Jaguar, A Short Story
In 1922 William Lyons and William Walmsley founded the Swallow Sidecar Company in Blackpool. The company was producing motorcycle sidecars and coachwork. In 1928 the factory moved to Coventry to meet the demands for the Austin Swallow. In 1931 the first car was presented with a chassis manufactured by Standard, exclusively for Swallow. This was the beginning of the S.S. cars. The first models were the S.S. I and the S.S. II. In the following years they were the basis for several successors. In 1934 William Walmsley left the company and William Lyons started to cooperate with Harry Weslake. Harry Weslake started to improve the engines and founded a construction department under the responsibility of William Heynes. The S.S. 90 was introduced in 1935. It was a Roadster on the basis of the S.S. I. In 1935 the name Jaguar was first use for a car. It was the S.S. Jaguar, a 4-door saloon with 2.5 L engine. The smaller version was the 2-door S.S. Jaguar 1.5 L and the successor of the S.S I and S.S. II. During WW2 the company again produced motorcycle sidecars for military use. After WW2 and due to the unfavourable connotations of the SS initials the name was changed to Jaguar Cars Ltd. In the 1950s Jaguar produced a series of elegantly-styled sports cars and saloons. After several changes of the ownership the Ford Motor Company acquired the company in 1989. In 2008 Jaguar was sold to Tatra Motors in India.
Ford Köln and Ford Eifel
In 1931 the people in charge of the Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, Michigan found it necessary to produce a smaller car for the European market. The Ford Model Y was designed. It was first presented in 1932 on the Ford Motor Exhibition in London’s Royal Albert Hall. In August of that very year the production in started in England and in 1933 in Germany. Here the car was named Ford Köln, as Köln is the German name of the city of Cologne, where the cars were manufactured. The Ford Köln had a 4-cylinder engine, 21 hp (16 kW), with a top speed of 85 km/h (53 mph). The cars built in Germany were more luxurious than those produced in England. A saloon and a convertible were available. But the Ford Köln wasn’t a great success due to the competition with the Opel, DKW and Adler. In 1935 it was replaced by the bigger Ford Eifel. The Ford Eifel was produced in Germany from 1935 to 1940. It was available as 2-door saloon and 2- and 4-seat convertible, 2-sear roadster and light truck, with a 4-cylinder engine, 34 hp (25 kW), with a top speed of 105 km/h (65 mph). This car was a real success with more than 61,000 units sold. The Ford Eifel was derived from the Ford Model C platform and related to the Ford Anglia and Ford Perfect.
