SS Jaguar 100: the 100 mph sports car that launched the Jaguar name

The SS Jaguar 100 was a British two-seat sports car built between 1936 and 1939 by SS Cars Ltd of Coventry. Its short chassis came from the 2½-litre saloon, its overhead-valve six was developed from a Standard pushrod unit, and its name referred to a theoretical 100 mph maximum speed. It was also the first car to wear the Jaguar ‘leaper’ mascot.

SS Jaguar 100 at a glance

Based on one source, the English Wikipedia article on the SS Jaguar 100.

History of the SS Jaguar 100

SS Cars and the Jaguar name

The SS 100 was built by SS Cars Ltd of Coventry, a company whose name had been used since 1934 and which kept a link to its predecessor, Swallow Sidecar, founded in 1922 by Walmsley and Lyons to build motorcycle sidecars. In March 1945 the company’s shareholders agreed to change the name to Jaguar Cars Limited. The Jaguar name itself had been given to a new SS saloon in 1935 and then to all new SS models; the adoption of an animal name was thought appropriate for products of the 1930s, and the ‘100’ referred to the car’s theoretical 100 mph maximum speed.

Chassis and engine

The chassis had a wheelbase of 8 feet 8 inches (2.64 m) and was essentially a shortened version of the one designed for the 2½-litre saloon, a car produced in much greater numbers and first seen in the SS 90 of 1935. Cars left the factory on 5.50 or 5.25 × 18 inch tyres on 18-inch wire wheels, with half-elliptical springs and rigid axles all round. The engine was a development of the old 2½-litre Standard pushrod unit, converted from side valve to overhead valve with a new cylinder head designed by William Heynes and Harry Weslake. Power rose from 70 bhp (52 kW) to 100 bhp (70 kW), and twin SU carburettors were bolted directly to the cylinder head. In 1938 the engine was further enlarged to 3½ litres and output increased to 125 bhp (93 kW). The four-speed gearbox had synchromesh on the top three ratios, the brakes were by Girling, and the complete car weighed just over 23 cwt (2,600 lb, 1,150 kg).

On the road

Autocar tested the 2½-litre car in 1937 and, with the windscreen lowered, recorded a maximum speed of 95 mph (153 km/h) and a 0–60 mph time of 13.5 seconds. The 3½-litre reached 100 mph (160 km/h), with a best of 101 mph (163 km/h) over the quarter mile, and cut the 0–60 mph time to 10.4 seconds. In 1937 the 2½-litre cost £395; in 1938 the 3½-litre cost £445. The fixed-head coupé, of which only one was made, was listed at £595, and a few examples were supplied as chassis only to external coachbuilders.

The leaper and famous owners

It was on an SS 100 that Jaguar’s famous ‘leaper’ mascot was first displayed. In mid-1936 the first version was reputedly described by Sir William Lyons, the company’s founder, as ‘looking like a cat shot off a fence’. A later publicity photograph of the new Model 100 ‘Jaguar’ (registration CKV 250) outside the SS Cars offices in early 1937 shows a revised leaper mounted on the radiator cap; this more stylised version became the trade mark of Jaguar Cars and remains in use. CKV 250 had been ordered as a gift for the 16th birthday of King Mihai I of Romania, who declared it his favourite car and drove it until he left power and fled Romania. The British politician Alan Clark owned an SS Jaguar 100, and one notable exported car, CNP 947, was driven and raced by the pioneering American television host Dave Garroway. Garroway’s white 3½-litre still has its alligator-hide trim, and Jaguar supplied him with the first XK 3.8-litre engine sold privately.

Survival, values and replicas

Only 198 2½-litre and 116 3½-litre cars were made, and 49 were exported. Good examples now regularly fetch in excess of £300,000: a near-concours car was auctioned by Bonhams at the 2007 Goodwood Festival of Speed for £199,500, and a restored 1937 3½-litre roadster that had won at Pebble Beach sold at Gooding & Co.’s August 2010 Pebble Beach auction for £666,270 ($1,045,000). Replicas and recreations have been built since the 1960s by makers including the Birchfield Motor Company, the Steadman Motor Company, Suffolk Sportscars and the Finch Motor Company, and good replicas themselves bring in excess of £50,000. The first Birchfield Sports appeared in 1982; Shapecraft of Northampton developed it using Jaguar XJ6 mechanicals, but only 18 were built in Britain. The Steadman TS100 was made in the late 1980s and early 1990s by Ottercraft Ltd in Hayle, Cornwall, with perhaps no more than 28 built.

Design and features

• 100 mph for £395: the 2½-litre’s price and the 3½-litre’s top speed made the SS 100 one of Britain’s fastest affordable sports cars of the late 1930s.
• Heynes–Weslake cylinder head: the overhead-valve conversion of the Standard six lifted output from 70 to 100 bhp.
• Shortened saloon chassis: an 8 ft 8 in wheelbase, rigid axles and half-elliptical springs kept the car simple and light at about 1,150 kg.
• The first Jaguar leaper: the mascot that became Jaguar’s trade mark was first displayed on an SS 100.
• Rarity: 314 cars were built in total, only 49 of them for export.

SS Jaguar 100 versions

• SS Jaguar 100 2½-litre (1936–1939): 100 bhp; 198 built.
• SS Jaguar 100 3½-litre (1938–1939): 125 bhp; 116 built.
• Fixed-head coupé: a single car, listed at £595.
• Chassis-only: a few examples supplied to external coachbuilders.
• Replicas: Birchfield Sports, Steadman TS100, Suffolk Sportscars and Finch recreations, built from the 1960s onwards.

The SS 100 is the best-known model in the SS collection. If you are thinking of buying a pre-war sports car, the guide Buying a classic sets out what to check.

Sources

• SS Jaguar 100, English Wikipedia: history, engineering, production, values