My Swallow Doretti was born in Walsall, UK in the summer of 1954 and sold in August that year to a lady named Mrs. Beryl Eileen Stewart, living in Ferndown. The car was first time registered on September 1 1954 and got the British registration number PEL 589.
After checking with DVLA in Swansea, it appears that there had only been one previous private owner in UK, that'll be Mrs. Stewart until April 16 1986. It was then sold of to Paradise Garage in London. They do not have any records on this vehicle, but I know for a fact that it was exported to Norway during the summer of 1986.
The first Norwegian owner who imported the car had the headlights changed for left hand driving and the car was registered for the first time in Norway for road use on the 11 August 1986 with the registration number DE 79728.
The second Norwegian owner was Mr. Christian Bertheau, an enthusiast living in Oslo. He acquired the car April 21 1994 and has been caring well for the car for more than 7 years, only driving now and then during the summer months. It was stored in a barn outside Oslo when I discovered the car the summer of 2001. It was actually up for sale in a classifieds magazine at a very affordable price. We agreed on the price and the car changed hands on the 25 July 2001.
I had the car re-registered on August 1 2001 with a new registration number. In Norway it is possible to decide what registration number you want as long as the car is older than 30 years, and I choose the number D 1118 (D for Doretti and then the chassis number).
So, what are my plans for the Doretti? Well, first of all the car is in such a nice conditions for being almost 50 years old, and as far as I have managed to find out, nothing has ever been done to it.
I have decided to keep the car
the way it is. No major restoration
is actually needed, the car is rust free and I don't feel like
ruining the nice patina of the car. I will probably one day restore
it, but that is in the future... so I still have many summers to enjoy driving
the Doretti.
Mr. Tom Householder in the US helped me find out that the car had to
have it's original paint and the rest of the car is also in a very
pristine original condition. The hood and tonneau is in quite good
condition, the same is the side curtains. The car still has the
original tool roll and jack, and the original spare wheel. It comes
with a Smiths heater and of course overdrive. It even has the
original Instruction Book from 1954. At a later stage I will scan the
entire handbook and publish it on my website in PDF so that other Doretti
owners may download it.
... Knut Skoglund
Many thanks to Knut for the article and more information about his car can be seen on his dottidiary website
...Information and photos courtesy Knut Skoglund