Before World War 2, what is now Jaguar was called SS Cars Limited, with the SS being derived from the earlier incorporation of the company as Swallow Sidecar, which was predominantly a coachbuilding company building very elegant fashionable bodies on other company’s chassis, such as the Austin “Swallow” based on the Austin Seven. In 1932 the company produced the SS1, which was the first in-house designed car bearing their own name, utilizing a 6 cylinder engine and chassis from the Standard Motor Company and shortly followed by the SS2. Their next model, however was a new design in the razor edge style of the mid to late 1930s, bearing the model name of Jaguar and was available with a saloon and drophead coupe body, built in house and fitted with an option of a 1 ½ litre, 2 ½ litre and eventually a 3 ½ litre engine. In addition to the saloon and drophead coupe, the same chassis and two larger engine combinations were available as a lightweight open touring car, sold as the SS-100. Designed to compete with the likes of Bentley and Rolls Royce, the SS Jaguars were every bit as elegant, with comparable performance, but significantly cheaper. The engine, which uses a Standard Motor company block, has an overhead valve head fitted to it, designed by Harry Weslake, who was a leader in British engine tuning and design at the time, which, along with the twin SU carburettors, yielded significant power improvements over Standard’s sidevalve variant of the same engine. My example was bought at auction as a restored car, and is a 2 ½ litre 3 position drophead coupe. The insulated double-layer soft top can be up, have just the front half folded back, leaving the rear seats covered, or alternately can be lowered completely. When the roll-up side windows are lowered, the chrome channels they slide in fold down over the glass, leaving a completely open car with nothing protruding about the beltline other than the windscreen. Power and acceleration are good for a car of this era, though the car feels less solid and smooth in performance than my contemporary Bentley. Brakes are effective and handling is acceptable, but visibility is poor due to the small high-placed rear window and lack of side mirrors. Even with the top down, the car sits higher than many more modern cars. I will likely retrofit period correct side mirrors onto the car at some point in the near future as without them it is very difficult to safely change lanes, especially as your seating position is higher than many modern cars.