of the Doretti feels much classier and less workmanlike – even if the rev-counter is all but useless, being positioned over to the left well beyond the driver’s natural line of sight.

The impression of being in a sports tourer is heightened by the Swallow’s practical and easy to erect hood, which is a far cry from the Triumph’s draughty lift-the-dot tarpaulin on sticks.

The Doretti feels more modern to drive than the TR2

The Doretti’s effective weatherproofing does highlight the incongruous lack of proper windows, though, while any pretence at being a tourer is quashed the instant you open the boot.

It really is tiny, as are the footwells.

‘Our’ car has a modified TR2 gearbox cover, but the Walsall original was inexplicably wide.

The Swallow is a bigger car in every direction, but the additional bulk doesn’t translate into extra passenger space.

Just 276 Swallow Dorettis were produced

TR2 owners will rejoice in the lack of that car’s sidescreen mounts, because the evil chromed wedges are ideally positioned to kneecap the unsuspecting.

The Swallow’s handbrake is also more usefully placed on top of the transmission tunnel rather than rubbing up against your left shin.

With a noticeably stiffer chassis, a longer wheelbase (the engine is mounted 7in further back in the frame) and radius arms at the rear, the Doretti does without the Triumph’s shake, rattle and roll.

A pair of unusual fins on the Swallow’s tail

The result was not only more civilised but, according to Don Truman, who, as well as being a TR2 owner, briefly raced a works Doretti in period, it was also a superior car in terms of usable performance. It was safer, too.

Sir John Black was a staunch supporter of the Swallow and keen to adopt it as a Triumph product.

As such, the first production car, finished in metallic silver with red interior trim to match his Bentley, was delivered to him in November ’53.

Keen to explore the car’s performance, Black had Richardson take him for a high-speed run in it, but the experiment ended abruptly when a lorry turned across their path.

Unusually, the tachometer is located on the far left of the Swallow’s dash

Black was seriously injured in the accident and was forced into retirement as a result, although he had the strength of the Doretti to thank for his survival.

A few miles behind the wheel of the Doretti is enough to confirm that it is a good design, and that it was full of potential. So what went wrong?

Alas, it was just a bit too good.

Tube Investments’ primary business was as a components supplier, and when it became clear that the Doretti was capable of stealing its rivals’ thunder the manufacturers, among them Jaguar, began to grumble.

In an alternate reality, the planned MkII Swallow Doretti might have replaced the Triumph TR2

Drop the Doretti, or we’ll take our business elsewhere, was the message.

Given that the car was little more than an indulgence for TI, it’s not surprising that it was quietly withdrawn from production in February ’55 after only 276 had been built.

Ironically, Rainbow was just readying an improved MkII version.

It’s easy to speculate, but had Sir John still been running Standard-Triumph by then, perhaps the Swallow might have been considered as the TR2’s replacement.

It’s difficult to escape the Triumph’s old-school appeal

Which is the better car? Objectively, it has to be the Doretti.

It feels more modern, more accomplished and has far more elegant styling.

Alongside the Swallow, the TR2 looks and feels like a dated lash-up, a decade or so older.

Yet sports cars are an emotive subject and it’s rarely possible to be objective.

Driving the Triumph TR2 and the Swallow Doretti back to back reveals their differences

It may lack the Doretti’s added level of sophistication, but the Triumph is a car that I have long coveted and, of the two, irrational though it may be, the masochist within can’t get enough of its vintage charm.

The Swallow’s life may have been unfairly cut short, but the Triumph’s success was fully justified.

Images: Tony Baker

Thanks to: Phil Collins; Nigel Wilcox; the TR Register

This was originally in our July 2015 magazine; all information was correct at the date of first publication

Dorothy Deen

The Doretti name was bought from Dorothy Deen for $1

One name that is inextricably linked to the Swallow Doretti is that of Dorothy Deen.

She was the driving force behind both the Swallow and the TR2 in the western half of the United States. Her company – Cal Sales Inc – marketed both cars there.

Before moving into the import business, Deen had been involved with another company – Cal Specialties – which had sold a range of accessories under the Doretti brand, a go-faster Italianised version of her name.

When the Swallow project got under way, the British firm bought the trademark for $1.

An enigmatic figure in the male-dominated 1950s American motor industry, there were rumours in the US that she had designed the car herself, but there was no truth to them.

Competitive edge

Of the two cars, the Triumph garnered the more impressive competition record.

Its first major success came on the 1954 RAC Rally, when TR2s finished first and second, as well as clinching the ladies’ prize.

The Triumph gained an enviable reputation in rallying, but also did well at Le Mans: a near-standard car came a creditable 15th in ’54, averaging 75mph and an astonishing 34mpg.

In the same year, another mostly stock TR2 took 27th place out of a field of about 500 cars on the gruelling Mille Miglia, while a works entry in the ’54 Tourist Trophy landed the team prize for Triumph.

On this side of the Atlantic, the Doretti was largely absent from racing – an exception being at the car’s UK launch in July ’54 where eight journalists took to the track at Silverstone.

Competition was actively encouraged in the US, with tuning kits widely available.

For owners craving a serious power boost, Max Balchowsky built a handful of V8 monsters boasting 300bhp.

Four had Buick motors, one was Cadillac-powered and the other sported a Chevy lump.

Factfiles

Triumph TR2

Sold/number built 1953-’55/8628
Construction steel cruciform chassis, pressed-steel body with bolt-on panels
Engine all-iron, ohv 1991cc ‘four’, twin SU carburettors
Max power 90bhp @ 4800rpm
Max torque 117lb ft @ 3000rpm
Transmission four-speed manual with optional overdrive, RWD
Suspension: front double wishbones, coil springs, telescopic dampers rear semi-elliptic leaf springs, lever-arm dampers
Steering Bishop cam and lever
Brakes drums
Length 12ft 7in (3840mm)
Width 4ft 7½in (1410mm)
Height 4ft 2in (1270mm)
Wheelbase 7ft 4in (2240mm)
Weight 2100lb (953kg)
0-60mph 11.9 secs
Top speed 105mph
Mpg 32
Price new £886

Swallow Doretti

Sold/number built 1954-’55/276
Construction tubular steel chassis, steel body with aluminium panels
Engine all-iron, ohv 1991cc ‘four’, twin SU carburettors
Max power 90bhp @ 4800rpm
Max torque 117lb ft @ 3000rpm
Transmission four-speed manual with optional overdrive, RWD
Suspension: front double wishbones, coil springs, telescopics rear semi-elliptic leaf springs, top radius arms, lever-arms
Steering Bishop cam and lever
Brakes drums
Length 13ft (3962mm)
Width 4ft 4½in (1334mm)
Height 5ft 1in (1549mm)
Wheelbase 7ft 11in (2413mm)
Weight 2156lb (978kg)
0-60mph 12.8 secs
Top speed 101mph
Mpg 30
Price new £1107