Jaguar 1922 – 2009 – Always a great looking car

The Jaguar Badge

Founded as the Swallow Sidecar Company in 1922, by two motorcycle enthusiasts, Sir William Lyons and William Walmsley, the SS Jaguar name first appeared on a 2.5 litre saloon in 1935, sports models of which were the SS 90 and SS 100. The Jaguar name was given to the entire company in 1945 when the SS was dropped due to lack of popularity from WWII.

Jaguar made its name in the 1950s with a series of elegantly-styled sports cars and luxury saloons. In 1951 the company leased what would quickly become its principal plant from the Daimler Motor Company (not to be confused with Daimler-Benz), and in 1960 purchased Daimler from its parent company, the Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA). From the late 1960s, Daimler was used as a brand name for Jaguar’s most luxurious saloons.

Jaguar merged with the British Motor Corporation (BMC), the Austin-Morris combine, to form British Motor Holdings (BMH) in 1966. After merging with Leyland, which had already taken over Rover and Standard Triumph, the resultant company then became the British Leyland Motor Corporation (BLMC) in 1968. Financial difficulties and the publication of the Ryder Report led to effective nationalization in 1975 and the company became British Leyland, Ltd. (later simply BL plc).

In the 1970s the Jaguar and Daimler marques formed part of BL’s specialist car division or Jaguar Rover Triumph Ltd until a restructure in the early 1980s saw most of the BL volume car manufacturing side becoming the Austin Rover Group within which Jaguar was not included. In 1984, Jaguar was floated off as a separate company on the stock market — one of the Thatcher government’s many privatizations.

In 1999 Jaguar became part of Ford’s new Premier Automotive Group along with Aston Martin, Volvo Cars and, from 2000, Land Rover; Aston Martin was subsequently sold off in 2007. Between Ford purchasing Jaguar in 1989 and selling it in 2008 it did not earn any profit for the Dearborn-based auto manufacturer.

On 11 June 2007, Ford announced that it planned to sell Jaguar, along with Land Rover. On 26 March 2008, Ford announced that it had agreed to sell its Jaguar and Land Rover operations to Tata Motors of India — — a very bad move indeed!

Large executive

§ 1935–1948 2½ Litre saloon

§ 1937–1948 3½ Litre saloon

§ 1948–1951 Mark V

§ 1951–1957 Mark VII (& VIIM)

§ 1957–1959 Mark VIII

§ 1959–1961 Mark IX

§ 1961-1970 Mark X

§ 1966-1970 420G

§ 1968–1987 XJ6 Series 1, 2 & 3

§ 1972–1992 XJ12

§ 1986–1994 XJ6 (XJ40)

§ 1993–1994 XJ12 (XJ81)

§ 1995–1997 XJ6 & XJ12 (X300 & X301)

§ 1998–2003 XJ8 (X308)

§ 2004–2009 XJ (X350)

§ 2009–date XJ (X351)

Compact executive

§ 1935–1949 1½ Litre saloon

§ 1955–1959 Mark 1

§ 1959–1967 Mark 2

§ 1963–1968 S-type

§ 1966–1968 420

§ 1966–1968 240 & 340

§ 1999-2008 S-type

§ 2001-date X-type

§ 2008-date XF

Sports

§ 1948–1954 XK120

§ 1954–1957 XK140

§ 1957–1961 XK150

§ 1961–1974 E-Type

§ 1975–1996 XJ-S

§ 1992-1994 XJ220

§ 1997–2005 XKR (X100)

§ 1996–2006 Jaguar XK8 ^[41]

§ 2007-date XKR (X150)

Concept models

§ Pirana (1967)

§ XK180 (1998)

§ F-type (2000) – Roadster, similar to the XK8 but smaller

§ R-Coupé (2002) – Luxury four-seater coupé, closest competitor being the Bentley Continental GT

§ Fuore XF 10 (2003)

§ R-D6 (2003) – Compact four-seat coupé

§ XK-RR – A high-performance version of last generation XK coupé

§ XK-RS – Another performance-spec version of last generation XK convertible

§ Concept Eight (2004) – Super-luxury version of the long-wheelbase model of the XJ

§ C-XF (2007)

source for text:  wikipedia.org

The great team at Collier Jaguar in Orlando let me snap away as long as I wanted to – nice folks over there – with a great product.

I love the older Jags – when I was in high school, my next-door-neighbor had a 1960 Jaguar Saloon – it was a stately-looking rig and I think I’ve always liked them since seeing his.

The rest of these beautiful cats are varied, but they have a very magical look about them.  Kinda makes you want to dig out your tweeds and find that Meerschaum and pack it with some fragrant smoking tobacco.  Take a look:

1960 Mark II Saloon

1960 Mark II Saloon

1960 Jaguar MK IX

Jaguar MK V Saloon

Jaguar MK II

Jaguar XK 120

Jaguar E Type V-12

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