Swallow
From Graces Guide
1. Swallow were motorcycles produced from 1903 to 1905, by a Mr Hodge, at his garage in Park Lane, Tottenham, London. The name appeared on cars as well as motorcycles.
His machines used Chater-Lea frames fitted with Minerva and Fafnir engines, and a two-speed gear where required. A forecar model was also offered; this too with the Fafnir engine.
It is thought that normal garage business brought this venture to an end.
2. The Swallow motor scooter was made and sold by the Swallow Coachbuilding Co of Walsall, Staffordshire, from November 1946 until September 1951.
- 1947 Already well known for its sidecars, the firm introduced the Gadabout. It was fairly basic and lacked performance. This was due to the combination of its weight and the use of the small Villiers 9D pre-war engine.
- 1949 The Mark II model was introduced, it had rubber in torsion front suspension and the foot-change Villiers 10D engine with fan-cooling. Both Gadabout models had been available with a Swallow box sidecar, named the Gadabout Commercial.
- 1951 Some later Mark II models were given the Villiers 6E 197cc engine becoming the Gadabout Commercial Major Mark III The arrival of the sleek and stylish Italian makes brought production to a close.
- 1954 Advert for Dioretti on this page. [1]
- Note: The firm continued with its production of sidecars and then concentrated on the Swallow Dioretti sports car.
See Also
Sources of Information
- The British Motorcycle Directory - Over 1,100 Marques from 1888 - by Roy Bacon and Ken Hallworth. Pub: The Crowood Press 2004 ISBN 1 86126 674 X
- The Encyclopedia of the Motorcycle by Peter Henshaw. Published 2007. ISBN 978 1 8401 3967 9