Off the road for more than 40 years, this original SS 100 is set for a new beginning
RARELY DO we have the opportunity to view a car in its discovered state, prior to a restoration. Usually our first sight of a car is after it has been restored back to better-than-new condition. Suffolk Sportscars, renowned for its superb SS 100 and C-type replicas, occasionally have a genuine SS 100 in stock. The most recent is a 2½-litre version, chassis number 18093, a remarkable survivor despite looking a little down at heel.
A little over 300 SS Jaguar 100s rolled off a rudimentary production line (just as Jaguar Cars was shaking off what would become the socially unacceptable SS title), and few survive intact, wearing their years as a testimony to their past.
Manufactured on May 1, 1937, registered FMT 984 and finished in black with red upholstery, chassis 18093 was despatched from Jaguar to Halls Car Sales in London’s Great Portland Street, via Henlys. Although there is no record of the original owner, the history file shows a photograph of the car at a Swiss petrol station in August 1939, which was taken by the motor racing photographer Robert Fellowes. Fellowes was travelling with the owner, said to be a Cambridge student called Monday, to photograph the 1939 Swiss Grand Prix (a walkover by the German Mercedes team, pursued by Auto Union).
Less than a year after the photograph was taken, Fellowes joined the Artists Rifles. He had reached the rank of Acting Captain when he was badly injured at El Alamein, losing one leg and the other left in bad shape. Although he seemed to recover well, even acting as a liaison officer for a propaganda film, he was to lose his life as a result of sand entering his lungs during the injury.
Denne historien er fra April 2017-utgaven av Jaguar World Monthly.
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Denne historien er fra April 2017-utgaven av Jaguar World Monthly.
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The Old Way
With manufacture of the X351 XJ now finished, the F-TYPE takes over the mantle of Jaguar’s oldest production model. To discover more about the continuing allure of this six-year-old sports car, we drive a 380PS V6 convertible from Lincoln to Bath on the UK’s oldest road, the Fosse Way
Saving Jaguar
On the brink of the abyss in the early Eighties, Jaguar saw its fortunes turned around by a new chairman, John Egan. We meet up with him at the Jaguar Heritage Trust at Gaydon to talk about his strategies for the company’s recovery
Rolling road
A SNOWY February morning is not the ideal time to be taking out a pristine Jaguar E-type, and an early Series 1, flat-floor model at that. But my mate Bryan Smart has booked his in for a three hour session on a rolling road, and doesn’t want to miss the appointment. He’s not looking for more power – this car is standard, but it doesn’t idle as smoothly as it should. He’s not bad with spanners himself, but neither he nor a couple of specialists have been able to solve the issue.
Jaguar World's Technical Advice Service
E knock off
1966 E-Type Fixed Head Coupe
Trimmed and ready to be toned, Jim’s E-type Series 1 fixedhead returns home fromMCT Restorations
Favourite things
With a 300PS diesel engine and a lightweight, handsome body, the XF 3.0 TDV6 S could be the editor’s best-choice saloon of the current range. To discover if that’s true, he takes an example to a well-loved location of his, the Yorkshire Dales.
Jim Patten
MOT exemption
Time Warp
Carcoon will be 25 years old in 2018, so we meet the people behind the scenes to discover how the bubble idea came about
1984 XJ6 Series 3 4.2 Sovereign
Iain relays the joys and disappointments of buying an XJ6 Series 3 project car for our sister title, Classics Monthly
Family Ties
Despite the thirty years that separate the E-type 2+2 Series 1 from the XK8 they have many similarities – such as being fun and the added practicality of four seats to attract the family man. We test 4.2-litre versions of both cars back-to-back.