SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST

The Barossa Valley region of South Australia proved to be my destination once again earlier this year, as I revisited the Lindner Collection of priceless Jaguars that I’d previously reported on in Classic Jaguar. This time, however, it was to get up close with the SS1 you see here, a machine that’s survived a voyage across the world on the deck of a cargo ship, has had ten different owners, and has traversed one of the planet’s most inhospitable places without mishap. It’s led anything but a cossetted existence, having covered an impressive 300,000 kilometres during its first 86 years.

Any Jaguar historian will be aware of the story of the Swallow Sidecar Company, which came about when William Lyons and William Walmsley joined forces, building high-quality sidecars at the company’s premises in Blackpool. When the two Williams then turned their attention to making car bodies – the first being based around the Austin Seven chassis – it was inevitable that their plans would soon become more ambitious. Indeed, when the very first SS1 was displayed at the 1931 London Motor Show, it set a trend that would be followed by just about every Jaguar of later years, incorporating a long and sleek