James Starley founded the Coventry Sewing Machine Company in 1859. It turned to bicycles in 1869 as the Coventry Machinists Company, became the Swift Cycle Company in 1896, made motorcycles from 1898 and built its first car, a single-cylinder voiturette with an MMC engine, in 1900. A separate Swift Motor Company was registered in 1902.
The first conventional Swift, a twin-cylinder 7 hp, arrived in 1904, followed by the four-cylinder 12/14 and in 1913 a 3-litre 15. Car assembly moved in 1906 from the Cheylesmore works in Little Park Street to the Quinton Works in Mile Lane. A single-cylinder 7 hp of 1909-11 was also sold by Austin as the first Austin 7, and a small twin-cylinder Swift cyclecar was launched in 1912.
After the First World War the cyclecar business merged into Swift of Coventry, and Harper Bean, makers of the Bean car, bought half the shares in 1919 before running into trouble themselves. Swift’s well-made 10 hp, later the Q and P types, sold steadily through the 1920s. The last model was the 1930 Cadet, an 850 cc car priced to compete with the cheapest rivals, but Swift was too small, and it closed in 1931 when its suppliers called in their debts.
