Donate NOW and support Jag-lovers!

IMPORTANT! We have moved! The new site is at www.jag-lovers.com and the new Forums can be found at forums.jag-lovers.com

Please update your links. This old site will be left up for reference, until we can move all the old content over to the new site.

Volunteers wanted! Please help us move information from these pages to the new site, and also join us in providing new, exciting content.



Serving Enthusiasts since 1993
The Jag-lovers Web

Currently with 3,166 members





Jag-lovers - Early Cats for Swallow and SS Cars

Welcome to Early Cats, devoted to William Lyons inspirational creations that eventually led to the formation of Jaguar Cars Ltd in early 1945. Our scope starts at the very first Lyons models in the shape of custom Sidecars for the motorcycles of the '20s, through the first of the Swallow bodied coachbuilt cars and the eventual introduction of the SS name, to the creation of SS Cars Ltd in late 1933. 1935 was a landmark with the first use of the 'Jaguar' name with SS Cars continuing right on to the onset of world war that saw the last production of the fabulous SS100s. By the end of the war, the SS name had gathered associations that were no longer desirable and, by an SS Cars Ltd board decision (see an advert of the period), the name SS was dropped to become Jaguar Cars Ltd. The immediate post-war Saloons (usually known as the Mark IV although this was never an official Brown's Lane designation) share much with the pre-war SS Jaguar saloons so are within the coverage of this site.

No one knows what SS actually stood for though. Swallow Sports and Standard Swallow have been logical suggestions but even William Lyons is on record as stating that it was never decided. Since Lyons owned motorcycles including the Brough SS80 and SS100, could this have been the source of that designation for a certain sports model? In fact, he is on record in a little known interview with Andrew Whyte around 1980 as remarking that 'Yes I suppose I did call my first real sports car after it'.

The Jaguar Leaping Cat

Desmo mascot - Lyons said: It looks like a cat shot off a fence!The pre-war period also saw the introduction of the famous Jaguar 'Leaper' in 1937. Designed by F Gordon Crosby by request of William Lyons after he saw one of the Desmo mascots (shown left) on a saloon outside the factory and took an instant dislike to it (he is on record as remarking that it 'looks like a cat shot off a fence'), the leaping cat was to become the universal symbol for Jaguar to this day.

Head on view of the original Gordon Crosby bronze mascot Crosby had one of the original bronze castings of the leaper (see right) mounted on his own SS saloon and this design was the master for the production version which exhibits a number of differences. There were believed to be six of these castings and only one is still known to exist for sure. This sole surviving example is currently housed in a private collection.

Contrary to popular opinion, these mascots were never made to fit the SS100 - it had a dog bone radiator cap and the standard mascot cannot be fitted although owners do retrospectively fit them on replacement flat radiator caps, as they do the Desmo ones. CKV 250

The only true SS100 mascot was a one-off made for 39001 (CKV 250), the first of the 3.5L production cars. Reproductions of this mascot (the 'Prince Michael mascot') exist made by the late David Barber. The design is very different to that of the normal leaper though as it necessarily mounts through a hole in the dog bone top of the radiator cap. The original (which has a broken tail) is also owned privately. Examples have come on the market recently purporting to be 'factory prototypes' but they are almost certainly examples from David Barber's castings.

 

Please help support the move to the new site, and DONATE what you can.
A big Thank You to those who have donated already!

 


       
       
       
       

Go to our Homepage
Improve your Jag-lovers experience with the Mozilla FireFox Browser!

  View the latest posts from our Forums via an RSS Feed!

©Jag-loversTM Ltd / JagWEBTM 1993 - 2024
All rights reserved. Jag-lovers is supported by JagWEBTM
For Terms of Use and General Rules see our Disclaimer
Use of the Jag-lovers logo or trademark name on sites other than Jag-lovers itself in a manner implying endorsement of commercial activities whatsoever is prohibited. Sections of this Web Site may publish members and visitors comments, opinion and photographs/images - Jag-lovers Ltd does not assume or have any responsibility or any liability for members comments or opinions, nor does it claim ownership or copyright of any material that belongs to the original poster including images. The word 'Jaguar' and the leaping cat device, whether used separately or in combination, are registered trademarks and are the property of Jaguar Cars, England. Some images may also be © Jaguar Cars. Mirroring or downloading of this site or the publication of material or any extracts therefrom in original or altered form from these pages onto other sites (including reproduction by any other Jaguar enthusiast sites) without express permission violates Jag-lovers Ltd copyright and is prohibited
Go to our Homepage
Your Browser is: claudebot, IP Address logged as 54.147.17.95 on 29th Mar 2024 14:26:01