1936 Jaguar

A very special matching number early production SS100 finished to its original specification that has perhaps the finest and most complete history I have ever seen with a pre-war car. From new to date each of the car’s nine ownerships are fully documented in four leather bound files beginning with the three original buff logbook registration documents and ending with recent concours wins following a painstaking restoration. There are a great number of photographs on file throughout its life and it has clearly been used and loved by each owner. Hence it has never fallen into a state of dereliction nor been modified, a rare thing for a car of this period and most helpfully it was carefully stored during the war.

Interestingly this is a rare early production model with chassis number 18047, SS100’s produced up to October 1936 having numbers 18001 to 18051 and engine numbers lower than 251164. Production was suspended between October 1936 and January 1937. It is only these early cars that feature the one-piece exhaust manifold and single exhaust pipe together with a number of other minor details.

Constructed in 1936 this SS100 was registered DLB 135 in December 1936 as noted in the original logbook on file and delivered by main dealer Henlys of London to a Mr Ernest Neathercoat of Horsham, Sussex who kept it for its first two years. He returned the car to Henlys who sold it to second owner Eric Edwards, later to become Lord Chelmer who ended up as Chairman of successful property group Greycoat PLC.

Lord Chelmer kept the car at his home, Bullwood Hall, throughout the war from 1938 until he sold it in October 1947 to another Essex resident Cyril Abbott, a solicitor from Ford End. Abbott completed a number of rallies as noted in photographs and correspondence including the 1948 JCC Eastbourne Rally where he achieved a Standard Award and 4th in class in the hill climb. The arrival of children forced Abbott to find alternative transportation and in 1949 it was acquired by Edward Curry, a friend of Abbott’s who lived in Bexley in Kent. Mr Curry was a keen motor racing enthusiast and one of the first marshals at Brands Hatch. He duly pressed DLB 135 into service as a Track Marshals car. During his ownership the car was repainted white from the original black.

After seven years with Curry the car moved to Reepham in Norfolk when it was purchased by David Clarkson who kept it until 1958. The sixth owner was Andrew Beer of Epsom, Surrey who worked for Phillips Electronics.

In 1960 the car was bought by Michael Shelley who clearly loved the SS100, keeping it for over 42 years and enjoying many extensive trips with his wife as recorded in many photographs and correspondence on file. In 1962 Shelley changed the colour to British Racing Green as part of his early restoration work on the car and it is Shelley we must thank for the car’s copious history. During his ownership with tireless research contact was made with all previous owners and only one, Andrew Beer could not be contacted.

Shelley met up with all the others and produced comprehensive manuscript notes and managed to obtain period photographs of the car with each owner outside the houses they lived in whilst in ownership of DLB 135.

During Shelley’s ownership DLB 135 appeared in a television advertisement for Players Cigars as illustrated on file and was used as the SS100 model for the Matchbox series of die cast models. Indeed this last owner tracked down the artist Roy Huxley who did the original artwork for Lesney Products, manufacturers of the Matchbox models and managed to acquire the original artwork from him.

In 2002 Shelley finally decided to part with the car entering it into a London Auction (auction catalogue entry on file) from where it was bought by a Jaguar specialist who kept it in his own collection for several years. The 8th private owner, a Mr George Purdie of West Malling, Kent bought it in 2005 and finally it passed from him to the 9th and last owner in 2017.

The SS was looking rather tired in certain areas and it was decided to fully restore the car and revert to its original black coachwork. Ashton Keynes Vintage Restorations were entrusted with this work which began with a complete strip down to a bare chassis. Every component was then inspected and restored with a painstaking level of detail shown by AKVR in the rebuild which was completed in July 2020. Many invoices and photographs on file detail the progression of this work and the rather notable amount spent to achieve perfection. The only alteration from standard is the fitment of a five-speed synchromesh gearbox that greatly aids usability. The original fully rebuilt gearbox and prop shaft accompany the car and are easily refitted.

Fortunately, all this work was rewarded with a Best in Class win at The Salon Prive Concours D’Elegance in 2020 followed by a Best of Show Award from the judges at the Annual Hurlingham Club Concours of the same year.

Since then the SS has been lightly used in appropriate dry conditions and has been maintained by specialists as noted in invoicing on file. It has been stored within the owner’s collection in appropriate conditions and remains immaculate throughout.

There are few pre-war cars more beautiful than an SS100 and this has to be one of the very best.