Jaguar: 1st model ever

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S.S. Jaguar logo 1935. The first car launched with the Jaguar brand was the "S.S. Jaguar 2.5 litre Saloon", unveiled at the Mayfair Hotel London, September 21, 1935; but the first car ever produced by the same company - S.S. Cars Limited, later Jaguar Cars Limited - was the 1932 "S.S. 1", or "S.S. One", debuted at the London Motor Show in October 15 to 24, 1931.

Name: "S.S. 1"

Category: Cars

Subcategory: Sports car

Designers: William Lyons and William Walmsley

Producer: S.S. Cars Limited (founded by Sir William Lyons on October 26, 1933, as the result of the Swallow Sidecar Company formed with co-founder William Walmsley on September 2, 1922)

Production start: 1932 - Foleshill, Coventry, England - Debut as coupé car at the London Motor Show in October 15 to 24, 1931, Olympia, West Kensington

Discontinued: 1936

First price: 310 GBP

Features: For detailed specifications see the 1931 official brochure in Pdf below

Interesting facts: In 1922, two motorcycle enthusiasts, William Lyons and William Walmsley, founded the Swallow Sidecar Company, a British manufacturer of motorcycle sidecars and automobile bodies in Blackpool, Lancashire (later Coventry, Warwickshire). After some name changes - Swallow Sidecar and Coachbuilding Company, and Swallow Coachbuilding Company, during which the company diversified by bodying existying cars with more fashionable coachworks, William Lyons decided to become a car manufacturer in his own right. So, in October 1931, Lyons revealed his "S.S. 1" coupé at the London Motor Show. The engines and chassis supplied by the Standard Motor Company were fitted with Swallow bodies styled under Lyons supervision. The body was ultra low and the bonnet outrageously long. It had, stated the press, the £1,000 look, yet was priced at a very modest £310, highlighting Lyons' unique ability to offer remarkable value for money. The first two S.S. cars available to the public was the 1932 S.S. 1 with 2-litre or 2.5-litre side-valve, six-cylinder engine and the S.S. 2, a smaller version based on the Standard Nine chassis, with a four-cylinder 1-litre side-valve engine. A much improved S.S. cars followed in 1933, Saloon and Tourer models were introduced, and in the same year William Lyons formed S.S. Cars Limited. Jaguar brand first appeared in September 1935, as a model name on an S.S. 2.5-litre saloon presented at the Mayfair Hotel London. The company's name changed from S.S. Cars Limited to Jaguar Cars Limited in 1945.

Slogan (July 1931): «WAIT! THE "SS" IS COMING»

Property: S.S. Cars Ltd. - Jaguar Cars Ltd. - Jaguar Land Rover Ltd.

Producer website: https://www.jaguar.com

S.S. 1 announcement (The Autocar magazine, July 1931). «WAIT! THE "SS" IS COMING - 2 New Coupés of Surpassing Beauty. - S.S. is the new name of a new car that's going to thrill the hearts of the motoring public and the trade alike. It's something utterly new ... different ... better! Long ... low ... very low ... and very FAST! At the Show, or before, two S.S. Coupés of surpassing beauty will be presented. WAIT ... THE S.S. IS COMING» - The show to which the announcement referred was the London Motor Show, Olympia, West Kensington, where the S.S. 1 debuted together with a smaller version called S.S. 2, October 15 to 24, 1931.

S.S. 1, the first car by S.S. Cars Ltd., later Jaguar Cars Ltd. (1932, restored)

S.S. 1 official brochure in Pdf (1931)

S.S. 1 advertisement (The Autocar magazine, June 10, 1932)

S.S. Jaguar 2.5 litre Saloon, the car that inaugurated the Jaguar brand (1935)

S.S. Jaguar 2.5 litre Saloon, debut at the Mayfair Hotel London (September 21, 1935)

S.S. Jaguar 2.5 litre Saloon advertisement (The Autocar magazine, October 18, 1935)

Sir William Lyons (Blackpool, Sept. 4, 1901 - Warwickshire, Feb. 8, 1985), known as "Mr. Jaguar", entrepreneur, co-founder of the Jaguar company, and designer of the early Jaguar models

Jaguar 75th Anniversary (1935-2010). On September 18, 2010, 75 iconic Jaguars started a two-day trek in Coventry to celebrate 75 years of Jaguar brand history.

LEGO

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LEGO logo 1934

Name: "LEGO"

Category: Toys

Subcategory: Construction set

Inventor: Ole Kirk Christiansen

Producer: The LEGO Group (founded by Ole Kirk Christiansen in 1932)

Production start: 1932 (marketed since 1935) - Billund, Denmark

Features: In 1932 Ole Kirk Kristiansen, master carpenter and joiner, establishes his business in the village of Billund, Denmark. His firm manufactures stepladders, ironing boards, stools and wooden toys such as cars, aeroplanes and yoyo's. His son Godtfred starts working in the business at the age of 12 and creating models at 17. In 1946 the LEGO Group is the first in Denmark to buy a plastic injection-moulding machine for toy production. At the machine demonstration in Copenhagen the British salesman has given Ole Kirk Kristiansen a handful of plastic bricks to take away with him. The bricks have been invented by a Briton, Hilary Fisher Page, but they have not been a success for his company, Kiddicraft. Ole and son begin redesigning the plastic cubes and in 1949 the company launches its first building set: Automatic Binding Bricks, a forerunner of the LEGO bricks we know today.

Interesting facts: In 1934 the company and its products adopt the name LEGO, formed from the Danish words "LEg GOdt" ("play well"). Later, it is realised that in Latin the word means "I put together". 

Slogan (1936): «Det bedste er ikke for godt» (Only the best is good enough).

Property: The LEGO Group

Producer website: http://www.lego.com

First LEGO product line (1932)

LEGO Duck (1935), the first toy marketed by LEGO, made of birch wood.

LEGO Yo Yo (the surplus was used as wheels on the wooden cars and carts) and the early cars with the LEGO logo (1930s).

LEGO Automatic Binding Bricks (1949). The first LEGO bricks were the 2x2 and 2x4 slotted bricks. They were only sold in Denmark. These bricks had no "LEGO" text embossed anywhere on the brick, introduced only in 1953 with the new series "LEGO Mursten". Windows and Doors with wings that slotted into the slots in the ends of the bricks, were also introduced in 1949.

LEGO Toy Building Bricks, figure from Patent (Oct. 24, 1961, filed July 28, 1958) granted to Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, the third son of Ole Kirk Christiansen.

Kiddicraft Self-Locking Building Bricks by the Briton Mr. Harry Fisher Page. LEGO reprised the design of this set to create Automatic Binding Bricks, after examining a sample given by the British supplier of the first injection moulding machine they had purchased.

Ole Kirk Christiansen (Filskov, Apr. 7, 1891 – Mar. 11, 1958), master carpenter and joiner, inventor of the LEGO construction toys and founder of the LEGO company.

LEGO 90th anniversary (2022) and the company's history in a short animated film