Quiz Archive

What is it? # 78 (UPDATE I & II)

UPDATE II by Rofer Fields: "The Swallow Sidecar Company made sidecars for motorcycles, starting in 1922. By 1928, the name was changed to Swallow Coachbuilding Company. They made bodies for Standard chassis', and in late 1933, the company became known as SS Cars, Ltd. There has been much conjecture that SS stood for either Swallow Sidecar, Swallow Sidecars, Swallow Special, Swallow Sports, Standard Sixteen, or Standard Swallow. Another option originated with the Brough motorcycles, of which Sir William owned a model SS80 and SS100. John Black, head of The Standard Company said it stood for Standard Swallow. Apparently not wishing to upset a principal customer, Sir William Lyon said "it was never fully resolved". In 1945, the name was changed to Jaguar Cars Limited, as SS had developed bad connotations from the German regime. In summary, my guess is that Sir William had more than one of the name combinations in mind at the time the monogram was selected. The radiator badge on the 1931 sports car shows two esses intertwined, and the name, "Standard Swallow". It makes sense that the product of the two companies would bear that name." Thank you Roger Fields !

UPDATE: This is the 1934 SS II Coupe (not an Airline however) that was on auction at Christie's a litle bit more than one week ago. The engine is a Standard 1,3 Litre. Even insiders seem not so sure whether SS stands for Standard Swallow, Swallow Sidecars or...? One thing is sure, this is not (yet) a Jaguar. Best answer was by Roger RedMenace Bowers who had the Make, the Year and Coupe (brilliant without seeing anything of the coachwork! Yet he didn't know about the auction car.). Congratulations Roger !

It is a St. Christophe badge. Mounted on a hexagon dominated dashboard of a smaller coupe of a wellknown coachbuilder that prooved to be very ambitious. To give away a little more we provide you with a slightly wider view (click) on the same dashboard. What else do you need to know? Ah, the 4 pot engine measuress something like 1,3 litre, not really a grand routier. So, now all should be clear. We want you to tell us the exact make of car, maybe the coachbuilder, the year and the type. The more you know the more chance to win the more and more infamous PreWarCar T-shirt. Please send your answer before Monday 8 September to \n This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it '> This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (photos by editor)

Friday, 05 September 2003