ULTIMATE JAGUAR
RARE 1939 SS100 THE EPITOME OF THE PREWAR BRITISH SPORTS CAR:
Aride to the airport 30 years ago in a Jaguar car set the hook. Now, with more than a few Jaguars in his collection, Rene Blei of Calgary has been caught line and sinker, too.
Recently, Blei added a very rare Jaguar — a 1939 SS100 — to his collection.
“The SS100 is the epitome of the prewar British sports car,” Blei says, and adds, “It was one of the fastest cars in its day.”
Powerful, with a 3.5-litre in-line six-cylinder pushrod engine, and light at 1,150 kg thanks to its all-aluminum body, the SS100 offered a lithe driving experience.
“I became interested in Jaguars when my brother drove me to the Amsterdam airport in an XJ6 coupe,” Blei says.
Blei bought his first Jaguar, a 1980 XJ6, in 1997. Over the years, several others have joined the fold.
Jaguar got its improbable start in 1922 when two friends, William Lyons and William Walmsley, began designing motorcycle sidecars. That year, they built their first sidecar, dubbed the Swallow.
Demand for their comfortable, classy and stylish products grew, and in 1926, they named the business the Swallow Sidecar and Coach-building Company.
Lyons began drawing auto bodies for other manufacturers, including Austin. In the early 1930s Lyons joined forces with the Standard Motor Company — their engine and chassis with his auto body – and the SS (Swallow and Standard) cars were introduced.
These first SS cars weren’t fast enough for Lyons.
He set out to completely redesign them and he hired William Heynes and Harry Weslake to help increase power of the side-valve Standard engine. Heynes and Weslake developed an overhead valve cylinder head, thus boosting horsepower.
When the vehicle was completed in 1935 Lyons wanted an evocative new name for the model, and chose Jaguar. The first Jaguar model was the SS90, powered by a 2.5-L engine, followed in 1936 by the SS100 car with a 3.5-L engine. “100” denotes the car was capable of achieving 100 m.p.h., and only 118 of the model were produced.
Not only is Blei interested in Jaguar cars, he is also interested in sailing; in 1968, he was the first Dutchman to sail from Holland to Iceland.
Late last year Blei was on a mission to purchase a large boat. However, after several trips to B.C.’s west coast, Blei hadn’t secured a vessel.
Discouraged about the boat, he turned to the In- ternet for some solace, and checked in on Suffolk Jaguar’s U.K. website. Owned by Roger Williams, Suffolk Jaguar builds visually exact reproductions of the SS100. They also restore and broker rare Jaguars.
“I’d always thought about owning an SS100, but never thought I could find one, nor afford one,” says Blei, who is a past president of the Vintage Sports Car Club of Calgary. But, there on the Suffolk Jaguar site was a note that a genuine 1939 SS100 was indeed for sale.
“I contacted Roger about one of the two Suffolk Jag- uar replicas he had for sale, and as a postscript, asked about the price on the 1939 car, not really even thinking it (might be attainable),” Blei says.
However, the price was agreeable, and in early June the SS100 3.5-litre car, which is referred to by its serial number “39117,” was ready to be picked up at the docks in Vancouver. Blei trailered 39117 home, and debuted the vehicle in late July in Calgary at the Vintage Sports Car Club’s annual European Classic Car Meet at Stanley Park.
According to Blei the car, which was No. 117 of the 118 SS100s built, was exported just before the start of the war in 1939 to a dealer in Berlin.
The first owner is not known, but after the war the car turned up in Warsaw, Poland. Since then, there have been three well-documented owners, including Alf Naslund of Poland.
Naslund purchased 39117 in 1969, drove it occasionally, and in 2009 had Roger Williams restore it, with fresh woodwork and a completely overhauled original powertrain. Earlier, the leather upholstery had been updated, and the car painted Jaguar metallic silver. Naslund asked Williams to broker 39117 — and that’s how Blei came to own the Jaguar.
“I’m the custodian of a rare, and original, car with a traceable history, and I feel very honoured to have the vehicle,” Blei says of his Jaguar.
So far, Blei has only had to purchase new 5.5-18-in. tires for the 60-spoke rims and put the car through an out-of-province inspection, which it passed without difficulty.
Blei intends to drive the SS100, albeit sympathetically, and says there are no rallies or races in the sports car’s near future.
With a non-synchromesh first gear and mechanical brakes, Blei jokes that a new John Deere tractor would probably handle better than the vintage Jaguar.
He adds, “But in its day, the SS100 was a lithe sports car, and at the time it was the fastest.”