The History Of Jaguar Cars From 1922 To 1940

Jaguar began in 1922, it was originally known as Swallow and Blackpool, Lancashire seemed an unpromising launch platform for a car that became as aspirational as it did.

In the years following World War 1, Sir William Lyons, then known as Bill, appeared to be a young motorcycle sidecar manufacturer with delusions of grandeur. He was ambitious to move up to cars, and in 1927, he used his Swallow Sidecar workers coach building skills to make bodies for Austin Sevens, giving them a status they scarcely deserved.

However, to the posh Brooklands crowd, even after the factory moved to Coventry, the Swallows and their successors the SS1 and SS2 were a bit indifferent. They were derided for having a long bonnet and feeble engine, and most of their components were made by volume manufacturers such as Standard, and enthusiasts who may not have known any better, refused to be taken in by cosmetic tricks such as two tone paint and a low roofline.

They believed it was impossible to build a good car cheaply, and unaware that Lyons achieved it by keeping a tight control on unnecessary expenditure rather than skimping on production or materials. As well as having a gift for how a car should look, Lyons drove a hard bargain with suppliers and costs were ruthlessly low.

Lyons choice of SS as the name of his cars was something of a mystery. He stated that SS was not a contraction of Standard Swallow or Standard Special. George Brough who made the Brough Superior and SS80 motorcycles believed that Lyons got the idea from him.

Ocean steamships were trend setters, and the letters SS carried no sinister ring, and Lyons began looking through lists of birds and animals before decided on the fastest creature with a name that could be applied to a car.

He chose Jaguar, and when Armstrong-Siddeley granted permission, the name was introduced for new models in September 1935, and until 1940, they were known as SS Jaguars omitting even the full points from 1936 as the letters no longer stood for anything, much like MG.

Lyons asked publicity chief E W Rankin for a symbolic leaping jaguar mascot, after an accessory company produced one he disliked. It looked like a cat shot off a fence said Rankin.

Frederick Crosby, an artist, was invited to provide one, but the symbolic jaguar, which adorned the cars from 1935, may not have been a jaguar at all. It first appeared at the 1930 Olympia motor show on an MG as a tiger. It closely resembled a panther designed in the 1920s by Casimir Brau and it was certainly a close relation to the one Crosby produced for Cecil Kimber, founder of MG.

The jaguar was almost identical in every respect, except for its rear paws were tucked up behind whilst MGs had them extended. Whether Lyons and Rankin knew about the mascot on the MG was immaterial and Jaguar Cars was unabashed about the revision to its company history. A company spokesman stated that it was an anatomically correct jaguar.

Up until 1939, even if a jaguar was not looked upon as a counterfeit, it was definitely not completely bona fide.