The History of Jaguar

The history of Jaguar Cars Ltd. begins in the 1920s. In 1922, Sir Lyons William and his partner William Walmsley William founded the company Swallow Sidecar (abbreviated SS) in the northern seaside town of Blackpool, which initially specialized in the manufacture of sidecars for motorcycles. Very stylish aluminum strollers Swallow immediately attracted the attention of motorists. The talented and enterprising William Lyons decided to try his hand at a new direction - the production of Swallow car bodies.

The company's first achievement in this field was the development of the car body 'Austin 7', thanks to which William Lyons' company received an order to produce 500 such bodies. The funds raised and its growing reputation allowed Swallow Sidecar to gain a foothold in the body design market, producing bodies for Fiat, Morris, Swift, Standart and Wolseley.

In 1931 in connection with an increase in production the company moved from Blackpool in more spacious production facilities in Coventry. William Lyons began to design his own cars, developing a predilection for two-seat sports models, which brought the company another success at the Motor Show in London. The SS 1 car, whose chassis and body design were designed entirely by Lyons, was hailed as the sportiest of all Swallow models. From a list of bird and animal names representing speed and power combined with beauty and grace, Lyons chose Jaguar for his first-born. The SS 1 later became the prototype for the open-top SS 1 Tourer, hailed as Jaguar's first true sports car.

In the early '40s, automobile production at Swallow was halted due to the outbreak of World War II. All automobile manufacturers, including Swallow Sidecar, were actively involved in fulfilling military government orders.

The year 1948 marked the restart of automobile production. Swallow Sidecar changes its name to Jaguar Cars Ltd. The development of Jaguar's revolutionary 2 - and later 4-cylinder engine begins. The new series of Jaguar cars was named 'X' (from the word 'experimental'), later known as the XK series of cars.

In 1948 the company had a new success at the London Motor Show, where the Jaguar Powered by a Heynes 105 hp engine it easily reached a speed of 126 km/h and was acknowledged as the fastest among the production cars.

In the 50s, the Jaguar XK Mark V, Mark VII., Jaguar XK140 were produced. From 1950 to 1960, the company conquered the American market, where the Jaguar XK150 and XK150 Roadster, with engines from 2.4 to 3.8 liters and power up to 220 hp, were a huge success. Demand for Jaguar cars was so great that it became necessary to open another plant to produce Jaguar cars in Browns Lane.

The fifties were marked by a succession of sporting victories for Jaguar. The C-Type and D-Type fitted with adapted XK engines won the Le Mans race for seven years. The success of the Jaguar team and Grand Prix championships in 1959, '60, '63 and '65 forever linked the name to the history of winning motoring races.

In 1956 Queen Elizabeth II of England awarded William Lyons the title of Royal Designer of the Automotive Industry. He was also awarded the title of royal knight for his great contribution to the development of the country's automobile industry.

In 2002, the new Jaguar XJ was unveiled at the September 2002 Motor Show in Paris. This seventeenth model in the XJ series was 200 kg lighter than its predecessors and even its classmates thanks to its all-aluminum body. The new Jaguar XJ is the embodiment of traditional Jaguar style, while combining sophisticated design and luxury interior trim with the latest technological innovations in car production. Do not forget to use Jaguar VIN decoder in order to avoid potential problems when buying a used car.