The Atlas Swallow

The Atlas Swallow is a fiberglass sports car that emerged from a collaboration between renowned automotive innovators Bill Burke and Mickey Thompson in the early 1950s. In 1952, Burke and Thompson began working on the Atlas Swallow after pulling a mold from Robert Petersen's 1946 Cisitalia 202 Coupe. They partnered with Roy Kinch, the founder of Atlas Fiber-Glass, Inc., and later changed the company's name to Allied Fiberglass. The first body produced was the 94-inch wheelbase coupe called the Allied Swallow. A roadster version, the Allied Falcon, followed in 1953, and the larger 100-inch wheelbase version, the Allied Blackhawk coupe, appeared in 1954. Photo courtesy of Undiscovered Classics.

Milt Mallory's Atlas Swallow of Castro Valley, California. Milt discovered the car in a wrecking yard in Hayward around 1963-1964. He had the car most of his senior year at Hayward High, and he hot-rodded it by installing a 1956 DeSoto Hemi that he sourced from a friend's mother.

Recommended Reading: Mickey Thompson: The Lost Story of the Original Speed King in His Own Words by Tom Madigan - An amazing biographical artifact from what many consider the golden age of automotive racing. Click here to order the book from Amazon.com.

The Atlas Swallow is a fiberglass sports car that emerged from a collaboration between renowned automotive innovators Bill Burke and Mickey Thompson in the early 1950s. In 1952, Burke and Thompson began working on the Atlas Swallow after pulling a mold from Robert Petersen's 1946 Cisitalia 202 Coupe. They partnered with Roy Kinch, the founder of Atlas Fiber-Glass, Inc., and later changed the company's name to Allied Fiberglass. The first body produced was the 94-inch wheelbase coupe called the Allied Swallow. A roadster version, the Allied Falcon, followed in 1953, and the larger 100-inch wheelbase version, the Allied Blackhawk coupe, appeared in 1954.

Notable Atlas Swallow Sports Cars

Milt Mallory's Atlas Swallow