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Official Site: Jaguar.com
Wikipedia: Jaguar Cars Subtopics Jaguar Heritage Challenge Jaguar Parts and Jaguar Auto Parts Page Sections History Reference Desk Multimedia Photographs Motorsports Article Index |
History
The following section is an excerpt from Wikipedia's Jaguar Cars page on 13 June 2017, text available via the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Jaguar is the luxury vehicle brand of Jaguar Land Rover, a British multinational car manufacturer with its headquarters in Whitley, Coventry, England, owned by the Indian company Tata Motors since 2008.
Jaguar's business was founded as the Swallow Sidecar Company in 1922, originally making motorcycle sidecars before developing bodies for passenger cars. Under the ownership of S. S. Cars Limited the business extended to complete cars made in association with Standard Motor Co, many bearing Jaguar as a model name. The company's name was changed from S. S. Cars to Jaguar Cars in 1945. A merger with the British Motor Corporation followed in 1966, the resulting enlarged company now being renamed as British Motor Holdings (BMH), which in 1968 merged with Leyland Motor Corporation and became British Leyland, itself to be nationalised in 1975.
Jaguar was de-merged from British Leyland and was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1984, becoming a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it was acquired by Ford in 1990. Jaguar has, in recent years, manufactured cars for the British Prime Minister, the most recent delivery being an XJ in May 2010. The company also holds royal warrants from Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles.
Jaguar cars today are designed in Jaguar Land Rover's engineering centres at the Whitley plant in Coventry and at their Gaydon site in Warwickshire, and are assembled in their plants at Castle Bromwich and Solihull.
In September 2013 Jaguar Land Rover announced plans to open a 100 million GBP (160 million USD) research and development centre in the University of Warwick, Coventry to create a new generation of vehicle technologies. The carmaker said around 1,000 academics and engineers would work there and that construction would start in 2014.
Birth of the cars
The Swallow Sidecar Company was founded in 1922 by two motorcycle enthusiasts, William Lyons and William Walmsley. In 1934 Walmsley elected to sell-out and in order to buy the Swallow business (but not the company which was liquidated) Lyons formed S.S. Cars Limited finding new capital by issuing shares to the public.
Jaguar first appeared in September 1935 as a model name on an SS 2½-litre sports saloon. A matching open two seater sports model with a 3½-litre engine was named SS Jaguar 100.
On 23 March 1945 the S. S. Cars shareholders in general meeting agreed to change the company's name to Jaguar Cars Limited. Said Chairman William Lyons "Unlike S. S. the name Jaguar is distinctive and cannot be connected or confused with any similar foreign name."
Though five years of pent-up demand ensured plenty of buyers production was hampered by shortage of materials, particularly steel, issued to manufacturers until the 1950s by a central planning authority under strict government control. Jaguar sold Motor Panels, a pressed steel body manufacturing company bought in the late 1930s, to steel and components manufacturer Rubery Owen, and Jaguar bought from John Black's Standard Motor Company the plant where Standard built Jaguar's six-cylinder engines From this time Jaguar was entirely dependent for their bodies on external suppliers, in particular then independent Pressed Steel and in 1966 that carried them into BMC, BMH and British Leyland.
Jaguar made its name by producing a series of successful eye-catching sports cars, the Jaguar XK120 (1948–54), Jaguar XK140 (1954–57), Jaguar XK150 (1957–61), and Jaguar E-Type (1961-75), all embodying Lyons' mantra of "value for money". The sports cars were successful in international motorsport, a path followed in the 1950s to prove the engineering integrity of the company's products.
Reference Desk
The Crittenden Automotive Library's "Reference Desk" is a collection of materials that cannot be shared due to copyright restrictions. Information from these resources, however, can be shared. Go to the Reference Desk page for more information.
| Type | Title |
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1980  Book | Jaguar: The history of a great British car by Andrew Whyte; Patrick Stephens, Cambridge |
| 1982 Book | Great Marques: Jaguar by Chris Harvey, foreword by Stirling Moss; Octopus Books Limited |
| 1994 Book | Jaguar: Tale of the Cat by Jay Schleifer; Crestwood House |
| Date | Media or Collection Name & Details | Files |
|---|---|---|
| 26 March 2008 | Indian Company Buys Luxury Brands Jaguar, Land Rover Anjana Pasricha for Voice of America News |  Article Page - 2:02 |
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Subject: Classic Jaguar Steering Wheel
Photographer: Clem Onojeghuo License: Unsplash View photo of a Classic Jaguar Steering Wheel - 2.7MB |
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Subject: Jaguar Factory at Castle Bromwich in Birmingham
Photographer: Mark Hillary License: Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Caption: The factory at Castle Bromwich in Birmingham that makes the legendary Jaguar cars... View photo of the Jaguar Factory at Castle Bromwich in Birmingham - 488KB |
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Subject: Jaguar-Branded Eyeglasses Frames
Photographer: Bill Crittenden Date: 2017 View photo of Jaguar-Branded Eyeglasses Frames - 1.9MB |
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Subject: Jaguar-Branded Eyeglasses Frames
Photographer: Bill Crittenden Date: 2017 View photo of Jaguar-Branded Eyeglasses Frames - 1.4MB |
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Subject: Unidentified Jaguar car
Photographer: Jasper Garratt Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada 
License: Unsplash View photo of Jaguar car - 2.0MB |
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Subject: Unidentified Jaguar car
Photographer: Jasper Garratt Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
License: Unsplash View photo of Jaguar car - 3.6MB |
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Subject: Unidentified Jaguar car
Photographer: Jasper Garratt Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
License: Unsplash View photo of Jaguar car - 2.2MB |
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Subject: Unidentified Jaguar car
Photographer: Jasper Garratt Location: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
License: Unsplash View photo of Jaguar car - 3.4MB |
Motorsports
Spec Series: Jaguar Heritage Challenge
Jaguars have been involved in sports car racing for decades. They have been involved in several firsts, including the first NASCAR Grand National win for a foreign car in 1954 and winning the first 4 Australian Touring Car Championships (the series that would eventually become V8 Supercars Australia) from 1960 to 1963.
Championships Won in Jaguars
Year Driver< Model 1960 Australian Touring Car Championship David McKay 3.4 1961 Australian Touring Car Championship Bill Pitt 3.4 1962 Australian Touring Car Championship Bob Jane 3.4 1963 Australian Touring Car Championship Bob Jane 3.4
