SS1
SS Jaguar
Car : SS1
Year : 1934
Engine : 6 cylinders in line
Bore and stroke : 65.5×101.6 mm
Cylinder capacity : 2025 cc
Gears : 4 forward
Brake horse power : 48
Maximum speed : 65 mph
Wheelbase : 9 ft 4 ins (2.84 m)
Suspension : front and back: semi-elliptic leaf- springs
Car : SS Jaguar
Year : 1936
Engine : 6 cylinders in line
Bore and stroke : 73×106 mm
Cylinder capacity : 2664 cc
Gears : 4 forward
Brake horse power : 104
Maximum speed : 90 mph
Wheelbase : 10 ft 0 ins (3.04 m)
Suspension : front and back: semi-elliptic leaf- springs
The two cars illustrated here have been specially chosen as they emphasise the rather curious beginnings of the Jaguar organization.
Jaguar’s origins go back to 1920, when William Walmsley and William Lyons met, almost by chance, in Blackpool. William Lyons helped his father sell pianos, while Walmsley was renovating old motorbikes left over form the war. Walmsley also built aluminium sidecars, and it was when Lyons came to buy one of these that the two met. Their shared enthusiasm for motorbikes and sidecars led them to join forces and found a company called the Swallow Sidecar Company. This was in 1922. In 1927, though business was thriving, Swallow started to turn to cars, modifying the bodywork of the most popular models of the day. They began with the Austin Seven and continued with the Standard, the Fiat 509A, and the Wolseley Hornet, restricting themselves to aesthetic alterations only. In 1928 Swallow moved to Coventry, but the year before it had already changed its name to Swallow Sidecar and Coach-building Company. In 1930 side-cars were shelved, thus indicating that the company had resolved to turn to cars. The first car with bodywork by Swallow and mechanical parts made (by Standard) expressly for the company was called the SS. In general it seemed like a car for the rich driver. In fact it sold for £310. The SS 1 was such a success that 776 were sold in the first year of production, and 1,500 in the next. Adaptation of the Standard engine, first to 2143 cc, then to 2664 cc, enabled Swallow (who in 1934 had once again changed names to SS Cars Ltd) to expand their line (sedan, sports tourer, and cabriolet). The name Jaguar appeared for the first time in 1936, apparently as the personal choice of William Lyons, who by now was on his own, Walmsley having left the partnership to build trailers and mobile homes.
The SS Jaguar of 1936 also had a Standard engine. It was only in 1945 that the company finally became Jaguar Cars Ltd, and began to produce engines itself. The step from graceful swallow to voracious jaguar might seem bold, if not impossible: William Lyons (later Sir William Lyons) succeeded completely. Automobile history cannot boast many makers of coachwork (which was basically how he started) who became manufacturers of de luxe sedans and racing cars.
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