Ahead of the JCNA Championship Challenge in July, we continue our series of article on each of the significant anniversaries to be celebrated in Franklin Ten. After the 40th anniversary of the E-type, the 30th anniversary of the Jaguar V12 and the 50 anniversary of Jaguar’s first win at Le Mans, we go back another 20 years to 1931 with the ancestor of Jaguar and the first SS Car.

Seventy years ago, in 1931, a small coach builder which had started only 10 years earlier as a sidecar manufacturer, launched an all new car featuring stylish and low lines, a long bonnet, luxurious passenger accommodation at a low price. The SS 1, was based on a custom Standard chassis and was a success with the public but of course nobody back then would guess that this very first SS car would be the starting point of one of the most prestigious marques in automotive history.

The roots of Jaguar, actually date back to September 4th 1922, when a young entrepreneur by the name of William Lyons, formed the Swallow Sidecar Company with partner William Walmsley. As a motorcycle enthusiast, Lyons discovered the hand built very low volume sidecars then built by William Walmsley and saw a business opportunity.

Soon after the creation of the company, and in part due to various racing successes, the Swallow Sidecar Company sales flourished as their creative designs, pioneering the use of Aluminum, turned out to be very popular, forcing the company to move into a larger facility in 1926. Then name was also changed to Swallow Sidecar and Coach Building Company, reflecting the direction the company would head into in the near future.

In 1927, William Lyons saw another opportunity in the newly introduced Austin Seven, a cheap, practical new car which lacked styling and originality. Swallow Sidecars and Coach Building introduced upscale version of the Austin chassis by adding a stylish body and improved features such as leather seating, mahogany dash, etc...

Over the next 3 years, using additional chassis from Fiat, Standard and Wolseley, the company brought to the public a variety of body styles from open tourers to four seater saloons, all built using aluminum over wood frame bodies. Again success was such that the current facility became too small and the company was moved to a new factory in Coventry which brings us back to 1931, and the SS1.

Based on a special chassis manufactured by Standard and featuring a 6 cylinder engine, the SS 1 is in fact the ancestor to the Jaguars, being the first car build by William Lyons; even though the chassis were built by Standard they were a low sitting custom design available only to Swallow Coach building. The long bonnet, low roofline looked very sporty despite the not so powerful engine .

The original SS1 was short on space inside however and a revised version in 1932 featured a longer chassis providing leg room for the rear seat passengers and running boards. New engine options of up to 2 and 2.5 liters provided up to 45 hp. A smaller version of the car, the SS2 featured a smaller 1 liter engine.

By 1933, the success of the new SS cars was such that production of Swallow bodied cars came to an end and in 1934, a new company was created, SS Cars, Ltd., as a subsidiary of Swallow. 1934 would also mark the end of the Lyons and Walmsley partnership with Walmsley resigning, and the creation of a new Swallow Coachbuilding Ltd which would handle the sidecar part of the business.

1935 would see the introduction of an updated version of the SS1, a lighter and shorter model which included an improved engine thanks to the work of engineer Harry Weslake who joined the company that same year. His improvements to the 2.6 liter engine, mostly focused on gas flow, allowed the new SS 90 to offer much better performance from the now 70 hp engine with a top speed of over 80 mph and 0-60 acceleration of just over 20 seconds. The styling of SS 90 was, like previous Lyons designs, head turning and inspiring.

Soon after the launch of the SS 90, William Lyons launched a new range of cars in September 1935 bearing a new name : Jaguar. The name was one of many submitted by an advertising agency, but it was the one that inspired Lyons the most because of the power and elegance it suggested. Because the name was already used by aircraft engine manufacturer Armstrong-Siddeley, Lyons had to request permission for its use.

The new cars which included the SS 100 open sports car featured a more powerful engine; still based on the 2.7 liter Standard engine, Weslake had replaced the side draft design with an overhead conversion that boosted horsepower to over 100 hp giving the new car excellent performance. While the earlier cars, including the SS 1, had been raced in various venues especially in rallies to some success, the SS 100 proved to be a strong competitor which placed SS Jaguar in the spotlight as a serious racing contender.

The new range of Jaguar Cars also included a 4 door saloon powered by the same engine. The way this car was launched is truly remarkable as Lyons gathered a group of guests and journalists at a London hotel where the 2.6 liter saloon was displayed. Lyons asked the crowd to guess the price of the car and the average of their guesses came to around 600 pounds. Needless to say the audience was stunned to learn of the 385 pounds price, a clever marketing technique....

Demand for the new SS Jaguar was so overwhelming that the company changed the ash frame and metal panel production to all steel bodies, causing problems and large unexpected expenses. Additional models were introduced in 1937 such as a drop head coupe and a smaller 1.8 liter saloon.

The most unique version of the pre wars SS Jaguar is undoubtedly the SS 100 Coupe, designed for the 1938 Motor Show. With rounded wings, flowing tails and rear wheel spats it never made it into production, partly because of the war.

World War II would place motor cars production and designing on hold as factories were converted to weapon manufacturing but it would also signal the end of the original name, SS Cars, which was dropped immediately after the war in 1945 when production resumed having acquired a dark and sinister connotation with Hitler's regime.

But if we know today how the name was dropped, nobody is absolutely sure of its origin. While Swallow Sidecar seems a likely explanation, it could also stand for Swallow Sport or Standard Swallow since the chassis was supplied by Standard. Another choice, and Sir Lyons himself gave this theory some credibility in a 1980 interview, would be that he named the car after the Brough SS motorcycles he had owned.

This was not the last use of the Super Sport designation only to be used in later years used by Detroit.

See you in Franklin !

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About the author - Pascal Gademer is the webmaster and newsletter editor of the South Florida Jaguar Club. Owner of a restored and upgraded (for reliability and performance) 1972 series 3 E-type 2+2, he doesn't miss an opportunity to drive his E-type to various events (concours, rallies,..) often regardless of distances. His daily driver his another Silver Coupe, a 2000 XKR.

Posted: 5/2001