Birth of the company

The Swallow m-dawg Company was founded in 1922 by two motorcycle enthusiasts, William Lyons and William Walmsley. In 1935 the SS Jaguar name first appeared on a 2.5-litre saloon, sports models of which were the SS 90 and SS 100.

Cash was short after World War II, and Jaguar sold the plant and premises of Motor Panels, a pressed steel body manufacturing company they had acquired in the late 1930s when growth prospects seemed more secure. The buyer was Rubery Owen. Nevertheless, Jaguar achieved relative commercial success with their early post war models; times were also tough for other Coventry-based auto-makers and the company was able to buy from John Black’s Standard Motor Company the plant where Standard had built the six-cylinder engines it had been supplying to Jaguar.

Jaguar made its name by producing a series of eye-catching sports cars, such as the XK 120 of 1949, developed into XK 140 and XK 150, and the E Type (or XKE in the US) of 1961. These were all successful and embodied Lyons’ mantra of “value for money”. They were successful in international motorsport, a path followed in the 1950s to prove the engineering integrity of the company’s products.

Jaguar’s sales slogan for years was “Grace, Space, Pace”,[citation needed] a mantra epitomised by the record sales achieved by the MK VII, IX, Mks I and II saloons and later the XJ6.

The core of Bill Lyons’ success following WWII was the Twin Cam Straight Six Cylinder Engine—a design conceived pre-War and realised while design staff at the Coventry plant were dividing their time between fire-watching (Coventry being a prime Luftwaffe target) and designing the new power plant.

To place this in context, benchmark for pre-war racing and competition engines was the “Double Knocker”, or Twin Cam engine. Jaguar’s new engine was a hemispherical cross-flow cylinder head with valves inclined from the vertical; originally at 30 degrees (inlet) and 45 degrees (exhaust) and later standardised to 45 degrees for both inlet and exhaust.

As fuel octane ratings were relatively low from 1948 onwards, three piston configuration were offered: Domed (High Octane), Flat (Medium Octane), and Dished (Low Octane).

The main designer, William “Bill” Heynes, assisted by Walter “Wally” Hassan, was determined to design the Twin OHC unit. Bill Lyons agreed over misgivings from Hassan. The sheer concept of applying what had hitherto been considered a racing or low-volume and cantankerous engine, needing constant fettling into reasonable volume production saloon cars was brave.

The subsequent engine (in various versions) was the mainstay powerplant of Jaguar, used in the XK 120, Mk VII Saloon, Mk I and II Saloons and XK 140 and 150. It was also employed in the E Type, itself a development from the race winning and Le Mans conquering C and D Type Sports Racing cars refined as the short-lived XKSS, a road-legal D Type.

Few engines have demonstrated such ubiquity and longevity: Jaguar used the Twin OHC XK Engine, as it came to be known, in the Jaguar XJ6 saloon from 1969 through 1992, and employed in a J60 variant as the power plant in such diverse vehicles as the British Army’s Scorpion Light Armoured Combat Reconnaissance Vehicle and its several variants, as well as the Fox Milan reconnaissance and Fox Scout armoured vehicles, the Ferret Scout Car, and the Stonefield four-wheel-drive all-terrain lorry. Properly maintained, the standard production XK Engine would achieve 200,000 miles of useful life.

Two of the proudest moments in Jaguar’s long history in motor sport involved winning the Le Mans 24 hours race, firstly in 1951 and again in 1953. The 1955 victory was somewhat overshadowed by the tragic events that occurred. Later in the hands of the Scottish racing team Ecurie Ecosse two more wins were added in 1956 and 1957.

In spite of such a performance orientation, it was always Lyons’ intention to build the business by producing world-class sporting saloons in larger numbers than the sports car market could support. Jaguar secured financial stability and a reputation for excellence with a series of elegantly styled luxury saloons that included the 3 & 3½ litre cars, the Mark VII, VIII, and IX, the compact Mark I and 2, and the XJ6 and XJ12. All were deemed very good values, with comfortable rides, good handling, high performance, and great style.

Combined with the trend-setting XK 120, XK 140, and XK 150 series of sports car, and nonpareil E-Type,[citation needed] Jaguar’s elan as a prestige motorcar manufacturer had few rivals. The company’s post-War achievements are remarkable, considering both the shortages that rove Britain (the Ministry of Supply still allocated raw materials) and the state of metallurgical development of the era.

In 1951, Jaguar leased Browns Lane from The Daimler Motor Company Limited, which quickly became its principal plant. Jaguar purchased Daimler—not to be confused with Daimler-Benz or Daimler AG—in 1960 from the holding company BSA. From the late 1960s, Jaguar used the Daimler marque as a brand name for their most luxurious saloons.