From Swallow Sidecars To The Jaguar XJ - The William Lyons Story

"I have always been convinced that visual appeal - without resort to gimmickry - is fundamental to the success of any product, and it costs no more to design a product in a pleasing manner."

Sir William Lyons

The then Chairman of Jaguar Cars Ltd. wrote those words in 1968, having spent the previous half century building one of the most glamorous success stories of the British motor industry. It is a story which began on September 4th, 1922, in a modest building in Bloomfield Road, Blackpool.

Arguably the most memorable contribution to motoring is that he gave it style and grace, two qualities which hitherto had seemingly been considered incompatible with the techniques of mass production. It was left to William Lyons to appreciate - and to prove - that aesthetic appeal was highly saleable, even in times of economic depression.

During the free-and-easy days following the first world war he became an enthusiastic motor-cyclist, and was attracted by a stylish sidecar being marketed by one of his neighbours in Blackpool, William Walmsley.

Walmsley obviously shared Lyons' dislike of conventional sidecar design, which amounted to little more than a box on top of a perambulator type chassis, and seemingly had been inspired by the clean lines of the Zeppelin airships, which his sidecar body closely resembled. It was built up with eight longitudinal body panels around an ash wood frame, the aluminium being unpainted but highly polished, as were the disc wheels, which added to the sporty appearance of the "chair".

From Customer To Business Partner, Walmsley And Lyons Join Forces

Lyons became one of Walmsley's first customers, but his enthusiasm for the sidecar was not confined to that of a satisfied owner. He could see its sales potential and convinced Walmsley that if he obtained some proper manufacturing facilities instead of using part of his parents garage, he could turn out ten sidecars per week instead of only one, and this would allow him to sell them at considerably less than the 32 guineas he was asking, which in turn would further stimulate sales. Walmsley saw the sense of Lyons' reasoning, and the two of them got together to arm the Swallow Sidecar Company, with a capital of £1,000, backed by guarantees by their respective fathers, Walmsley's being a coal-merchant, and Lyons' having a piano business in Blackpool.

The Swallow Sports sidecars, as they were called, soon became a big hit, and within a year the small company was exhibiting at the London Motorcycle Show, as well as seeing their products displayed on other manufacturers stands. In 1924 they introduced a low-cost line with five instead of eight body panels, but throughout their range they maintained a high standard of detail finish, and quickly established a reputation as quality manufacturers as well as style-setters. By 1925 the original staff of 12 had been expanded to over 30, and larger premises were rented from Walmsley's father in Cocker Street, Blackpool. Already William Lyons was thinking internationally, and in collaboration with Charles Hayward, who had become the chief chassis supplier to Swallow, sidecars were being exported, using Heyward's Universal chassis, which could be attached to either side of a motorcycle.

Development Of The Swallow Body For The Austin Seven

But the company were soon to embark on a much more exciting - and as it turned out significant - venture, the manufacture of special bodies on car chassis. The first Swallow body was designed around the Austin Seven, and appeared at the end of 1926, and the following year the wider base for the company's operations was indicated by a change in name to the Swallow Sidecar and Coach building Company. By 1929 cars were forming the bulk of the company's business, and in 1931 there was a further change in the company's title, to the Swallow Coachbuilding Company.

Meanwhile, the sidecar operation continued to thrive right up to the outbreak of world war two, output reaching over 500 per week at one stage, and the company went on to produce box-type sidecars for the armed forces as part of their wartime activities. A separate, public, company, S.S. Cars Ltd., had been formed in 1935 to take sole responsibility for car production, and as the appearance of S.S. cars caused a falling-off in demand for Swallow-bodied cars on other chassis, the Swallow Coach building Company gradually reverted to the role of its own parent company, as sidecar manufacturers.

Two major decisions were taken when peacetime production resumed in 1945. The first was to rename S.S. Cars Ltd., Jaguar Cars Ltd., and the second was to dispose of the company's sidecar assets. The Swallow Coach building Company therefore was sold to the Helliwell Group, who three years later resold it to Tube Investments Ltd. From a factory at Walsall Airport, the company went into production with a 125cc Villiers engined scooter called the Swallow Gadabout, which unfortunately anticipated the big scooter demand by several years and therefore failed commercially.

The Swallow Doretti Proved Less Than Successful

A subsequent attempt at sports car manufacture, with the Swallow Doretti , based on the Triumph TR2 chassis, also met with limited succcess, because although the car was more lavishly finished than the Triumph, and in most people's view more attractively styled, it was considerably more expensive and in view of its greater weight, not as fast and this at a time when, thanks mainly to the sensationally successful Jaguar XK 120, high performance was a major yardstick for sports car success.

After a production run of under two years the Doretti was dropped in 1955, the Swallow Coach building Company went back to producing sidecars, and at the end of 1956 the company was sold to Watsonian, Birmingham-based sidecar manufacturers, who continued to market a Swallow range alongside their own Watsonian products. From 1945 the only link between Swallow and Jaguar was the name which Walmsley and Lyons adopted for their modest venture back in 1922.

Just as unimaginative styling within the sidecar industry had provided the opening for Lyons' and Walmsley's initial business venture, so their expansion into the car bodybuilding business was made possible by a similar lack of appreciation of aesthetic values by the manufacturers of low priced volume-produced cars.

The ubiquitous Austin Seven, which became as popular in the 1920s as its successor, the BMC Mini, was to prove four decades later, was an obvious candidate for a "body job", for though this little car earned high marks for its reliability and basic simplicity it was certainly no beauty. Following their sidecar policy, Lyons and Walmsley discarded the square box concept, and offered instead smooth, sporty curves, using aluuminium panels on a wood frame as a basis of construction.

They unnveiled a prototype towards the end of 1926, and announced the first production Austin Swallow the following May. It had a neat, rounded-tail open two-seater body, with semi-cycle-type front wings and a smoothly rounded radiator, and sold for £174, or £10 more if you took the detachable hardtop.

It became an immediate success, and by 1928 The Swallow Sidecar and Coachbuilding Co. were buying Austin Seven chassis in batches of 50. The Blackpool premises were bursting at the seams, and towards the end of the year the company was moved into much larger premises at Foleshill, Coventry, right in the heart of the British motor industry. There, they not only had much more breathing space in a factory which had been producing armaments during the first world war, but they had ample surrounding space for expansion-which they were to need during the years ahead.

Car Body Production Becomes SS Cars Number One Activity

Soon car body production was the company's number-one activity, and although the various Austin Seven designs remained the most popular line (a four-seater saloon was added to the range during 1928) Swallow bodies began appearing on other chassis.

The Morris Cowley was used as a basis for a large open two-seater, but the growing popularity of the MG minimized demand for the Morris Swallow and it was soon dropped. But the Fiat 509A, with its relatively long wheelbase, proved an ideal chassis for a two-door, four-seater closed body, and basically similar designs also appeared for the Standard Big Nine and the Swift Ten.

Swallow-bodied cars were becoming a familiar sight on British roads, and already a few of them were selling abroad - the beginnings of Sir William Lyons' tremendous export achievements.

The cars were easily identifiable, usually by the well-rounded corners of their windows, their divided V-shaped windscreen with a roof lip above acting as a sun shield, their rounded radiator cowls, their wire wheels, and in particular their wide range of two-colour finishes, then a highly saleable feature, at a time when most cars were painted either black or a drab maroon.


Lack of storage space was acute at Blackpool, where the pavement became the despatch department...

Jaguar Milestones
1922	Swallow Sidecar Company formed with premises at 7-9 Bloomfield Road, Blackpool, by William Lyons and William Walmsley.
1926	Company moved to larger premises in Cocker Street, Blackpool. First open two-seater car body built on Austin Seven chassis.
1927	Austin Seven Swallow introduced to the public. Company name changed to the Swallow Sidecar and Coachbuilding Company.
1928	First four-seater saloon body introduced on Austin Seven chassis. Company moved to new factory at Foleshill, Coventry.
1929	New bodies announced on Fiat, Standard and Swift chassis.
1931	Introduction of Swallow's first car, the SSI and SSII. Company's name changed to the Swallow Coachbuilding Company.
1934	S.S. Cars Ltd formed as a public company. Sidecar manufacture taken over by Swallow Coach building Company (1935) Ltd.
1935	First SS Jaguar announced with choice of 1½, and 2½, litre engines, also SS 100 sports car announced.
1937	First SS Jaguar with all-steel body construction. Addition of 3½ litre engine for saloon and sports cars.
1939 - 1945	War production, including manufacture and repair of aircraft parts, production of trailers, and experimental prototype work on road vehicles.
1945	Car production restarted with 1940 saloon models. Company's sidecar assets sold to the Helliwell Group. SS Cars Ltd renamed Jaguar Cars Ltd.
1948	Introduction of Mark V saloon and XK 120 roadster, the company's first all-new postwar car.
1950	Introduction of company's first all-new postwar saloon - the Mark VII. Stirling Moss gained biggest race success to date in winning the Tourist Trophy with a Jaguar XK 120.
1951	Company formed competitions department and entered motor racing with C-type, gaining first of five victories at Le Mans. Factory moved from Foleshill to Browns Lane, Allesley, Coventry.
1953	Disc brakes introduced on C-Type.
1954	D-Type sports racing car introduced.
1955	Introduction of Jaguar 2.4 - company's first car to feature integral construction of chassis and body.
1956	Sir William Lyons received Knighthood for services to his country. Company withdraws from direct participation in motor racing.
1957	One-third of factory destroyed in disastrous fire, but only one day's production lost.
1960	The Daimler Company acquired.
1961	Company announced E-type two-seater and Mark 10 saloon, both with all-round independent suspension. Guy Motors of Wolverhampton acquired.
1963	Coventry Climax Engines Ltd acquired.
1964	Henry Meadows Ltd acquired.
1966	Jaguar Cars Ltd and subsidiary companies merged with the British Motor Corporation to form British Motor Holdings.
1968	British Motor Holdings merged with the Leyland Group to form the British Leyland Motor Corporation. Latest Jaguar models announced, shortly to be powered by Jaguar's first "V"-engine.

By 1931, Britain was suffering a crippling economic depression, and many car manufacturers failed to weather the storm, amongst them Swift, who had produced a very fine product, about 150 examples of which had appeared with Swallow bodywork. But though some of Swallow's chassis suppliers were hit, Swallow themselves almost benefitted from the economic crisis because they were suddenly selling cars to buyers who had moved down from a higher price range, and who were attracted by the offer of something which looked smart, and above all different, at a price they could afford to pay.

In the circumstances it mattered little that the engine and chassis beneath were just like those of the staid-looking cars run by hundreds of other people in the same town - it was the appearance and the prestige which mattered. But William Lyons was well aware of the need to match the undeniably attractive Swallow bodies with some appropriate mechanical refinements. By this time he had convinced himself that the only effective way of doing so was to design a chassis and body as an entity, rather than to take a production chassis and clothe it with a special body tailored to fit.

In 1930 a higher-performance Swallow had appeared in the form of an open two-seater on the Wolsley Hornet chassis, one of the attractions of this car being the smoothness of its six-cylinder engine. This was the first "six" to feature in a Swallow-bodied car, but ever since there has been a six-cylinder engine somewhere in the Jaguar story. Having convinced himself of the advantages and attractions of a "six", William Lyons went shopping for one which would be suitable for Swalllow's own car. The Hornet, he reasoned, would be too small, and he looked around instead for an engine of around 2 litres. There were several on the market, including one or two monstrosities, but the best of the bunch turned out to be one he was already associated with-the side-valve 2,054 cc engine used in the Swallow-bodied Standard Sixteen, which had been introduced just after the Hornet.

Lyons Develops A Business Relationship With Standard

William Lyons was already on excellent terms with John Black, who had taken over the ailing Standard company a few years earlier, and he persuaded him to produce, exclusively for Swallow, a special underslung version of the Standard Sixteen chassis, with the wheelbase extended by three inches.

This, with the Sixteen's normal engine and four-speed gearbox, but with a higher-geared rear axle, was to become the basis for Swallow's first car to bear their own name - the SSI, the initials SS standing for Swallow Sports.

The first car was shown at the motor show at Olympia, London, at the end of 1931, and earned a fantastic reception. Its rakish lines, with long engine bonnet, compact two-door cockpit and short rear boot (who said the Mustang was a new concept?) had that £1,000 look about it, yet the price tag was only £310.

Presumably on the grounds that all the mechanical components were bought out, the SS was not officially recognised as a marque in its own right until the end of 1934, which was rather ludicrous bearing in mind that about 4,000 of them had been built and sold by that time. During those three years the SSI was the company's best-seller, but a smaller version, known as the SSII, was marketed alongside it, based on the Standard Little Nine chassis, and offered with a choice of 1,343 c and 1,608 cc four-cylinder engines, the initial base price being £211.

It was a neat little car, but its modest performance prevented it from ever becoming a big seller, although like the SSI various body styles were offered, including a four-seater open tourer.

The initial SSI had been essentially a two-seater, with additional cramped space for a third person just behind, but after the car had been in production for a year major body face-lift was carried out, putting an additional window each side of the body, and building in two individual rear seats, one each side of the tall transmission tunnel. Leg room was still minimal in the back, but at least the SS could be classified as an occasional four seater, and this helped to swell sales.

A Switch In Styling Policy Torwards Curves

In 1934 the first signs of a switch in SS styling policy towards long flowing curves came with the announcement of the SSI Airline, a two door four-seater hardtop coupe, with two spare wheels, mounted on on each front wing in metal covers, and by far the most graceful line seen to date from Swallow. For some reason it was a relatively poor seller, possibly because its styling was ahead of its time (the car would not have been out of place in a manufacturer's catalogue of 1938, but by that time the SS range had taken several more exciting jumps ahead).

It was in 1935 that the first jump occurred, after the SSI had become a very much more refined car, with a much-improved chassis frame, large brakes, synchromesh gearbox, and more powerful engine (both the Standard Sixteen and Twenty engine were being offered, a stroke increased in 1934 having enlarged their displacement to 2,143 cc and 2,664 cc respectively).

One of William Lyons' tantalising "controlled leaks' spoke of "an entirely new SS for 1936".

Meanwhile, his partner, William Walmsley, severed his connection with the company, and moved into the caravan business, so that in more ways than one a new chapter in the company's history was about to begin, starting with the birth of the very first Jaguar.

On Walmsley's retirement, SS Cars Ltd. formed a public company, and the Swallow Coach building Co. (1935) Ltd. came a subsidiary company, looking after the continuing manufacture sidecars, the Swallow car body-building activities having, of course, been gradually phased out as the new SS marque became established.

Following the mid-30s the craze of naming cars after animals, birds, fish or insects was at its height, William Lyons figured that if it he was to create the right image his new car would need something more than simple letters hung on it.

He chose the name Jaguar, and it could hardly have been more appropriate, for already the SS was beginning to show up quite successfully in competitions, and within a few years the fast moving and lean-looking Jaguars were to become some of the most feared animals in racing and rallying.

The Poor Man's Bentley

But the very first car to carry the SS Jaguar name was a beautifully balanced four-door four-seater saloon, selling for £385, but looking like a £1,000 motor car. Its tall, vertical-bar radiator cowl, flanked by a pair of very large Lucas headlamps mounted on generously contoured wings, gave it a most distinctive front end, and it was probably this as much as anything which earned the Jaguar the nickname of "The Poor Man's Bentley". The title, however, was unfair to both marques, for William Lyons was not in business to copy and cheapen, he was out to prove that by carefully applying volume production techniques to high-quality engineering you could drastically cut your prices and still show a healthy profit.

The first SSI had seemed a bargain by contemporary standards; the first SS Jaguar, a so much more refined car, offered even better value for money. Based on a specially designed box-section chassis frame, and with a four-door coach built body, relatively compact though it may have been, the SS Jaguar was obviously destined to be no lightweight, and so in an part to give it a suitably high performance William Lyons enlisted the help of the gas flow expert Harry Weslake and assigned to him the task of designing an overhead-valve cylinder head for the 2.5-litre Standard enty engine ... the first of many development jobs he was to carry for the company.

By the time Weslake had finished with the engine he had extracted 104 bhp from it, which was sufficient to give the saloon a top speed in the region of 90 mph, which was the design target.

Standard undertook to build the engine for SS Cars, and also continued to supply the four-speed gearbox to which it was attached. In addition, they continued to sell to SS their own side-valve 1,608 cc four-cylinder engine which William Lyons dropped into a 1.5-litre version of the new Jaguar which he offered at the bargain price of £285, but which was so under-powered that it sold in only very limited numbers.

In 2.5-litre form, however, the SS Jaguar became a tremendous success, and although the earlier SSI and SSII models continued in production during 1936 (the larger car being given the Jaguar engine), these were gradually phased out as part of the company's rationalisation process.

But the company were becoming increasingly involved in the sports car market. It was in March 1935 that they announced their first two-seater SS90, which used the SSI's side-valve 2.5-litre engine in conjunction with a closer-ratio four-speed gearbox in a specially shortened version of the SSI's chassis, with a wheelbase of only 104 inches.

With its long engine bonnet, cut-down doors, large instruments and short tail, incorporating a large slab-type fuel tank with a vertical spare wheel hung on the back, it looked bred for competition, but this was to prove only an interim model.

For 1936 the car was given a major body face-lift, though retaining the original proportions, and of course the overhead-valve version of the 2.5-litre engine was used, the two-seater being upgraded into the SS100. For £395 customers had an off-the-shelf competition winner, and though the SS100 was only produced at the rate of a few hundred per year the successes achieved by them in motor sport before the outbreak of war in 1939 brought invaluable prestige to the company, which was reflected in a steadily growing demand for the saloon models which provided the firm's bread and butter. William Lyons was one of the first British car manufacturers to really appreciate the true value of motor sport success, and from the day the SS90 was born he had always ensured that there was a high-performance car somewhere in the range with which his customers could wave the flag, especially when the company were not directly involved themselves.


The ability of the company not only to sell their cars at such attractive prices during the 1930s, but to achieve healthy profits whilst doing so, was the more surprising in that so many model changes were made during this period.

Even the new Jaguar saloon was destined for only a two-year life, while the company developed a successor which was to see them through for a complete decade, including the war years. It was first shown at the end of 1937, and it marked the company's abandonment of the traditional composite wood and metal body construction in favour of all-steel construction.

The basic proportions of the first Jaguar saloon were retained, but a wider and much roomier body was designed, space being provided for the spare wheel in a compartment recessed below the luggage boot, instead of in a metal case over the left front wing.

The "In Car" of 1937

The car's extra length gave it even faster lines to go with jts increase in performance. The 2.5-litre engine was fitted with a dual exhaust system, and a brand new 3.5-litre engine was announced, with a similar cylinder head design to that of the 2.5-litre, but with a bore of 82 mm and a stroke of 110 mm giving a displacement of 3,485 cc. The 3.5-litre engine was also quoted as an option for the SS100 model, and with this power unit installed the two-seater was indeed the 100 mph sports car its name implied. The SS100 was the "In-car" of 1937.

A 1.5-litre Jaguar saloon continued to be offered, but as this was basically the 2.5 and 3.5-litre with a shorter engine compartment, something more effective than the old side-valve engine was needed to pull it along.

The solution was found in the four-cylinder Standard Fourteen engine, with its 73 mm bore and 106 mm stroke giving a displacement of 1,776 cc. With an overhead-valve cylinder head this provided the smallest Jaguar with very reasonable performance, and the car became quite popular with drivers who were not interested in vivid acceleration, but were attracted by the Jaguar's style and luxury. Also, apart from the lower initial cost, the 1.5-litre Jaguar was considerably cheaper to run.

Once the new manufacturing techniques involved with all-steel construcction had been mastered, SS Jaguar production went up to 100 cars per week by the middle of 1938, and a production rate of 250 cars per week had been reached by the outbreak of war. For the first time, William Lyons had a range which he knew he could run for several years without major change because none of his competitors was likely to be able to produce anything more refined, more powerrful or better looking at a similar price.

Nevertheless, it was decided to widen the range by adding a two-door drophead coupe version of all three chassis, the 3.5-litre version becoming the most expensive car in the SS Jaguar catalogue at £465-£20 more than the saloon and the SS100. For 1939, the company unveiled a prototype hardtop coupe version of the SS100, with very streamlined bodywork including completely faired-in rear wheels, but with the increasing threat of war it was decided not to put this model into production, although specialist coachbuilders began offering their own versions of the SS100. So the company, which had started out by building bodies on other manufacturers' chassis, was now supplying chassis for other people to clothe!

The 1940 models were announced just a few weeks before the outbreak of war, but the only major change was the addition of a special equippment version of the 1.5-litre saloon, carrying quite a long list of "extras", which had become standard equipment on the larger-capacity cars; heater, large headlamps, fog lamps, etc.

Although a limited amount of car production was permitted well into 1940, the following five years were to be spent almost entirely on war work. One of the company's major activities was the production of aircraft components, starting with the Stirling bomber, continuing with the Whitley, Wellington, Spitfire, Lancaster, Mosquito and Oxford, and ending up with the jet-powered Meteor, for which the complete centre sections were built.

War Production Turns To Whitley Bombers

Part of the SS factory also became a service department for Whitley bombers, while in another area military sidecars and three types of wheeled trailer were turned out in large quantities.

Quite a lot of experimental work was also carried out for the War Department, including the design of two lightweight vehicles for use by airborne forces, one powered by a rear-mounted, air-cooled JAP engine, and the other a rather more conventional Jeep-like vehicle powered by a Ford Ten engine.

Like so many British factories, the premises at Coventry suffered heavy bomb damage, but at least there was some consolation in the fact that the reconstruction work which had been necessary to maintain maximum war producction left the company with even greater car-manufacturing potential at the end of the war than they had at the start of it.

But the switch-over from war weapons to car production was no simple matter, particularly in a country starved of raw materials and power, and the British motor industry took a long time to shake off the after-effects of the long and costly war. In common with most other members of the motor industry Lyons decided not to try to introduce new models immediaty, instead gradually building up production of some of his 1940 cars.

Initially he gave the go-ahead for the 2.5-litre and 3.5-litre saloons to be put onto the assembly line, to be followed soon after by the 1.5-litre model. The cars looks were virtually identical with those which had been produced 5 years earlier, but there was one important difference. The initials "SS" had been dropped, and the cars were henceforth to be known I simply as Jaguars, while the company's name was also changed from SS Cars Ltd. to Jaguar Cars Ltd. (For several years "SS" stood for one of the more sinister aspects of Hitler's Germany, and Lyons and his colleagues felt that the Jaguar name had by then achieved sufficient repute to be able to stand on its own.)

The First Post War Jaguar

The first post-war Jaguar left the production line in October 1945, and export consignment was shipped abroad shortly afterwards, although it was not until January 1947 that the United States received its first load of Jaguars - the beginning of a fantastically successful marketing operation which made North America the company's most valuable export area ever since.

With car production running as high as supplies of essential materials permitted, Jaguar Cars Ltd. had completed stage one of their three stage programme aimed at re-establishing themselves as the leaders in the field of luxury high-performance cars.

The second stage was to introduce a model which would bridge the gap between the existing models, which after all had been designed in the 1930's, and a range of exciting new designs which were then approaching the prototype stage.

The interim car turned out to be the Mark V, which appeared in September 1948, and was available in both saloon and drophead coupe form, being the first post-war Jaguar with a soft top. The Mark V sold with the choice of 2.5-litre or 3.5-litre engines, as fitted to the previous series, but about 80 per cent of sales were with the larger engine.

Although the car had a distinct family likeness to the previous models, a squatter radiator grille, rear wheel spats, partly faired-in headlight surrounds, double bumpers front and rear, and 16-inch instead 18 inch wheels, helped to update it considerably, and the Mark V became a very successful export car, the coupe version being particularly popular in the United States. This was the first Jaguar to feature independent front suspension, by wishbones and torsion bars, and also the first to be sold with a fully hydraulic braking system.

But although the Mark V was a brisk seller, there was still an important omission from the Jaguar range - an out-and-out sports car. The importance of filling the gap was all too clear to the Jaguar management, who could see the tremendous resurgence of interest in motor sport since the demobilisation of the armed forces, which had released thousands of young men on to the civilian market with a sizeable gratuity in their wallet. The whole world was hungry for sports cars, Jaguar were determined to meet the demand, and to provide a car vould not only provide a new standard of luxury for road use, but also be a potential race or rally winner. A tall order.