Did You Know?....Jaguar...

[ToraToraTora]

A bit self indulgent today, I own an XJR but did you know that originally Jaguar was called the Swallow Side car company? After the war they thought that the initials "SS" and logo would not be good for sales..
https://i.pinimg.com/550x/9d/93/fc/9d93fc16f44b35e642d9b8c3cbc796e1.jpg
so they changed the name to Jaguar, Jaguar was the name of one of the models they had at the time.

[jackthehat]

Yup.
Started off oop here in Blackpool, too.

[jno]

are they still owned by Tata? I've lost track.

[barry1010]

Not quite true. In 1927 the name was changed to Swallow Coachbuilding Company

[barry1010]

Yes, jno, still owned by Tata

[Spicerack]

Lovely story for the pub....and then someone comes along and spoils it.

[jno]

thanks, barry.

[barry1010]

It's partly (almost) true, Spicerack. When Swallow Coachbuilding Company teamed up with Standard Motor Company and put Standard engines in to their chassis they named the model SS1 (Swallow + Standard). This happened in 1932.
After some convuluted business changes the company then became SS Cars Ltd who bought out Swallow Coachbuilding and wound it up.
The Swallow name ceased to exist in 1934. Like a phoenix it rose from the ashes in 1935 purely to make sidecars and was in no way connected with SS Cars.

So now we have a brand new public company, SS Cars Ltd who made cars they called SS Jaguar. In 1945 they changed the name to Jaguar

[jno]

I can see they wouldn't want to be mistaken for steam ships.

[Spicerack]

Great, story's back on.

[barry1010]

That made me laugh, jno.

I've long been interested in British motorbikes and sidecars

[ToraToraTora]

thanks for clearing that up barry!