'Yet there was no doubt about the thrust of the style; it was a long bonnet and a low roofline, a small well-furnished interior, and a distinctive recognisable "face".

It had character, it had style, it set fashion more than it followed it, and captured with astonishing precision the idiom of the sports racer, the rally car, the vogue-ish look for which Lyons had a supreme aptitude.' - Eric Dymock, 'The Jaguar File'.

Forerunner of the marque 'Jaguar' from SS Cars Ltd of Coventry, the SS1 predated yet epitomised the later advertising slogan, 'Grace, Space, Pace.' 'SS' originally stood for the Swallow Sidecar & Coachbuilding Company, which had been founded in Blackpool, England by William Walmsley in 1922.

The company branched out into motor manufacture in 1926, its first major success being an attractive sports saloon on the Austin Seven chassis.

The design was the work of Walmsley's business partner, William Lyons, whose future Jaguar creations would confirm his reputation as one o...