Jaguar
In the beginning, a 20-year old British motorcycle enthusiast, William Lyons, launched the Swallow Sidecar Company in England in 1922. By 1931, his company had merged with Standard Motor Company. The first car to bear the name “Jaguar,” the SS* Jaguar 100, appeared at the 1935 London auto show.
During World War II, Jaguar returned temporarily to building sidecars for the military. After the war, the company presented its first true sports car, the XK 120, at the 1948 auto show at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre. At first, Lyons planned to build only 200 cars, but the demand for more was so great that he geared up for a production of 12,000+ over a five-year run. This car introduced the remarkable XK-Series six-cylinder, 3442-cubic centimeter, twin-cam engine with 180-horsepower for the XK 120 increased to 210 for the successor XK 140 produced from 1954 to 1957.
Jaguar developed the C-Type (competition) cars of the 1950s built on XK 120 frames with all-new, aerodynamic bodies. Strictly for the track, only 54 C-Types ever were built. The company improved and updated its racer with the instantly recognizable D-type. The bass-mouth front intake, the bulbous, curved fenders, and the aerodynamic fin behind the driver’s head were auto styling innovations.
In 1961, the company began production of its sexy, sensationally-styled ’60s sports car, the E-Type or XKE, 66,612 of which dealers sold until production ceased in 1975. Early models had a 3781-cubic centimeter version of the XK-Series twin-cam engine followed in 1965 by a larger 4235-cubic centimeter displacement, both good for 265 horsepower. Finally, a twelve-cylinder, 5343-cubic centimeter engine replaced the original six-cylinder and powered all XKEs from 1972 on. The car’s weight increased from 2700 pounds in 1961 to 3400 by 1975.
Entering the market in 1976, the XJS four-seat coupe and later convertible was more apparent than real as successor to the XKE. Bigger, heavier (3900 pounds), quieter, and more luxurious, the XJS emphasized comfort more than entertainment or excitement in its ride. XJS production reached 115,413 during a 21-year run before the XK8, a model reminiscent of the XKE with the first Jaguar eight-cylinder engine, replaced it.
In 1966, Jaguar announced that it would merge with British Motor Corporation, which also owned Austin-Healey and MG and in 1966 became British Motor Holdings. This entity merged with Leyland, owner of Triumph and Rover, in 1968 to become British Leyland. Eventually, the government took control and by mismanagement devastated most of the British automotive industry. In July 1984, Jaguar emerged from the devastation as a separate, independent company, one of the Thatcher Government’s many privatizations, to find a new capital supplier, which turned out to be Ford.
The idea of staunchly British Jaguar having a foreign owner was a shock, but the company needed resources for new models. Ford Motor Company supplied $2.56 billion in 1990, and Jaguar used it to modernize its facilities to produce the XKR and XK8 sports coupes, also bringing the much anticipated XJ 220 to market in 1992 to nearly universal disappointment and dismay, having downgraded the prototype twelve-cylinder, 6200-cubic centimeter engine to a 3500-cubic centimeter six and the all-wheel to ordinary rear-wheel drive. The car wasn’t even street legal in the USA.
In 2008, the company ownership changed yet again in another sequel of the British auto industry’s fall from great heights. In an historical irony, Jaguar and Land Rover went to Tata Motors based in India, a former British colony. Jaguar continues to produce several models in Britain as a brand of Jaguar Land Rover under Tata Ownership. The F-Type coupe and convertible made its debut in 2013 as the first Jaguar two-seat sports model since the E-Type of long ago.
*For “Standard-Swallow.” As “SS” had bad connotations in connection with the Nazis in Germany, the letters soon disappeared from the company name.
Visit the Jaguar of Canada website: www.jaguar.ca
