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Saturday 27 November 2010

Sidecars to Jaguars: Amy on Sepia Saturday 51


The origins of Jaguar go back to the seaside town of Blackpool. In 1922 Bill Lyons, a motorcycle enthusiast, and William Walmsley formed the Swallow Sidecar Company – Walmsley had previously been building sidecars and attaching them to reconditioned motorbikes.

In 1926/27 The Swallow Sidecar and Coachbuilding Company diversified taking existing cars and re-bodying them with more fashionable coachwork.

SS cars came in the 1930s when a chassis to Swallow’s design was fitted with engines from the Standard Motor Company. Later the SS name was altered to SS Jaguar. As a consequence of WWII the term SS had unwanted Nazi connotations and in April 1945 SS Cars became Jaguar Cars.

What’s this to do with Amy?

In September 1948 Jaguar announced the Jaguar Mark V, its first post war model.


 This week’s photo shows Amy with her husband Bob (the couple on the left), her sister Edna and Edna’s husband, Charles. They were on a trip to London in 1948 to see the Motor Show at Earls Court, the first after the war.

More Sepia Saturday at http://www.sepiasaturday.blogspot.com/

16 comments:

tony said...

I Never Knew The Blackpool connection.Interesting how many early cars were made in the North of England (not surprising really ,given we were the hub of manufacturing then).Did you know about the cars made in Halifax?

La Crona said...

You have an interesting series of old photos here.Thanks for sharing!

Tattered and Lost said...

The gentleman on the left reminds me of Danny Kaye.

Oh my but it looks cold.

Did anyone drive away with a new model that day?

ZORA said...

so nice..:)

Bob Scotney said...

Tony, thanks for the Halifax link; I hadn't heard of this or the Blackpool origin of jaguars until I did this post.
Tattered and Lost: no new cars for some years after this for Amy and Bob. the man like Danny Kaye.
zora:thanks for popping in from Malaysia.

Jack Owen said...

My "lookalike" choice with be another Lancashire lad - Stan Laurel.
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=0&oq=stan+laurel&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4ADFA_enUS389US389&q=stan+laurel
First time I saw a Jag up-close was when Graham Hill pranged one at Goodwood, walked away from it into the infield where I was - and I added a few new cuss words to my reporter's notebook ;^)

Bob Scotney said...

Jack. His daughter (my wife)says she can seewhat you mean about Stan Laurel.

Unknown said...

I will share this with one of my friends in PA who only drives Jags...Interesting history about Jaguars....I wondered too if they bought a new model at that show...

Christine H. said...

A cross between Stan Laurel and Danny Kaye! Oh, I would like to have been there for that motor show.

Nancy said...

I see Stan more than Danny, but possibly a cross between them. I like this photo, seeing these couples in 1948 - their clothing, hair styles, etc. I wonder who took the photo....

Bob Scotney said...

We think the photo was taken in Trafalgar Square. There must have been someone there taking photos of tourists - that's our guess.

L. D. said...

I am just checking in but did appreciate the story about Jaguar. It is a beautiful car. Your photo shows some well dressed people who look a tad cold.

Jinksy said...

Not what you might think of when you say Blackpool Illuminations?!

Leah said...

Fascinating history of the name! Great photo.

Marilyn & Jeff said...

This is interesting, I didn't know anything about how or why Jaguars were named. A great photo to have.

Bruno Laliberté said...

well, you learn something every day. thanks for adding these facts.
:)~
HUGZ