Holbrook Lane, Coventry.
1933 William Lyons founded S. S. Cars Limited, which acquired the business carried on by Swallow Coachbuilding Co[1] manufacturing S. S. cars as well as motorcycle sidecars[2].
By the end of 1934 1,800 cars a year were leaving the factory.
1935 Public company, shares launched on the London Stock Exchange. The company acquired the business previously carried on by Swallow, producing the S. S. car as well as the Swallow motorcycle sidecar. Business had doubled in the past 6 months[3].
1935 Swallow Coachbuilding Co was put into voluntary liquidation, and was replaced by the Swallow Coachbuilding Company (1935) Limited which continued to make sidecars.
1935 Introduction of the Jaguar name for the cars[4]
WWII Car production halted; the company repaired bombers and manufactured other military products.
1945 The company name was changed to Jaguar because of the unfavourable connotations of the initials "SS" in the war.
See Also
Sources of Information
- Swallow [1]