SS Jaguar 100

It was in September 1935, six months after the introduction of the S.S.90, that the memorable SS100 was launched, with the Weslake converted 2.6-litre engine fitted under the bonnet. Although the new SS100’s body and chassis looked virtually identical to the S.S.90, the suspension, brakes, and steering were shared with the new saloon range. The rear ends of the front leaf springs ran in sliding trunnions rather than being shackled and the Girling rod brakes were a great improvement on the previous Bendix cables. A Burman Douglas steering box replaced the earlier Marles Weller box.

The principal difference between the SS100 and the 90 was the 2663cc Weslake modified Standard engine. Twin SU carburettors replaced the RAG units and helped the engine achieve 104 bhp at 4600rpm. Car and driver together totalled 2800 lb and the SS100 was able to accelerate to 50mph in 8.8 seconds, and to 60 mph in 12 seconds, covering the standing quarter mile in just 18.6 seconds.

The SS100 remained in production in substantially unchanged form until late 1937 when further changes were made to the SS saloons which also benefited the sports cars. There was a new box-section chassis which was much stiffer than its predecessor, and the bodywork was now entirely made from steel, which obviated the need for the labour intensive wooden frame. There was also a larger engine, still of Standard ancestry, a 3845cc unit with 82mm x 110mm bore and stroke. The arrival of this engine completed the SS jaguar model line-up, with the 2.5-litre unit remaining in production as well as the small 1.5-litre overhead valve option.

As a sports car, the SS Jaguar 100 was seen regularly in road rallies and hillclimbs in the late 1930s. An early victory was achieved when Tommy Wisdom and his wife won the Glacier Cup at the 1936 International Alpine Trial, and it was this success that prompted the factory to form a works team of SS100s. That car was actually owned by the works, and Wisdom used the car in rallies, whilst Sammy Newsome campaigned it in hillclimbs.

“Old Number 8”

 

It was this works car that eventually became a test hack for the factory, where it was given the nickname of “Old Number 8”, after its chassis number of 18008. In October 1937, Old Number 8, now with the new 3½-litre engine under its bonnet, entered the first October Long Handicap at Brooklands with Tommy Wisdom at the wheel. The car looked standard, but the power unit was an experimental one with its compression ratio raised to 10.5:1, and the fuel was a potent cocktail of methyl alcohol and benzol. In this form it developed over 150bhp. With this engine Wisdom succeeded in winning the event at 111.85mph, coming in 12 seconds ahead of the next car.

In 1939, this time with Newsome at the wheel and with its engine boosted to 169 bhp, Old Number 8 managed a climb of 42.95 seconds at Shelsley Walsh.

The factory retained the car until 1948, by which time the engine had been tuned to 171 bhp at 4500 rpm.

The Last SS100

 

Whilst there had been no production of SS100s during the war, one example had been stored througout in William Lyons’s garage at Wappenbury Hall. Originally a 2½-litre car, it was rebuilt with the 3½-litre engine, registered as LNW100, and sold to Ian Appleyard, who gained many successes with it, on top of his third-in-class placing in the 1947 Alpine Rally with an earlier nine-year-old SS100. Appleyard’s most important successes were Best Performance overall – and a Coupe des Alpes – in the 1948 Alpine Rally (despite stopping to give medical assistance to a competitor who had crashed), followed by a class win and 2nd overall in the 1949 Tulip Rally.

In all 308 SS100s were produced, of which 49 were exported. The cheaper 2½-litre cars made up the bulk of production with 191 produced, compared with 117 of the more expensive 3½-litre cars, though the smaller capacity engine had been in production for longer. This compares with a total of 4590 of the saloons built over the same period.