Jim and Lisa Hendrix are committed fans of all things Jaguar. Nearly everything automotive inside and outside their garage is a Jaguar, with the notable exception of the Sunbeam motorcycle, but it has a Swallow sidecar mounted. The Hendrix were ready to add something Jaguar to their collection and were debating what it would be. They were looking at a book by Paul Skilleter titled “Jaguar Saloon Cars,” and saw the photo of a SS I Airline Saloon on the back jacket cover. They knew that was the car they wanted, but they may have underestimated what was necessary to find and restore one. Together with their friend and restorer, Jason Manns, they consider themselves a team. It took a lot of teamwork and determination to find and restore their very rare 1935 SS I Airline Saloon. It has been a worldwide effort to bring this car back with many people involved.
Prehistory of Jaguar
The company that became Jaguar was the result of two men named William working together. The first was William Walmsley who was building stylish sidecars for the war (WWI) surplus Triumph motorcycles he reconditioned in his garage in Blackpool. Walmsley had no engineering training, but he did have an eye for style, something that was missing in the carts that were being attached to motorcycles at the time. Assisted by his sister and his wife, he produced about one sidecar per week. A young neighbor, William Lyons, ten years Walmsley’s junior, liked the look of the aluminum-bodied, octagonal sidecars and bought one. Lyons joined Walmsley when he turned 21 and was able to borrow £1000, and they launched the Swallow Sidecar Company in a larger workspace. With a workforce of about a dozen men, their goal was to produce ten or more sidecars per week.
Barrie Down, in his book titled “Art Deco and British Car Design – The Airline Cars of the 1930s,” described Lyons: “His natural business acumen saw a good commercial opportunity, and his eye for style appreciated the attractive appearance of these normally mundane creations. These two traits in the young Lyons proved to be his greatest assets over the next fifty years.” The company made strides in the use of aluminum and, according to Down, “learned the techniques of building coachbuilt bodies in quantity without the expensive handcrafting of the bespoke builders.” Their sidecars were stylish and were in demand, so production was expanded. Together, they decided to try their hand at creating an automobile body which, in 1926, became the Austin Swallow. They used an Austin 7 rolling chassis for which they built a stylish two-seater body. The Austin Swallow looked expensive, but it wasn’t. Visually, the only parts of the Austin Seven visible on the Austin Swallow were the Austin grille badge and the transverse leaf front spring. Denied a spot at the Earls Court Motor Show, the car was parked outside the main entrance to the show. It was seen by everyone entering, and a leading garage, Henley’s, ordered 500 of the cars. The newly named Swallow Sidecar and Coachbuilding Company was now an automotive coachbuilder, which resulted in a move to new facilities in Coventry in 1928. An Austin Swallow sold for a very reasonable £187 10s that year. Value would be a characteristic of all Swallow Sidecar automobiles.
Austin wasn’t the only rolling chassis on which Swallow sedan coachwork was placed. There were also Fiat Swallows and then Swift Swallows. The Fiat that was used was the 509A with a 900cc engine. The Swift Swallow was based on a Swift Ten, with a 1190 cc engine. Between 50 and 70 Fiats received Swallow bodies before the Fiat version was dropped. The Swift Swallow was more successful, with 150 being produced before Swift went out of business. The car that kept SS in business was the Standard Swallow. Lyons had developed a relationship with the Standard Motor Company, another Coventry manufacturer that had been in the automobile business since 1905. SS used the Standard Big Nine and was shown for the first time at the 1929 auto show. The car used the Standard 1287 cc four-cylinder engine. “Sidecar” was removed from the company name in 1930, and the company became known as Swallow Coachbuilding Company Limited. Building sidecars became a sideline.
After successes with the coachbuilt Swallows, Lyons was increasingly interested in becoming an automobile manufacturer. There was still to come another significant coachbuilt Swallow; their first six-cylinder SS car was introduced in 1931. It was based on the Wolseley Hornet with a 1271 cc overhead cam engine. It was popular and was sold through 1933, but a new Standard Swallow was developed using Standard’s 2054 cc six-cylinder L-head engine, an engine that would be the basis for all Jaguar engines built until 1948. Advertising for the auto show in 1931 played up the new Standard Swallow that would soon be produced. Herbert W. Williamson wrote about the ad in an article titled “The Natural History of Jaguar” (Automobile Quarterly, Volume III No. 1, Spring 1964). The ad said, “SS is the name of a new car that’s going to thrill the hearts of the motoring public, and the trade alike. It’s something utterly new . . . different . . . better. Long . . . low . . . very low . . . and very FAST! At the show, or before, two SS coupés of surprising beauty will be presented. WAIT . . . THE SS IS COMING!” Williamson continued. “The teaser was effective, and the debut of the SS was a success. Although the price was only £310, observers commented on its ‘£1000-look.’ With the SS, Lyon’s coachbuilding company evolved into a marque with its own identity, although Swallow depended on Standard to supply components to Swallow’s specifications.”
SS I
Various references show the name of this Swallow model in a variety of ways. It is sometimes shown with periods after each S. Some use the number 1 and others use the Roman numeral I. Jim and Lisa Hendrix, owners of the car being profiled, provided several period advertisements from the company about their cars. In the ads, the company shows the models as SS I and SS II, which is how they shall appear in this profile, except when another version is used in a direct quote, such as in the one that follows about the meaning of SS. There have been several interpretations as to what SS stood for. In his book, Skilleter quoted Lyons as saying: “There was much speculation as to whether S.S. stood for Standard Swallow or Swallow Special – it was never resolved.” Interesting that Lyons, in a 1977 interview, verified that that name was Swallow Special – here is the video of the interview: Jaguar | Sir William Lyons | interview |1977 – YouTube. SS will be how it is abbreviated herein.
Lyons was frustrated with having to design their bodies to fit someone else’s chassis. The company designed a new, stiffer chassis for their saloon concept and had it produced at the Rubery Owen factory. In January 1933, the resulting car was described by The Motor: “Let it be pointed out that these S.S. cars are not just built round a certain popular chassis. The design is original and distinctive.” The SS I was unlike anything the other manufacturers were producing. It was different, or, as The Motor said, “it struck a new note.” Skilleter described the new coupé as a “medium-sized coupé with a major part of its proportions given over to an extremely long bonnet, which began behind a stylish radiator grille set well back between the front wheels and ended in a small, low, passenger compartment with two doors.” Automobile Engineer called it “a very attractive car, that is, if anything, in advance of the times….”
The SS I would have been a success if only for its looks, but it was also roomy and affordable, not to mention that it got great reviews for its performance and roadholding. Compared to the Standard 16, from which its driveline came, the SS I coupé was 13 inches lower; its floor was 5 inches lower,; the engine sat 7 inches farther back; the track was an inch wider; and the wheelbase was 3 inches longer. It was a 2+2, although the rear seat was not a comfortable place for an adult. And it only cost between £310 and 320, depending on the engine choice.
There was one change to the original design of the body. Lyons original design had a much lower roofline. It was seen by his engineers and designers as too low. When Lyons was hospitalized for appendicitis, the roofline was secretly raised for production. Lyons was not happy with the change when he returned from the hospital, but it was too late to change it and still get the car into production on time. He called the new look roofline a “conning tower.” With the success the model had in the marketplace, the change to raise the roofline was probably a good call.
The SS I, with the two-liter six-cylinder Standard 20 engine, was the top of the SS line, but there was also a smaller, 1052 cc four-cylinder Standard 16-engined model, the SS II. The SS II was smaller both in engine displacement and size, but it looked much like its bigger sibling. In 1933, the SS I was restyled and both the Standard 20 and Standard 16 engines were offered in the car. The Standard 20 engine was boosted to 2552 cc, producing 62 bhp. The SS I was initially available with either S.U. or R.A.G. carburetors. The wheelbase was lengthened by 7 inches, eliminating the “conning tower” look and increasing the size of the passenger compartment. The fenders were more flowing and incorporated running boards. The body appeared more curved than before, and the interior was much improved. The car received excellent road test reviews, saying that the car “was turning into an extremely competent sporting car.” SS also introduced the SS Tourer, an open car with dimensions similar to the Saloon but with better aerodynamics and improved comfort.
In 1934, engine displacement was increased, and new intake and exhaust manifolds were designed, resulting in an increase in horsepower. The transmission was improved, with synchronized second through fourth gears. Track was increased by 2 inches, again improving interior space. R.A.G. carburetors became the standard for the SS I, until they were eventually replaced by S.U. carbs. A new “4-Light” Saloon was added. It added two windows for the rear passengers, replacing the decorative Landau bars.
Lyons and Walmsley parted company as the company moved more into automobile manufacturing. Walmsley appeared to have lost interest in the company, using company assets purportedly to build parts for his model railroad. Lyons bought out Walmsley and launched the company, now named SS Cars Limited, as a public company. SS finally became recognized as a manufacturer rather than a coachbuilder. The company received £85,000 from investors. Sidecar production continued through Swallow Coachbuilding Company Limited.
The following year, 1935, fastback styling was becoming popular, Lyons, usually not someone to follow a trend, decided to build a fastback. The SS I Airline Saloon was the result, and it was spectacular. With the entry of the Airline, the original coupé was discontinued. The SS line now included the 4-Light Saloon, Tourer, and Airline Saloon. Under the bodywork, the Airline got a boost in power by the optional twin R.A.G. carburetors and better handling the result of larger, double shocks and a stiffened chassis. The transmission received better synchros, and engine cooling was improved. It was the bodywork, though, that included the most important changes. The front of the car was still quite conservative, as was the case with most British fastback designs. But the rest of the car was beautiful. Skilleter describes the Airline as having a “roofline sweeping in a continuous length from windscreem to the base of its tail, where the curvature swept under the car.” With its higher roofline and longer, pillarless body, the Airline Saloon was more comfortable than the earlier coupé and had much better visibility for the passengers, especially the rear passengers. It was praised in the motoring press for its acceleration, ride, handling and top speed. Lyons, apparently, wasn’t entirely pleased with the Airline Saloon. In an interview with Motor magazine in 1972, he said, “I was a bit disappointed with it really. We were in a bit of trouble with headroom, so we put a bit of a bump in the roof, and it therefore didn’t have as clean a line as it should have had.” These days, people look at it in awe. If there is a “bit of a bump in the roof,” it’s not something that is often noticed.
Barrie Down, in his book “Art Deco and British Car Design – The Airline Cars of the 1930s,” noted the importance of the SS I Airline Saloon: “Although it was produced for only one year, the SS I Airline is now recognized as one of the Jaguar classics, and is probably the best known and the most typical of all the ‘airline’ cars. It’s striking outline further enhanced the long look of the SS cars. The downward slope of the pillarless windows perfectly matched the lines of the rain gutter and the rear wings, and the long horizontal bonnet vents, the car perfectly fits the Art Deco styling genre.” To be accurate, the SS 1 Airlines were introduced in 1934 and were in production as 1935 and 1936 models. The 1936 had a different radiator shell.
The cars to come were quite different than their predecessors. “Jaguar” was first used in addition to the SS name on cars produced in 1936. There were two engines for the SS Jaguar – a 1.5 and 2.5 liter. They were designed by SS and built by Standard, the first successful attempt to use engines of their own design. The larger engine powered a sedan and a tourer, as well as the beautiful SS 100. The SS portion of the name was dropped before production resumed after WWII, since the logo looked like the twin lightning bolt symbol of the hated German Schutzstaffel.
SS I Airline Saloon Chassis No. 248985, Engine No. 248927, Body No. 7887
When Jim and Lisa started their hunt for an SS I Airline Saloon over 30 years ago, they had no idea what a challenge it would be to find a car to restore and how much determination it would take to restore it correctly. The Hendrix were no novices when it came to the restoration of Jaguars, but the Airline Saloon would be a challenge to their determination. As mentioned, they were trying to decide what car to add to their collection and had settled on the SS I Airline Saloon after seeing its photograph on the back cover of Paul Skilleter’s book. Their search started with the SS Registry of the Classic Jaguar Association, where they discovered that, of the 624 Airline Saloons built, only six were known to survive. With the help of people and friends around the world, before the internet existed, they appeared to be in luck, as one of the six, owned by the Fullbridge County Museum, was to be auctioned. It was the very car that was on the Skilleter’s book. They registered for the auction and attended it by phone. Hendrix recalls, “Bidding started at £15,000 and went up in £1000 increments, then £2000 increments. There were apparently several bidders – one of our friends was there. We found out later that he decided not to bid because he knew who one of the other bidders was. Eventually it was down to two bidders. Bidding gets to £31,000, and we gave the £33,000 bid, and they bid £35,000. We were asked quickly if we want to bid again, and we said yes. Then he said, ‘they hammered it sold!’ It was very fast! [Our auction contact] was also surprised.” The Hendrix were devastated – it was a finished car, but the story does not end here.
About a year later, twenty friends from St. Louis and Chicago took a trip to England. One of the places they visited was the Jaguar-Daimler Heritage Trust in Browns Lane. Hendrix relates what happened next, “We were looking at the cars, and all of a sudden, Lisa is off like a shot. She’s waving at me, and what’s in the background – Lisa’s car! She ‘jumped’ over the ropes. She hugs the sidemount. The tour leaders said, ‘you can’t be back there,’ and she says ‘Mine!’ The incident is reported and pretty soon the curator comes out. We told him the story about the auction. He turns red – [but] not mad; he does not say anything more. We get called into his office. We thought we were going to get our hands slapped. He said, ‘I am so sorry.” The Heritage Trust had been the other bidder with the end result being that the car remained in Jaguar’s hands as a historic and prized addition to their collection. The Hendrix were happy to learn of its destination and they ended up with a lifelong friend in the process.
The curator became a great friend and offered to assist with the search for an Airline Saloon. All of them continued to look for a car. A 20 hp Airline Saloon that was available for purchase was finally found in 1996; it was the 7th we added to the list. It was owned by Eric Hook of Gloucestershire. Hook was an SS specialist, who dealt parts, repairs, restorations and car sales. He had purchased the car in June 1970, he said it was time to move it to a new custodian. Thanks to the Heritage Trust, the logbook of SS cars, and a lot of research, Hendrix was able to establish the car’s ownership history. He even allowed them to take photos of the logbook for the cars. “He laid the logbook out, and we found our car in there. The entry confirmed the original chassis, engine and body numbers we recorded were as the car was born with, who the dealer was that sold it, who the purchaser was, and the date dispatched.”
The car was originally bought on March 12, 1935, by Charles Randolph Whatley of London during the Silver Jubilee Anniversary celebration of King George V. Whately ordered at an additional cost of £5 to the base of £365 ($2,500), special exterior and interior colors. Silver was the official color associated with the anniversary celebration, so he ordered the car to be silver. The interior was Special Light Blue with Royal Blue carpeting, the colors of his uniform, the sash of light blue and the uniform of royal blue, as shown in his picture. A specification sheet shows those colors to be available only by special order. Whateley owned the car for fourteen years before selling it to George Bickley in March 1949. Bickley lived in Staffordshire and last registered the car in 1961. Hook bought it in 1970 and owned it until Jim and Lisa Hendrix bought it in 1996. The car had been sitting in Hook’s “barn” for many years, and it looked like a barn find, although a rare and pretty nice barn find. Hendrix explains about the house and barn: “Eric Hook’s home was built in 1631. The home had a common brick wall with a backside structure, also brick, known as ‘the barn’. The fireplace was on that common wall with the hearth open to the home. Not only did the fireplace warm the home, but the common brick wall also warmed the barn. It was further explained to us by Eric that at night the farm animals would be moved to the barn in the winter. When the fire would burn down, the warmth from the body heat of the animals would keep the common brick wall warm as well.” By 1970, the hearth was not likely being used for heating and cooking, nor were many animals likely to be spending nights in the barn. Still, the SS may have benefitted from heat from the house through the brick wall when temperatures dropped.
After completing the purchase, the SS I Airline Saloon was trailered to the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust for safe keeping until next steps were finalized. The next steps included fully evaluating the car with help from experts including our curator friend. During this process we discovered wood worm. Wood worm is a worm that boroughs through the wood and leaves telltale holes visible. The Airline Saloon and many other coachbuilt cars of the period had steel chassis but above the chassis the structure was ash wood. Ash is a very dense hardwood and structurally rugged. The sheet metal body is nailed to it. The wood worm had damaged some of the ash structure. The cars destination was the USA. We were advised by our curator friend that the USA would not allow a car with wood worm into the country. As a result, the wood worm had to be eliminated. This resulted in a decision to engage with Fullbridge Restoration in Maldon Essex. Yes, this is the same Fullbridge name that sold the car at the earlier mentioned auction. They had the Museum they were closing and a Restoration company. Due to their experience restoring two Airline Saloons, the Hendrix engaged with them to assist with coordinating the wood worm elimination and other work. The process took several years with the help of experienced experts in England and included numerous trips by Jim and Lisa. Fullbridge Restoration’s owners, Darryl and Rick, agreed with Jim and Lisa on a common goal to do the work right. Many of the Fullbridge team were involved in this process with attention to detail that included sourcing missing parts and completing initial restoration work including mechanical items. The final result was very well done so that the shipment to the USA could take place.
Once the car came to Missouri, that’s when the third member, Jason Manns got intimately involved. The shop that became Manns Restorations is a fourth-generation auto shop. It was founded by Manns’ great grandfather in the 1930s. He had been a farmer but went to Detroit to learn about the auto industry. He did both mechanical and bodywork on local cars. Eventually, the shop became involved in buying and selling cars. It even became a Kaiser Fraser dealership. Manns’ father was more interested in working in the shop than in selling cars, so the business began specializing in collision repair, but also in restoration. Manns’ father Mike enjoyed taking something and making it beautiful. As the restoration business grew, the collision repair part of the business was closed. It was in that shop where Jason Manns learned how to restore automobiles. His father taught him to use his hands to feel glass – you can’t see the imperfections, so you must feel them. It is how Manns approaches bodywork in a restoration – you must use your hands to feel imperfections you can’t see. “Old World” craftsmanship is applied at Manns Restorations.
Jim and Lisa Hendrix and the Manns family, especially Jason were drawn together by a love of cars. Once they found each other, they became a team – they do the research together, they show the cars together, they do parts searches together. The car arrived with seventeen totes containing all kinds of parts. Together, they laid them out, cataloged them, and tried to figure out what each part did. It was an incredible eight-year effort that often resulted in long searches for rare components of the engine. The story of the R.A.G. carburetors is an example of what was sometimes required.
SS I Airline Saloon with chassis number 248985 and engine number 248927 was equipped with twin R.A.G. carburetors when it was built. SS was one of the few companies that used the carburetors. When Hendrix got the car, it had twin SUs, with no R.A.G.s in any of the totes. Hendrix found that the R.A.G. carburetors were nearly unobtainium. One reason they are hard to find may be their penchant for leaking fuel. On the Standard side valve engine, the carburetors are mounted above the exhaust manifold. Leaking fuel, hot pipes, and an ash frame meant that the opportunity for a disastrous fire was high. Many SS owners replaced the R.A.G. carburetors with Solexes. Hendrix found a set of new old stock Solex carburetors and used them to get the car running. But it was not a correct car. Hendrix said, “My goal was never to show the car until it was right.” The search to make the car “right” took eight years. Hendrix went to England and talked to people in the SS community. He found that Dave Davenport, a restorer, had two, but they were not his to sell. Talking to a friend in Texas, he found that his friend had two carburetors, but they were only good for parts. Hendrix bought them. At about the 6 ½ year mark in the search, Hendrix met Ian. The two of them exchanged items that they both needed for their restoration projects. Ian took on the task to search for the RAG carburetors but commented that they are “the toughest parts in the world to find!”. About 10 months later he found them in eastern Europe. It took another six months for Hendrix to receive them, but they were complete and had consecutive serial numbers. This was one of the thrills of this project, to make the Airline correct! A big debt of gratitude is owed to Ian. The Hendrix talk about these carbs continually at any place the car is displayed.
The carbs went to Manns. They were cast in zinc, and the exteriors were in good shape, but the bores were worn, and the carburetors would lock up. Manns rebored the centers of the carburetors and made new pistons to fit. He milled the venturis out of the housings and cut new ones. Nearly all the internal components were handmade, but they were in the original housings. The carburetors, externally, are original. With the renewed carburetors, the car ran and drove wonderfully. They have put hundreds of miles on the car, and it even starts immediately from cold. Hendrix commented to Manns, “This is a feat of magic!”
The restoration was not without its moments of panic. Over two hundred pieces of chrome had been sent to a shop in Nashville to be rechromed. The shop had put its various stages of the process in several buildings, and the finishing building caught fire and was destroyed. It took weeks to find out if the chrome for the SS had been affected – it had not. It had not gotten to the finishing building by the time of the fire. They started the process again with a shop in Chicago, Finishing Touch, with excellent results earning many compliments.
The car is beautiful, and it is “right.” Apparently, a number of judges at concours d’elegance around the country also think it is “right.” The team has won numerous best of show and best in class awards, but one of its top honors was receiving the Antique Automobile Club of America’s (AACA) Zenith Award, given each year to one car judged to be the pinnacle of achievement for automotive restoration. Two cars are selected from each of the eight to ten national events administered by the AACA. Attendance at the national events varies from a hundred to 1,250, at the Eastern Fall National in Hershey, Pennsylvania. According to the AACA, the cars are selected for the quality and authenticity of their restoration, the degree of difficulty of the restoration, provenance, historical significance, and rarity. Nineteen cars, ranging from a 1903 Cadillac Modal A to a 1969 Pontiac GTO Ram Air III, including the team’s SS I Airline Saloon, were nominated for the Zenith Award in 2023. It was won by the 1935 SS I Airline Saloon.
Riding Impressions
One cannot ride in a rare, beautiful automobile, especially one that has been at Pebble Beach completing the drive with no issues earning the Green ribbon and has won awards at The Amelia, Radnor Hunt, and many others, as well as the AACA Zenith Award, without being in awe. Especially when it is, as Hendrix notes, “still fitted with its original engine, chassis, commission tag, molded tool tray, R.A.G. carburetors, scumbled faux wood trim on the dash, door capings, parcel tray, and many unique Airline details.” The leather seats are comfortable. The passenger compartment, both front and rear, and spacious. Headroom is high enough for the hats of the era. The dash has a full complement of gauges for fuel level, water temperature, oil pressure, ammeter, combination speedometer/tachometer, and a clock. The four spoke steering wheel is shaped so the driver’s fingers are always in a groove enabling the heavy car to be turned even at low speeds. The car has proven to be comfortable for driver and passengers in 70–80-mile drives at concours events, and it can keep up with cars much younger than itself. During my time as a passenger, it was as if we were in a much more modern car. It handled well, accelerated nicely, and stopped better than most cars with cable-operated brakes. The drive was on smoothly paved roads in a nice housing development, so no attempts at land speed records were made. The SS I Airline Saloon proved to be a very competent automobile, thanks to the incredible restoration it received. This car will receive many more awards and put many more smiles on the “team’s” faces.
Specifications
While normally, a table of the car’s specifications would be included here, but the company has done a much more comprehensive job of listing the specifications in the brochure for the car. It is included as a scan of the “SPECIFICATION” page from that brochure.
Related Article
There is a profile of an Airline coupé in the files of Sports Car Digest. It is an MG once owned by a famous Thai prince and racecar driver, Prince Birabongse Bhanudej Bhanubandh, known to most as Prince Bira.
