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Swallow rarity at Bonhams MPH sale.

28 March 2021

We thought a car worth mentioning at last week's Bonhams MPH sale was the 1931 Standard Swallow 9hp saloon. We have seen only two previous examples come to market within the last 10 years, both of which were restorations as was this car albeit in a better state than the previous two. The Swallow Sidecar Company was William Lyons first foray into the world of sidecars and initially coachwork under the Swallow brand. He took the chassis of several manufacturers and built his own Swallow coachwork. The most common was the Austin Seven Swallow albeit a rarity as well today, but he also did the same with Standard and Swift. The Standard Swallow was never built in significant numbers and the survival rates are very low. The Standard Swallow in the Bonhams sale had come from long term museum ownership and was in need of complete restoration. It was sold no reserve with an estimate of £4,000 to £6,000, but eventually made just over £14,000. We have not seen a restored or well preserve original come to market for a long time and we estimate that a good example could easily be worth £30k given that these cars are effectively the first Jaguars.