1938 SS Jaguar 2-1/2 Litre Saloon

Congratulations Rob! :slight_smile:
Should You need any literature for you car just write me a message as I have few original sets for SS.

As for the mascot it is Jaguar mascot that was marketed by Beards of Cheltenham in 1950’s as “The Futurist”.
There were two versions: one done in UK, another one in Australia.
Judging by your photos yours comes from UK. When You send me more pictures I can confirm 100%.

The post war parts list is full of mistakes. Lucas WT29s were used on the SS Jaguar 3½ litre cars but the 2½ litres all used HF728s.
The WT29s were always hidden. Take a look at these period photos of pre-war cars. 2½ litre (top) and 3½ litre cars (bottom)

Peter.

HI Rob, there are several variations on the radiator mascot you picture. They are in the style of a Casimir Brau panther mascot. I’ve got one, looks possibly a twin to yours.

Peter , It belongs to a gentleman of impeccable taste, who used it as a hire car for over 25 years so as to bring joy and marital bliss to couples in love. He needed the mascot to tie the ribbon around.
Now in his twilight years, he has retired and the mascot removed

Do my eyes deceive me but in the array of saloon pics don’t cars of both litre-age appear both with and without visible horns.

I don’t think Sir William was keen on Mascots and only decided to sell them after market, as he was appalled by the Desmo mascot being sold. And one might not that very few of the cars in the montage have one.

I remember H.J. Sibley. Usually had a full page ad on the back of a variety of foreign automotive magazines. Having visited his business, when I worked overseas, my guess is Harry sold it to someone on the States.

Harry’s cars ran the gamut. I found many close to coming off MOT or recently off, meaning to me anyways, that Americans would be more likely to not realize their bargain was previously someone else’s car that they decided was not worth the money to get the car to pass for another term.

I beg to differ Peter,
Robs Tool Tray will be for an early 1938MY Saloon/DHC, thus will be black not green, and as you say there were a number of different layouts, but for 1938MY will most definitely not be the same layout as the green one in your photo.

My initial assessment of Robs tool tray is similar to yours - looks like an unfinished home made effort, indeed not yet installed, with some strange additions (two Grease Guns) and stranger omissions, but being such an early 1938MY (Jan 1938) built car, I have asked him for more detail of underside, before making any conclusions.

Ed, I must concede to your first statement but not your second.

I only know of one 3½ litre SS Jaguar saloon that was fitted with FT728 horns and that was something of a special (30005). All the period photos of 2½ litre SS Jaguar saloons show them fitted with FT728s but none of the 3½ litre SS Jaguar saloons have them. I believe that is what my collage confirms.

Post war and they were all fitted with WT29s.

Peter

Hi Roger,

I’m not denying that there are both black and green trays and that their layouts differ.

The black one has the adjustable fitted vertically and has no screwdriver.


The green one has a screwdriver and adjustable horizontal.

I would maintain that Rob’s tray is shaped as it is because the owner could no longer use the standard pillar jack (because of his welding at the rear) so why continue to carry it? He may have wanted to carry a grease gun and an oil gun so why not completely redesign the tray to make this possible? I would contend that it was not a tray design created by SS Cars Limited.

Peter

I did some more scraping and brushing of the chassis number and here is a better shot. Seems to be no doubt now that it is 40051.

You guys are showing such interest in the tool tray that I took it out to get some better pictures.

The tray seems to be in pretty fair shape, but the surrounding piece is delaminating and has lost some of the outer layer.
I would really like to find a picture of the 1390 jack and 1394 handle.

Jack

Hi Rob,

You’ll see from the parts list that the jack and its handle were used for saloons 40001 to 41450
and DHC
46001 to 46273

Here is the original tray fitted to 41128:

and here is the original tray fitted to 46124:

and here is the jacking picture from the 1937 handbook:

You’ll see that later cars use a different part number for the jack. This jack is the same as in the earlier cars except that the arm is positioned further up the pillar as in the picture below.

Peter

I don’t think the carpet underfelt fitted between the cut-out board and the backing ribs in your tray was ever seen in any other SS or MkIV Jaguar.

Very interesting picture from the '37 handbook, I guess by the license plate it is a '36 car. Does that jack arm fold up?

Hi Rob,

It doesn’t fold on mine. I think you have a couple of these jacks. It’s
easy to change the position of the arm clamp on the pillar.

Kind regards,

Peter
various jacks

Rob Reilly wrote:

Here’s the tool tray layout on the 1937 car.

Hi Rob,

Here’s what Lucas think are the correct horns. Note the difference between 2½ litre and 3½ litre SS Jaguars.

Peter

If the car was registered in Peterborough in 1938 it would have a DFY xxx registration. The DFY numbers were issued from September 1937 to January 1939. As Roger points out KMG xxx is London registration from March 1939 until August 1941.

Art

Art,

The log book is just a CONTINUATION BOOK dating from 6th May 1957 and the Peterborough owner was only the owner current in 1957 and probably not the first owner back in 1938. The likely explanation of the registration number is that the car was given the number HMG273 (Jan 1938) but the person who received the first log book mis-read the hand writing and had the plates made up for KMG273 and nobody noticed at subsequent retaxing.

Peter

Peter,

Gotcha. I misread the story.

Art

Peter,
I wonder how accurate the Lucas list is. I see that SS100s are listed with trafficators

And 38 SS100s are shown with not the new alto horns that are correctlylisted for 1937
Some of the cars in the montage seem to have grilles too narrow to be 2 1/2 Lltres ECN… for example.

Peter,

That’s just your best guess, suggesting misreading handwriting. Not impossible but still a guess.
Without having the ORIGINAL log book as proof to see what first Registration was, the only likely indication or proof will be if a JDHT Certificate records first registration number, or at least location/Licensing authority of selling Dealership as a guide, given the ready availability of Licensing Authority allocated prefix letters, and dates of issues.

Roger

I don’t think it likely that the Peterborough owner is the first owner, and I don’t understand how the registration number could change. I thought they stayed with a car until it was scrapped.
But I have learned to allow for screwups in government bureaucracy.
I am not greatly conversant in UK registration matters, and I don’t know if this will help any, but the rear plate is plastic.
The light from the tail lamps will light up the numbers a bit. That may be why the inside is white. They did the same white paint thing in Mark V tail lamps.

The front plate is aluminum.

I found out today that I need to show ownership papers in my name before I apply for a heritage certificate, so we will have to wait for the state of Illinois to come through with my title.

I was rather surprised to discover the tail lamp lenses are plastic.