may choose to append at the bottom of that page.
SS and Jaguar Cars Continuation Page 4:
1936 SS One DHC DPA 342
Tom Zwakman's Cars.
SS and Jaguar Cars Continuation Page 5:
Original SS Alpine Tourer
(moved there from page 3 on 06 Feb 04).
The SS One "Alpine" Controversy.
(moved there from page 3 on 06 Feb 04).
This Continuation Page 6:
SS One Alpine Tourer AYY 987.
The SS Magazine - Vol. 1 No. 1.
1934 Alipne Rallye Plaque.
Jaguar Page:
XK-120 and Mk. VII and later Jaguar (not SS) cars.
- These SS Jaguar pages have
been overloading with great regulariity, lately, so I have created this page to
focus on the restoration of the only documented SS One Alpine,
1934 AYY 987.
Original SS One Alpine Tourer AYY 987
Daniel Rapley in
Connecticut had the SS One tourer AYY 987 used by F. W. and A. L. Morgan in
the 1934 International Alpine Trial:
(photo courtesy of D. J. Rapley, by permission - all rights reserved.)
The Alpine AYY 987 changed hands ca. Feb 2004 and is now a prized possession of
Brian Beni, serious enthusiast and major collector of SS and Jaguar cars. He
assures me that the spare mounting of his Alpine AYY987 is unique to the Alpine
tourer; his Airline, SS1 drophead, and a coachbuilt saloon all have a similar mounting
but the Alpine car has a unique shaft that joins both spare wheels through the
bulkhead (the hole through the cowl sides can be seen in Daniel Rapley's photos,
numbers 308, 309, 326, and 327, below).
On 16 Apr 2004 came a message from Don Ryan (of County
Armagh, Ireland), who was "alerted to the continuing
existence of this car {that being AYY 987} by a
column in Classic & Sportscar (by Michael Ware),
whose "father owned the car from mid 1948 until the end
of 1953." "We used it as family transport
including towing a caravan to Switzerland in 1952 for
the International FICC Camping and Caravanning Rally
which was held there." "It was the first car I
drove on the public road." "I recall many details
of it including changing the carburettors to Zenith
from RAG in an effort to improve the cold starting.
It worked a bit!" I also recall its putting a
con-rod through the crankcase and the repair by a plate
attached by multiple bolts threaded into the block."
"It was repainted during my father's ownership from
silver to cream. The upholstery was blue."
I had written, "More to follow", and Don came though
nobly; here are seven (7) photos of AYY 987 towing at
least two different caravans (house trailers) -
domestic bliss on highway and byway and and off the
road - Alpine style (and underslung, no
less):
[That dual-rear-window VW might pull
as much as the SS today!]
[preceding 7 photos courtesy of Don Ryan, by permission - all rights reserved
{cropped ever so slightly by SB,III}]
Even better, Don turned up one J. A. (Jackie) Humphries,
now of Weekiwatchee, Florida, who was the owner before
Don's father! Jackie bought the car "in 1946 as a
deal for an ex-army Austin staff car. It was
apparently owned by an army officer who found the
petrol consumption in those days of austerity difficult
to cope with and considered that the little Austin
would be easier to run. Jackie Humphries also
recalls that the car was laid up during the war and
that just before his acquisition it had been back to
the works for an overhaul". Jackie thinks he may
have photos of the car and his sister, of Lurgan,
County Armagh, may also (let us pray!).
THANK YOU, Don!
[To me, it's not at all odd to see a fine old SS
towing a caravan; consider that my own
4½-ltr. Jag DH was my everyday car in that same
time frame,
bouncing around in old quarries and such.]
I've shown the car as received by Daniel Rapley, in the barn with the AYY 987 front
plate propped between the wings (fenders) on the dumb irons, above, and here's the
back plate in place:
(photo courtesy of D. J. Rapley, by permission - all rights reserved.)
In addition, here is a shot of the side of the engine showing that it is a Standard 20
and the repairs to the holed block skirt, as well as a closeup of the Motor Serial Nº.
211153:
Image 313 (lower)
(photos courtesy of D. J. Rapley, by permission - all rights reserved.)
Then, there's the I.D. tag:
(photo courtesy of D. J. Rapley, by permission - all rights reserved.)
The 16 CV (cheval = horse) refers to brake horsepower; the indicated
horsepower is 20.
Let us now turn to some historical documentation; first, a 1935 brochure entitled
"SOME RECENT ACHIEVEMENTS", about the Sixth International Alpine Trials,
run in Switzerland, Nazi Germany, and Austria:
(photo courtesy of D. J. Rapley, by permission - all rights reserved.)
The two photos, of the works team lined up and of S. H. Light receiving an award are
very interesting and all that:
(photos courtesy of D. J. Rapley, by permission - all rights reserved.)
However, it is the photo of #52 rounding a hairpin turn, driven by F. W. Morgan to win
an Individual Class award, that is of the greatest interest for our puposes here:
(photo courtesy of D. J. Rapley, by permission - all rights reserved.)
Blowing up the image, almost to pixellation, to show just the car doesn't do much for
us:
(photo courtesy of D. J. Rapley, by permission - all rights reserved.)
But, artificially lightening the print, look at what we find just under the front bumper:
(photo courtesy of D. J. Rapley, by permission - all rights reserved.)
Sure enough; it's AYY 987!
Now, looking at the Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust's Production Record Trace Certificate number
23354, dated 21 November 2003, we find that the car was an SS 1 20hp right-hand-drive tourer
manufactured on 15 June 1934, with chassis number 248117, engine number 211153, and body number 4196.
It had a manual transmission {as if there had been any option!} and was painted Lavender grey and
had a blue interior trim colour. It was sold through Henlys Limited in London and was dispatched on 26
June 1934 for W. Morgan, London W14 (the registration number was not recorded at
the time):
(photo courtesy of D. J. Rapley, by permission - all rights reserved.)
[Thumbnailed image; click on the picture for a larger image.]
Convincing, eh? Next, three thumbnailed photos of the car as acquired by Mr.
Rapley, sitting in his barn prior to partial disassembly:
(photos courtesy of D. J. Rapley, by permission - all rights reserved.)
[Thumbnailed images; click on the pictures for larger images.]
There's that original AYY 987 front plate sitting on the dumb irons between the wings
(fenders), again!
Now we turn to Mr. Rapley's photos of the tear down and restoration of woodwork, in
no particular order and uncaptioned, just as they appear on his site:
(photos courtesy of D. J. Rapley, by permission - all rights reserved.)
Images 161 - 162
164 - 165
166 - 202
305 - 306
307 - 308
309 - 310
311 - 312
314 - 315
316 - 317
318 - 319
320 - 321
322 - 323
324 - 325
326 - 327
328 - 329
330 - 331
332 - 333
3334 - 335
336 - 337
338 - 339
340 - 341
342 - 343
344 - 345
346 - 347
348 - 349
350 - 351
(photos courtesy of D. J. Rapley, by permission - all rights reserved.)
Note that weird (to me) photo 315 (eighth row down, right); it shows what appear to
be cast-on (or, possibly, depending on the lighting, stamped) numbers "4-5-4-5" and
"4351". I wonder where they appear and what they signify - the tranny?
Must find out.
Looking at these pictures, I had the disquieting thought that I could disassemble
wood-framed coachwork just as well, but rebuilding it? Now, THAT's a
different story entirely!
That's all, folks! Our thanks to Daniel Rapley. It will interesting to see
how the restoration progresses and the final product (almost guaranted to become a
show-stopper - if Brian Beni's other cars are any indicator).
Better and better; Brian Beni sent along these pages from the original The SS
Magazine, Vol. 1, No. 1, apparently undated and unpaginated but obviously
post-dating the 1935 Alpine trials and featuring just that. Here are the
colo(u)r front cover with what appears to be C. M. Needham and H. C. Gill in #46,
AND 477, the first page of an article by A. G. Douglas Clease of The Autocar,
who drove #47, "SS and the Alpine Trial" and the second page of that
article. the first page shows the entrants at Coventry prior to leaving for
the trials and the second car from the left appears unnumbered and is probably
AYY 987:
The SS Magazine Vol. 1 No. 1 - pages courtesy of B. Beni)
{Thumbnailed images - click on the pictures for larger images]
The second page shows Clease on the course in what looks like KYY 370 (or
570?) and the works team of Needham and Gill by #46, Clease and Mrs.
Clease (John's folks?) by #47, and S. H. Light by #48. Lastly there is
an in-house article on "How Do You Display SS Cars? Good
Showroom Display DOES Sell Cars". This latter SEEMS to
display lavender AYY 987 at Imperial Autocars Ltd. of Northampton.
Brian Beni just (09 Oct 04) acquired this
1934 Alpine Run plaque:
photo courtesy of B. Beni - all rights reserved)
{Thumbnailed image - click on the picture for a larger image]
[cropped and artificially lightened by SB,III - 09 Oct 2004]
The top lines read:
XVI INTERNATIONALE SECHSTAGEFAHRT
IN DEN BAYERISCHEN ALPEN
DER DEUTSCHE AUTOMOBILE-CLUB
19 34
(FICN)
[26th International Six-Day Run
in the Bavarian Alps
The German Automobile-Club]
I can't make out the face in the date and
"FICN" is the "Federation International
{to follow}" - probably NOT "Fake Indian
Currency Notes" (a real abbreviation).
The flags include France, Great Britain,
Norway, and Italy on the left, Nazi Germany
and Poland at upper right, and Switzerland
second from right at the bottom; the others
are hard to make out.
Brian advises that this plate was presented
to all entrants who finished the 1934 rally.
Now, here's a funny one - a cold Jaguar, or so it was titled on
joe-ks.com's 2004 archive, from
whence I got it:
(04 Jul 08)
(photo from 2004 joe-ks archives - all rights reserved)
Funny, right? Except for two details, the first of which got me
all hung up. What kind of Jag (or SS) has a streamlined bonnet
AND free-standing, rounded headlights, eh? But, if that's
not bad enough, that's NOT a Jaguar! It's a Ford/Lincoln
Greyhound! Ah, perception and illusion!
Obligatory courtesy link to the
Classic Jaguar Association
NOTE: You may also wish to visit the preceding
SS and Jaguar Cars, Continuation Page 1,
Continuation Page 2,
Continuation Page 3,
Continuation Page 4, and
Continuation Page 5 pages, as well.
Cyclops fans; see Cyclops on my Automotive page!
THUMBS UP!
THUMBS UP! - Support your local police, fire, and emergency personnel!
S. Berliner, III
To contact S. Berliner, III, please click here.
of this series of SS and Jaguar pages.
LEGACY
What happens to all this when I DIE or (heaven forfend!) lose interest?
See LEGACY.
© Copyright S. Berliner, III - 2004,
2006,
2008
- All rights reserved.
Return to Top of Page
times since the counter was installed.
