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I N T R O D U C T I O N

While on fire–watch duty during the war, Lyons and his engineers sketched out a design for an advanced new engine for a new postwar saloon design. Development continued in Jaguar’s early days, along with work on a new chassis and front suspension. The chassis and suspension was ready by 1948, but the engine was still being developed, as was the saloon’s new body, the lines of which were quite complex for steelworking. An interim model, the Mark V, debuted with the new chassis and suspension; although its lines were highly reminiscent of the SS Jaguar, the public loved it. The new engine bowed later in the year in what had been planned as a limited–run sports car, the XK–100 (a four–cylinder vehicle) and XK–120 (six cylinders). The price differential between the two was so small the XK–100 never entered production, but the XK–120 was a sensation and the focal point for expanding the company’s distribution into the lucrative United States market. It also provided a starting point for Jaguar’s brief but success- ful history in sports–car racing. The top–of–the–line saloon finally bowed in 1950 as the Mark VII, a large, lavish car fitted with the 160 hp–XK engine and the company’s usual rich leather and wood trim treatments inside. Factory space at Foleshill soon became tight, so Lyons, in 1950, purchased a former Daimler factory, with one million square feet of space, in Coventry. A new mid–sized car, the 2.4–litre saloon, was introduced in 1956, the same year William Lyons was knighted for his work in the automotive industry. A 3.4–liter model was added the following year. These were heady days for Jaguar: its models were exemplars of style and performance, the company was profitable and growing. So when a major factory fire destroyed hundreds of cars on Feb. 12, 1957 and sus- pended production, it was indicative of the drive of Sir William Lyons and

FOLLOWING PAGE: Leftover D–types were converted into hairy XK–SS passenger cars with the addition of bumpers, convertible tops, and Ford Consul windscreens. Only 16 were made before fire swept through the Coventry works.

A fold–down wind- screen and cutaway doors made the SS 1 Tourer a sport- ing proposition. This is a 1935 model.

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