Peter's Nostalgia Site

Interests   Recent Photos  Links  Home Page Feedback

The SS Jaguar

By today's standards the SS Jaguars are neither particularly fast nor particularly comfortable but back in the 1930s they were some of the fastest saloon cars on the road and compared very favourably with cars selling at considerably higher prices.

SS Jaguar & Bentley Compared  SS Jaguar 2½ litre & 3½ litre  Derby Bentley with Park Ward coachwork   The impressive achievement of SS company founder, William Lyons, can be better understood when you make comparisons with the rather similar looking Derby Bentley of the period. The Motor generally tended to extract slightly higher performance figures than The Autocar but with a factor of three price difference you have to be impressed by the Jaguar. (The Jaguar was also available with a 3½ litre engine for a further £50.) The Jaguars were slightly smaller in outside dimensions when compared to the Derby Bentleys but their interior was larger in most respects. The level of internal appointment was remarkably similar although the Bentley was probably more relaxed due to its slightly higher gear ratios. Top speeds were very similar but the Jaguars appear to give some advantage in acceleration from rest whereas the Bentley wins in the mid range for overtaking. A number of different body styles were offered for the Bentley from various coachbuilders but those from Park Ward were popular and fairly typical. Comparing the Bentley's appearance to the Jaguar it would be difficult to argue that the Bentley was the more elegant. The various elements, wings, bonnet and body shell of the Jaguar all form a more unified whole and the proportions and shut lines also look to be better thought out.  SS Jaguar 2½litre  Derby Bentley SS Jaguar 3½ litre Price £395 £1510 £445 Length 15' 6" 16' 0" 15' 6" Width 5' 6" 5' 8" 5' 6" Weight 32 cwt 34 cwt 32 cwt Max Speed 87 mph 88 mph 91 mph 0 -60 mph 17.0 sec 17.1 sec 15.4 sec 0 -50 mph 10.6 sec 12.7 sec 9.0 sec 0-30 mph 4.7 sec 4.9 sec 4.1 sec 30-50 in top 9.4 sec 8.0 sec 8.5 sec 30-50 in third 8.1 sec 6.6 sec 7.7 sec mph/1000rpm 20.16 mph 22.12 mph 21.34 mph Test mpg 19 mpg 17.5 mpg 17 mpg  SS Jaguar 2½ litre & 3½ litre interior  Derby Bentley interior

Shown here is the car purchased by King Carol of Rumania standing outside the SS works in late 1937.  (The CKV 655 registration is a Coventry series from Sep -Dec 1937)
Note the prototype F Gordon Crosby mascot,  that became an optional accessory costing 2 guineas.

The Bentley comparison is interesting and RR/Bentley did purchase an SS Jaguar 3½ litre for a detailed study of its performance and construction. For a more equivalent comprison with competing models the MG SA and WA are probably the closest. Unfortunately no independent road test data exists for the MGs but an attempt at comparison is shown here.

The advert for the SS Jaguar mascot                                                                      A Jaguar advert showing an SS 2½ litre car.   Right: The actual car

S

Below are some pictures from the restoration of SS Jaguar 2½litre JVS 620   

These include:

Grinding in the gearbox synchro cones.
Making trim panels and a pleated  leather door skin.
Cylinder head overhaul.
Modifying steel con-rods from 1½ litre cars for use in the 2½ litre including making new small end bushes and reaming them to size.
Setting up the rear axle gear tooth meshing of the crown wheel and pinion and adjusting the backlash thereafter.
Installing new bushes and oil seals in the steering box.
Replacing steering king pins.
Creating a replica of the (broken) boot lock using  brass sheet and  tube.
Installing new headlining cloth.
Creating replica wooden arm rests for the rear seats to replace rotted out originals.

Click on the pictures to see engineering drawings.


Some articles written for the SS Register of the Jaguar Drivers Club in years past

     Gearbox Overhaul  25th  March '96

     Toe-in Adjustment   1st Oct '95

     Rear Axle Overhaul  10th August '94

     Lotus Spreadsheet Graphs of Power and Speed  4th Dec 1995

     And one published in the Jaguar Driver for April 1995   Startling Discovery

or click the full screen button for a more real experience but a bit fuzzy.

If it tends to stopping and starting just slide the slider back a bit so that the data download

stays ahead of the video playing.

And  another taken from my 1939 car on the Jaguar Drivers Club SS Register tour of Yorkshire

And a very short sequence showing start-up from cold.

According to the article in The Automobile Engineer October 1937 the SU automatic

starting carburettor was pioneered by SS Cars.

A post war advert showing a 2½ litre car. (The 3½ litre has a slightly more pronounced beak to the radiator surround.)

Click on the photo to see the superb collection of brochures held on the JagLovers site

The Legacy

So does anything of these pre-war Jaguars live on into the era of the XK Jaguars?

Yes! High performance, good looks and value for money are all virtues that were true in their day but one or two physical features

also lived on from the SS era.

The dashboard layout from 1937 continued largely unchanged through the XK120 and XK140 even if the recorded speeds were a little different

and a look at the gearbox design shows little change also ...

and last but by no means least, the F. Gordon Crosby mascot seen here

24th March 1939 .