Coventry-based bicycle maker Swift turned to motor manufacture at the turn of the century with a single-cylinder voiturette powered by a De Dion-style MMC engine, progressing to a 10hp twin-cylinder light car, entirely of its own design, in 1904.

The twin was replaced by an 1100cc four-cylinder 10hp model in 1914.

Revived after WWI, the 10hp ‘four’ was periodically improved and up-dated throughout the 1920s, arriving in its final form in late 1926 with the introduction of the P-Type.

Produced until the firm’s closure, the revised 10hp P-Type incorporated front wheel brakes as standard and semi-elliptic front springing.

With 21bhp on tap, the P-Type had a claimed top speed of 55mph and could average as much as 37mpg, giving a range of around 200 miles courtesy of its six-gallon fuel tank.

Concentrating on the manufacture of small family cars while producing virtually all its own parts enabled Swift to beat its mass-producing rivals for quality but not for price, a policy that led, ...