CarBrandLogos archive · Jaguar · 1936

JaguarSS Jaguar 100

A hundred miles an hour, promised in the name, by a firm that began with sidecars.

Photo: MrWalkr · CC BY-SA 4.0

The story

A defining chapter in Jaguar history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Jaguar SS Jaguar 100, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

William Lyons began with motorcycle sidecars in Blackpool, moved on to bodying other manufacturers' chassis, and by the mid-1930s was building complete cars in Coventry as SS Cars. The SS Jaguar 100 of 1936 was the moment the operation stopped looking like a stylish bargain and started looking like a sports car company.

The original SS Jaguar marque · Stephencdickson · CC BY-SA 3.0

Design and engineering

The mechanical basis was ordinary — a Standard-derived six-cylinder engine — but Harry Weslake had reworked the cylinder head with overhead valves, lifting output substantially. In 2.5-litre form the car was quick; with the 3.5-litre engine from 1938 it could genuinely approach the hundred miles an hour its name claimed, which very few road cars of any price could then do. The body was a short, low two-seater with cycle wings, a folding screen and enormous headlamps, and it cost a fraction of what an equivalent Bentley or Alfa Romeo asked. Almost all were open cars; a single fixed-head coupé was built.

Finch SS100 Concours win · Finch Motor Company · CC BY-SA 3.0

In production

It did well in British rallying and hill climbing before the war, which mattered commercially: it proved the performance was real rather than styling. Production stopped in 1939, and when Lyons restarted afterwards the SS name did not survive with it — the initials had acquired an unbearable association — so the company took the name of its best car instead. The 100's successor, the XK120 of 1948, took the same idea of unreasonable performance at a reasonable price and turned it into a business.

SS Jaguar 100 - 2½ Litre 1938 · DeFacto · CC BY-SA 4.0

At a glance

The facts that define it.

Produced

1936–1939

Engine

2663&nbsp

Body

open Roadster

Technical specification

The SS Jaguar 100, in detail.

Production: 1936–1939
Class: Sports car
Body style: open Roadster (automobile); two-seater; 2-seater Hardtop; fixed head coupé (one-off)
Engine: 2663 cc I6 (1936–1938); 3485 cc I6 (1938–1939)
Transmission: 4-speed manual
Assembly: United Kingdom: Coventry
Manufacturer: SS Cars Ltd