Jaguar SS1

Jaguar SS1

Specs Mentioned:

Make/ Model – SS1 – 2 Door Airline Saloon (1935)

Engine –2633cc, In-line 6-cylinders, side valve, aluminum cylinder head, rigid cylinder-block crankcase, 7 main bearing crankshaft (based on the standard sixteen model); Twin R.A.G carburettors

Power – 20 hp, 70 ft/lbs @ 4000rpm

Top speed – 80 mph

0-60mph – 26 seconds

Others – Adjustable dampers and all aluminum body

The SSI Airline Saloon was only in production for a period of two years from 1934 to 1936 during which time only 624 were produced, out of the total of 4,254 SSI cars of all types.

The SSI Airlines then current fashion of streamlining reflected the Art Deco style.  It has been said that William Lyons – stylist as well as company director – did not personally like the model, and the Airline has been attributed to the influence of William Walmsley, Lyons’s original partner, who would soon leave the Company. Whatever, it is without doubt the most striking of all the different SS1 body styles, with many unique features, such as the twin wing mounted spare wheels.

The 1934 SS1 models had larger engines, although still rated at 16 hp or 20 hp for taxation, and a saloon body became available, with rear side windows instead of the blind rear quarters.

The featured car has had a series of owners, first registered in 1935 in Marble Arch, London to Ratan Kumar Nehru which was later sold to his cousin, Jawaharlal Nehru who later became the first Prime Minister of India. The car was then moved to Sri Lanka in 1937 when it was bought by P. Saravanamuttu, a prominent Sri lankan servant and friend of the Nehru family. The car now resides with the current owner after a seven-year meticulous restoration process.