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Jaguar Cars

Founder William Lyons
Born September 1901 
Blackpool, 
England

William Lyons was born to a Blackpool family in September 1901. William senior his father, an Irish musician  owned a successful music store in Blackpool. William junior  developed a great enthusiam for motorcycles. In those days before cheap mass produced cars, motorcycles and  sidecars were popular transportation. In 1921, at the age of 20 he was to meet a man called William Walmesley, who was making sidecars  in his parents garage. The Walmesleys had just moved to Blackpool from Stockport, and they met when Lyons purchased a sidecar for his motor-cycle. 

William Lyons  persuade Walmesley to put the sidecar business on a proper footing, with himself as a partner. Both their families supplied the financial backing the new venture .

So The Swallow Sidecar Company was born

The new company started operations in September 1922 on Lyons 21st birthday out of small premises in Blackpool. Several different types of sidecar were built, and could be attached to a number of different makes of motorcycle.Sales were brisk, and extra space continually had to be found.  by 1926 the  company moved to brand new premises in Cocker Street, Blackpool. This gave the company extra space to expand the business to another , but related venture - building specialist car bodies, which could be fitted to the chassis of other manufacturers. 

The  Austin 7, which had appeared in 1922, was a simple and basic car, Lyons realized that he could build custom bodies to fit its chassis, and create something a little more  upmarket. Lyons and Walmesly purchased their first Austin 7 chassis in 1927 and designed a  2 seater  body, to fit its chassis. This was launched in 1927, as the Austin Swallow, and was available in two body styles - a Drop Head Coupe, and a Fixed Head Coupe.  The Company  name was then changed to The Swallow Sidecar & Coach Building Company.

The Swallow bodied cars sold well and  The following year, 1928, another variant appeared, a saloon version. 

Just two years after the Swallow Sidecar and  Coachbuilding Company had  moved into the Cocker Street facility, they realized that to maintain the growth of the company, they needed to move again, this  time  it was to  Foleshill, Coventry into a 40000 sq ft ex artillery  factory ,in the Midlands, where the most  of the British Motor Manufacturing industry was already located. The name of the company was changed yet again to the Swallow Coach Building Company, and although the company still built sidecars, and would until 1939, the name change reflected the increasing importance of the coach built car side of the business. 

Birth of the Jaguars.

Up until 1931, the production of the company had been custom built bodies on a number of  chassis from other manufacturers.  Swallow cars were  sporty looking, but the problem was that their looks were not backed up by performance from the chassis and engines. William Lyons wanted a way to gain more control over his finished product, and, in 1931 was able to reach agreement with the Standard Motor Company (AKA Triumph) to produce  him a modified chassis with a 6 cylinder engine, This was to be the basis for Lyons first total design, which was the car that came to be called the SS. Modifications were made to the Standard 16 chassis, including 3 inches extra wheelbase, and moving the engine back in the chassis. The SS1, and its smaller 4 cylinder sibling, the SS2 were introduced to the public at the 1931 Motor Show. The SS2 was based on a smaller engined Standard chassis - the Standard 9.

The SS cars were an immediate sensation. The larger SS1 model was available as a coupe and a two door saloon, and had long bonnets, low rooflines, wire wheels and a high  level of equipment. They looked much more expensive than they really were, establishing a tradition which Jaguar was to maintain for many years.

The name of the company was changed yet again in 1933, this time to SS Cars Ltd. The following year, Lyons  wanted to take the company public, his partner William Walmesley did not agree, and allowed Lyons buy him out, leaving Lyons in sole charge. 

The SS1 was redesigned for the 1933 model year with a 7 inch longer wheelbase, and an even lower roofline. Its looks improved considerably,  the earlier models "cycle" wings were replaced by a flowing wing  from front to rear, which also doubled as a running board. Variations on the theme were introduced, including "two- light" and "four- light" models, a drop head tourer, and an Airline coupe. The SS2 followed suite, with a four-light saloon and a four seat tourer model.

 The first sports car, the SS90 was introduced in 1935, and was soon followed by a faster SS100. Lyons was  aware of the prestige that competiton bought to a marque, and the SS90 was conceived as a low volume sports car to fulfill this role. Based on the contemporary SS1, it was built on a shortened SS1 chassis, and featured the larger 2663cc Standard engine. The SS90 had a very short production span - just 1935 when 23 were built, before it was replaced by the SS100.  

The 100 featured a redesigned overhead valve cylinder head and twin SU caruburettors, which increased power from 70bhp of the SS90 to 104bhp. The cylinder head was the work of a man whose name was to become famous in the annals of British engine building.

Harry Weslake, regarded as one of the industry's top engine experts, joined the company in 1934.

Another name that was to become very famous at Jaguar was William Heynes who also joined the company as chief engineer in 1935.

The SS100 was produced from 1935  to 1939. In 1937 a larger capacity engine of 3485cc capacity was made available, though the 2.5 liter version was sold available. 

The SS100  was also known as the SS Jaguar "100"

The firm's production now  included saloons, convertibles, and sports cars fitted with 1.5-litre, 2.5-litre, and 3.5-litre engines. 

The SS100 with a top  speed of 100 mph and acceleration 0 to 60 mph in around 10.5 seconds, had successes in the Marne Grand Prix of Reims, the Villa Real International event, the Alpine Rally, The Monte Carlo Rally, and the RAC Rally , but just as SS cars looked to be on the brink of major success war intervened.

During WWII, production shifted to the war effort, and  after the war, the company's SS name  was thought rather too closely related to certain person non-grata and was changed to Jaguar Cars Ltd. Production resumed with pre-war models now labeled  Jaguars .

Jaguar Sports Cars

In 1946, in addition to updating the older models, Lyons started to develop a new sports car, the XK 120, which was inspired by the BMW 328 model and fitted with a six-cylinder  3442 cc.DOHC engine . The tooling for the engine which was to become legendary was purchased on the cheap from Standard

In 1948 at the Earls Court Motor Show, Jaguar introduced the fastest motorcar to date, the XK 120 Roadster with an claimed top speed of 120 mph, superb roadholding and styling plus a smooth ride. In 1951 The XK 120 Fixed Head Coupe was introduced at the Geneva Motor Show. This touring car was luxuriously trimmed with a veneer dashboard, and wind-up  windows. In 1953 the XK 120 Drophead Coupe was introduced with a fully-trimmed convertible hood. The legend had been born

In 1954 the XK 140 included rack-and-pinion steering and 190 bhp in standard form arrived

In 1957, the by then slightly dated Jaguar XK 150 arrived and was produced until 1961.When the earth shattering E-type made its first appearance.

Jaguar MK series

In the mid-fifties Jaguar had reached a point of selling only luxury and sports cars. The company also sold a great deal of its production in foreign markets. 

Jaguar needed to re-position by producing a car that could be sold at home and to a larger market. and Thus, the Jaguar MK I was introduced at the 1955 Motor Show.

The vehicle was designed to fill their product gap and to appeal to the home market. This Jaguar was of monococoque construction which in itself was new for the company. The Classic Jaguar MK II evolved as an instant success with a much larger glass area and a redesigned dash. Several other Jaguar variations were produced to fill the market gap between the 3.8S mkII and the much larger MK X. 

In 1960 at the peak of its powers Jaguar aquired the famously upmarket Daimler favorite of Royalty, and in 1961 the E-type appeared.

In 1966 Sir William Lyons stepped down as Managing Director of the Jaguar Group, but he remained Chairman and Chief Executive. Grice and England became joint managing directors. 

On  the black day of July 11, 1966, Jaguar Cars Ltd. and the British Motor Corporation Ltd. announced they would  merge and Jaguar would start too slide slowly downhill from that point. 

In 1968 a further merger with Leyland formed the largest British car complex.

In 1972 Sir William Lyons retired, 50 years after forming Swallow Sidecar Company on his 21st birthday. His retirement was followed by a period of confusion and changes at Jaguar.Whole departments, such as sales and service, disappeared into the BL  morass.

Now Suffering from under investment and a lack of genuine if somewhat dictatorial leadership, Jaguars fate looked uncertain, The Ryder report, of  1975, suggested that Jaguar would not continue as an entity. Leyland Cars was formed and the brand new Jaguar XJ-S was thrown in with BL's other Earls Courts motor show offerings. There was no single head man at Jaguar and the winter of 1979-1980 saw Percy Plant as nominal chairman of Jaguar. Plant was mainly known for his skill at closing factories. 

Morale among workers dropped to a low point in April of 1980 when a strike over grading and pay provoked Sir Michael Edwarde's infamous ultimatum "return to work or lose your jobs."

John Egan became The  full-time chief executive  in April of 1980. He came from parts directorship of Massey Ferguson Construction and Machinery Division

Soon Jaguar was re-privatised but without a big money sugar daddy was unable to develop new models, with its model lineup fast ageing, and its image dented by the BL and other debacles, it was swallowed up by the Ford corporation. Many feared that would be the last we saw of Jaguars, but too their credit Ford know a good thing when they see it, and have revitalised the failing Marque, its latest models starting to put the gloss back into the Jaguar name.

Sir William Lyons died in 1985.

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