may choose to append at the bottom of that page.
SS and Jaguar Cars Continuation Page 4:
The SS One "Alpine" Controversy.
SS and Jaguar Cars Continuation Page 5:
Original SS Alpine Tourer
(moved from page 3 on 06 Feb 04).
The SS One "Alpine" Controversy.
(moved here from page 3 on 06 Feb 04).
Jaguar Cars Page:
XK-120 and Mk. VII and later Jaguar (not SS) cars.
SS and Jaguar Museums - moved to Contionuation Page 1 on 29 Apr 02.
- I just (20 Feb 2005) got word from
the UK of the ongoing restoration of a world-traveller 1934 SS1 Tourer. The car
was returned to the UK from Atlanta, Georgia in March 1988, having been purchased
from the late Bob Slack, who owned an antique car and furniture gallery called
The Great Gatsby in Chamblee, Atlanta, Georgia. The present owner is
trying to trace the history of the car and asks the assistance of any knowledgeable SS
afficionados. He is fairly sure the car was exported to the USA in the late 1950s
or early 1960s and so was here for some 25 to 30 years. Since Slack is gone,
no information can be gleaned from him but the owner assumes that Slack purchased
the car sometime in 1987. Here are two photos (cropped) of the tourer exactly
as it arrived from Atlanta in March 1988:
(20 Feb 05)
(Cropped from 1988 photos courtesy of present owner - all rights reserved)
As you can see from the photos, it was in a pretty poor state so it probably hadn’t
been used for many years, just stored. Most of the restoration work is nearly
complete and when it is finished we will get some photographs. One thing we
know for certain; those Lucas P-100 headlamps, good as they look, have got to go!
Please be sure to let me know if you can shed any light on the history of this car (I've
asked for chassis and engine numbers).
SS and JAGUAR NOMENCLATURE
Re the so-called '48 "Mark IV", you purists will please allow me to use the term "Mark IV" - it was DEFINITELY NOT contemporaneous Jaguar Cars nomenclature; there were only the small 1½-litre and the large 2½- and 3½-litre cars (with common coachwork), as saloons and dropheads, and distinguished otherwise only by their displacement. Jaguar did not start "marking" {oooh! - did I really write that?} until the following model, properly referred to as the "Mark V". But then, whilst talking nomenclature, the earliest Motor Sport, Motor, and Autocar (etc.) reviews and Swallow and SS Cars adverts all refer to the S.S.I and S.S.II and S.S.1 and S.S.11 almost interchangeably. SS Cars' 1935 Programme advert lists SSI and SSII! In the 24 Sep 35 Motor article introducing the new Jaguar name and models, they continued the SS I and SS II (with spaces, no less!). Similarly, articles and adverts show the S.S.90 or S.S.100, SS100, SS 100, Jaguar 100, etc., etc., ad infinitum! However, nowhere are there hyphens (SS-1, etc.). I'm sure I've been inconsistent herein and, at this point, couldn't care less (certainly no less than Sir William!).
The first Swallow brochure (1931) for new the cars definitely has them as "S.S. I"
and "S.S. II" (with no space in S.S. but a space between the second period
and the "I") but in 1934 (their last year), they are also shown as "SS ONE"
and "SS TWO"!
(20 Feb 04)
Here are the logos from the 1931 brochures:
and the logos from the 1934 brochure:
However, Nick Johanessen (page 2) reproduces the 1936 SS introductory advert for a 'Jaguar "100"'. Selah!
Of course, not one of you eagle-eyes out there has noted that the 1935 SS1 radiator emblem shown above is emblazoned:
SS
ONE
(See Continuation Page 3)
I have confirmation (but no supporting photo, yet) that the SSII badge reads:
SS
TWO
And then there's the argument over "Mk. V" vs. "Mark V"; nowhere have I found any proper reference to "Mk.".
Page 20 of Porter's book has a fine reproduction of SS's introductory advert in the 28 Jun 32 MOTOR (on page B27) showing, superimposed on the haken-SS emblem on that ad, the letters "S.S.1" and in the text, "S.S.1" and "S.S.11".
How many even know, let alone remember, that "SS" originally stood either for "Swallow Sidecar" or for "Standard Swallow" and, to the best of my knowledge as far back as 1950 or so, no one really knew which?* Certainly, the announcement of the first SS1 in Motor Sport for Dec 1931 was from Swallow Coachbuilding Co., of Foleshill, Coventry, with a chassis and engine from Standard and coachwork from Swallow. The "SS" logo was dropped ca. 1939 for very obvious reasons (one doesn't have to be Jewish to dislike the "SS") and the Company name changed "on 9th April, 1945" (see Jaguar Cars, Limited on the next page).
* - but see SS1 history, on Continuation Page.
The Jaguar-Lovers site has loads of old adverts, one of which, the official announcement of the name change, follows on the Continuation Page.
Speaking of nomenclature, when is a roadster a drophead? By definition, a "roadster" has a soft, disappearing head (top) and demountable side screens and a "drophead" has a heavily-padded head and wind-up glass windows (and, in the case of the XK-120/140, vent panes), but the XK-150 "roadster" had wind-up windows!
SS and Jaguar Miscellany
SS and Jaguar enthusiasts on both sides of the water might enjoy linking to a most excellent site, the Jag Lovers site over in the home country! I was particularly taken by their Model Guide, which is an illustrated history of the marque, and even more so to the The Early Years - Swallow Sidecars (which covers autos and Standard, as well) and The Postwar Saloons (which actually covers dropheads, as well). In addition, there are photos and links galore (including Daimler).
You can buy an almost exact SS-100 replica (with an XK engine) from Suffolk SS-100!
(28 Jan 04)
There are also the Jaguar Enthusiasts' Club
and the Jaguar Drivers’ Club in the U.K.
(28 Jan 04)
Hello! I was in Coventry in October of 1998 and was assured by locals who claimed to be works employees that Jaguars had no facilities open to the public! Apparently this just "ain't so"! See Jaguar Cars, Limited - the Company.
The sculpted Jaguar on the radiator cap (and, more recently, on the bonnet) was created by The Autocar's artist, Frederick Gordon Crosby, and first appeared ca. 1937.
The story of how Bill Lyons chose the mascot appears in Classic Car Weekly for 02 Jul 2003, in which Richard Gunn relates that Lyons's old school chum had been an RFC aircraft engine mechanic at Farnborough in WWI and raved about the Armstrong Siddeley ‘Jaguar’ engine and the name and image appealed to Lyons.
(28 Jan 04)
Here's a great example of a later (ca. 1936?) SS1 tourer with a cat (and later Lucas P-100 headlamps):
(photo sent in 06 Mar 2002 without provenance)
Minor problem; if it's a 1936, it's an SS Jaguar, not an SS1.
(28 Jan and 20 Feb 04)
There seems to be an SS100 (real, not a replicar) only some 8 miles from my house! More on this as I find out! I moved and the distance increased a small bit - 02 Oct 98 (it had been only ¼-mile as of 07 Apr 98).
I once had a 1948 3½ litre drophead (the so-called Mark IV), S/N 637370, with motor SL-3494 with a pre-war block still bearing the SS logo on the sides. That car was with me on a caper at Aberdeen Proving Ground, q.v.
Here she is, my every-day car, with the head in the landaulet position, at Havre de Grace just after arrival in Maryland:
{more Mark IV photos on next page}
Then I had a 1950 3½-litre Mark V saloon which I sold as junk and which ran from New York to Florida and back many times thereafter.
Lastly, I had a 1954 3½-litre XK120M drophead (with hydrogen-embrittled wire knockoffs!). Now, that was something else! I even had it out on the course immediately after the running of the revived Vanderbilt Cup race at Roosevelt Raceway ca. 1970.
I also had the pleasure of driving the one-off 1938 Earl's Court SS100 Fixed Head Coupé, the one that was later fitted with a chromed, die-cast Supermarine S-6b racing seaplane model (with a celluloid disk to simulate a spinning propellor) as a radiator mascot; this was in 1961 and the car has what would become the rear coachwork of the XK120 melded with an SS100 front end. I found detailed photos (dated April 1961) and digitized them; they've been moved to the SS Jags continuation page.
This miscellany (and apocrypha) continues on
SS Jaguar Continuation Page 0.
(06 and 20 Feb 04)
This Jag ya just gotta see! Shades of the catamount I saw in upstate New York
(see my Adirondack page).
Obligatory courtesy link to the
Classic Jaguar Association
Lots more apocrypha and good hints follow on Continuation Page 2 apocrypha.
NOTE: You may also wish to visit the succeding SS and Jaguar Cars Continuation Page 2 and Continuation Page 3 pages, as well.
Cyclops fans; see Cyclops on my Automotive page!
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