SS Streamliner: Paul Pycroft's Extraordinary Jaguar

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A point that is not universally understood is that cars are sometimes of greater importance in an historic modified state than restored to factory-original specification. A perfect example is the Pycroft Jaguar SS100, which started life in 1936 but was turned by Paul Pycroft into a forward-thinking streamlined racer in 1947.

Pycroft bought the SS100 new, occasionally driving in European competitions. A few minor bodywork modifications were carried out prewar, but when peace returned a radical transformation took place. He produced designs for an extraordinary aerodynamic body, with the entire front and rear sections hinged in the clamshell style. After appearing in The Motor, the SS100 ran at the first ever Goodwood meeting in 1948, where it won the very first race held at the circuit, but Pycroft sold it in 1951.

It passed to a Dutch enthusiast in 1967, but was in a tatty condition with its history unknown, so was restored to factory specification. The merciful Fates, however, ensured that the Pycroft body stayed with the car and, with the internet age, the brothers who inherited it started to realise the significance of what they had stored away. Subsequently, the historic racer was returned to its early postwar glory and débuted again at Goodwood in 2023.

Still, we might ask, where did Pycroft get his ideas from? Who built the car for him? And might it possibly have influenced William Lyons in designing the XK120? All that and more is revealed by Jeroen Booij in the January issue of The Automobile, on sale now.

Words by Zack Stiling
Photographs by Ingmar Timmer

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