Swift Motor Company

It grew progressively from James Starley's Coventry Sewing Machine Company, via bicycle and motorised cycle manufacture.

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.

Swift was too small to compete with the likes of Ford and Morris, and closed in 1931 after its suppliers foreclosed on its debts.

[1][2] Some of the cars were equipped with engines manufactured in Saint-Denis Paris by Aster in single, twin or four cylinder configurations.

The 1914 model was exhibited at the 1913 Olympia show, the company still named Swift Cycle Co Ltd, at which time its price was £140 'fully equipped'.

The two-seater body had the seats slightly staggered, and the specification included the hood, adjustable windscreen, a boot, mudguards, running boards, and an acetylene lighting set.

A new 10 was launched in 1923 as the Q type with coil ignition, electric starting, optional front wheel brakes and a top speed of 55 mph (90 km/h).

In 1925 the Swift 12 was replaced by the 12/35 with front wheel brakes, plate clutch plus an increase of 24 inches (610 mm) in the wheelbase.

But Swift was too small to compete with the likes of Ford and Morris and closed in 1931 after its suppliers foreclosed on its debts.

The Quinton Works with frontages on Quinton Road and Mile Lane in Cheylesmore, Coventry, originally built in 1890 for S & B Gorton for cycle manufacture, was acquired in 1905 by the Swift Motor Company, who made a motorcycle and a motor tricycle in 1898, and a conventional car by 1901 in its Cheylesmore Works in Little Park Street, but needed more factory space.