1938 SS Jaguar 100 3 ½ Litre SS100 UNCOVERED After 60 Years ! on My Car Story with Lou Costabile 

That Jaguar is stunning. I've always loved how the classic Jaguars looked.

I rode across the Yorkshire Moors in one of these in 1964. Had met a fellow in a pub near Leeds, England and went for a ride. He explained about the Jaguar follow on model. Loved the car.

I used to own the saloon version of this , a 1948 3.5 litre, this too apparently ended up in America. I truly regret ever selling it. But, the SS 100 is one of the most beautiful cars ever. From the UK

I was so pleased to hear that you intend to do a sympathetic restoration, to preserve that awesome patina.

son't know how much "I" (for one) LOVE this Jag. Oh....others too, I know.. I know.. therefore "WE" KNOW. Thanks.. absolute RARE and beyond special to see this one...as is....remarkable. This video in itself will be a treasure for all time. THANKS for the work on this and great presentation for us all to share and see. THANK YOU.... GOOD LUCK

Thank you from Plymouth England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Last year I visited the Museum of Transport in Coventry close to where Jaguars were built at Browns Lane. It’s a museum you could spend weeks, even months looking around and yes they have Cars of this era on display. I must go back and linger longer now

Knocked it out of the park on this one, fella! Oh my goidness, what a spectacular example of preserved motor cars. Thank God there are individuals like Terry with the wherewithal to go ahead and save stuff in private!! Actual folks can appreciate the beauty of these beasts. Love the luggage rack and single marker on the spare!!

2:02...I can see from this photo why the Brits call the fenders "wings." Hoods are "bonnets," trunk lids are "boots," windshields are "windscreens," transmissions are "gearboxes," etc.. I read years ago re: a famous retort from an English fellow re: why British and American automotive nomenclature are so different. The response was words to the effect of "America invented the motorcar. But we invented the language."

As a trainee mechanic in the UK1959 I recall a low mileade immaculate one of these being stuck to the floor in a nearby car sales place at £500...while at the place where I worked was an XK120 roadster at the same price. A colleague paid £100 for an as new 1.5 litre SS saloon around this time and was told he'd wasted his money.

Both cars are stunningly beautiful .

Lou, thanks so much for documenting this! You are archiving important parts of automotive history. IMHO, the SS100's (even the saloons) are among the best looking cars ever built -- right up there with the L29 Cord.

Gorgeous car just beautiful. That owner must have the blood pressure of someone without a worry in the world LOL.

All I can say is WOW. Every time u showed a different part of the car I said WOW again. What an absolute amazing story. Thx for the great interview with this gentleman. I hope u are there when he’s done with the rebuilding of the engine and starts it for the first time. What an honor it must be to see things like this in person, u are a lucky man Lou.

I got a good laught of "They are British Tires" as the camera focused on "Made in U.S.A." on the side of the spare.😁

Bill Young in Belleview, Washington had one of these in his garage back in the early 1970’s. Bill was a big man and slipped while trying to retrieve an old fender stored in the rafters above. That long beautiful hood cushioned his fall, but dealt a serious blow to his SS 100. I was able to buy my 1953 XK 120 Fixed Head Coupe from him for $475. It needed a lot of work and was missing parts. Bill later bought a 1947 Mark V Saloon from a friend of mine who lived in Edmonds. That car was complete and in good running condition. I recall Bill paid $1200 for the Mark V. He showed it for several years at the local annual British Car Show.

What an amazing story...how beautiful those cars are...they are certainly now in the right hands .... one of the very rarest British racing cars.

The Jag SS100. Swallow Sidecar Company Founded by Sir William Lyons. And he used to like to make em up as mock-ups in order to make sure the proportions were right. What fantastic engineers and visionaries the people of that generation were.

UK registrations did not change so that the 2nd & 3rd letters give the original registration county. Therefore the registration number gives no indication as to the owner's home thereafter. For those that do not know the "SS" stands for "Standard Special" William Lyons had a superbe eye for pure style having started with the Swallow Sidecar Company. He then built bodies to fit on Austin 7s before making his own vehicles. His ultimate creation (in my view) was the E type. The most difficult element of design is perfecting curves, the E type is the ultimate expression of this having not a straight line anywhere. This was a most amazing find, thanks for the video. I am also pleased to hear that it is not to be renovated to a level that propbably would exceed the original as so many restoration do.

The slobber-puddle on my table will take buckets and hours, omg what a gorgeous car, and t top it off it found its bro, how cool is that?

Rad hoses from 1938 are looking good! I blew a coolant hose yesterday en route for a CT test....totally perished, on a 2002 Caterham! Fortunately only 6km from home.....

A splendid car and a great car expert to go with.Imagine trying to fix a car of today 60 years on.

I love the SS100's but haven't seen one in a long time. Thanks for showing all the details and getting to hear the engine rev. Great stuff.

A Jaguar with removable wings... great! The emblem is pretty fantastic looking, love it! The lamps look like alien bug faces to me, just cool! I like the mounted mirror. That top still being together is amazing... it shows that when something is made right from the start, it holds up over time and conditions... even the stitching held up. Glad to see the newer looking one, so flashy.... beautiful!! Nice deep big cat purrr. Really interesting story, I enjoyed it! Thank you.

My Late father had one of these SSjaguar 100s 2.5lt in the early 50's. His was in cream with a dark red interior. It also had 2 spare wheels. Rust got it.

Believe it or not. In the 1960.s we used to herb around in one of these cars,a lad came from Melbourne to country Kyneton to work as a trainee stock agent,his grandad gave him a car to use whilst in the Bush!! Turns out is was a 1930.s SS 100 . We just thought it was a nice old two seater,went alright that was the main thing. Little did we know. Mal in au.

1938 jaguar is a collectable Jaguar . Rare to find now. Great car. Thanks LOU for sharing this collectable jaguar. I really enjoyed watching the video. Appreciate your efforts showing all great cars. Please have a great day and a wonderful weekend. Kind Regards, HISHAM ELFIKI

Im getting old, because I start to like.these cars the shape and the details.

I came close to one of these in 1967, when I was a student at the University of Victoria. There was a rumour that a 1937 SS-100 was for sale for $800 in Maple Bay, a small town about 100 km north. I didn't believe it, but a couple of years later I was there buying gas and asked the gas guy about it. He told me, yes, he had sold it the previous year for $1000, primarily because his wife didn't like to drive it - the rear window was too small for her liking. I wonder where it is now, and what it's worth.

Great car, unusual find and a great story. Full marks to Terry Larson for his intention to preserve the body in current condition, but recondition the running gear. SS Cars Ltd launched the new "Jaguar" range of cars in 1935, including the SS Jaguar 100 (now commonly known as SS100). After WW2, William Lyons dropped the SS name for the obvious reasons, but kept the Jaguar moniker. Both the cars in the video are 3½-litres (1938/39 black badge), although the early cars were 2½-litres (1936/37 blue badge) and there were also later (1938/39 cream badge) 2½-litre cars. "...Crystal Palace in London, which is the oldest racing circuit in the world..." - maybe Terry confused it with Brooklands (1907-1939), as the circuit at Crystal Palace opened in 1927 (and closed in the 1970s).

Those round tags are for indication that the car owner in the UK had paid its Road Tax to HM Tax and Revenue to pay for road repairs, but it usually just ended up the the black hole that is HM Revenue and Customs the UK equivalent of the IRS in the US. There use to be an army of Road Tax Inspectors that would go round streets and car parks checking these discs were up to date as they had to be renewed every year the car was first taxed on the road from new, if they weren't the owner would get a ticket to appear in traffic court to explain why the tag was not up to date and pay a fine plus costs if the explanation was not accepted. The need for tags was finally stopped in 2015 when the police started to have a computer system in their cars that can tell if a car on the road has paid its tax just by reading its licence plate from the computer in the UK Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA), based in Cardiff, South Wales, through cameras attached to the front of their patrol cars, or with a hand held camera whilst sitting on the side of the road. The use of this new system made it an offence to not keep your license plates clean enough to read or get a ticket fine of £100. 😋

in 1939 my father came home from the Royal Navy on leave and found that one of his ex-school chums had just been given a SS100 as a 21st Birthday present. 😁😁 The man's dad owned a bus fleet of about 400 buses covering all over Derbyshire.

Very well done, Lou. This is quite the find for the Custodian and your channel. This Jag is definitely in great hands & has what appears to be some fine stablemates, too.

The grey car has a Lancashire County Council registration. That being the case it was probably purchased from Jaguar House in Preston.

Actually, the correct, old-fashioned, English word is "mudguards".

OMG! This must have been stored somewhere really dry. Any damp would have seriously degraded everything. This is amazing. Thanks for the share. My dream is to own a Suffolk replica. A treat for my retirement ❤

Fantastic video Lou, again! You can almost feel the wings of history....just shortly after, the world was in fire! This one will be hard to beat my friend!

SS = Swallow sidecars, the original name of Jaguar. Wow, 2 SS 100's, a C-Type, a D-Type... Throw in an XKSS, XJ13 and an XK150 in black and you have my dream garage right there. Oh and maybe a lightweight E-Type... Well done Terry!

The last two letters of the number plate denote where it was first registered, The format was AB 1234 until 1932 and then XAB 123 after it, the letters WT mean it was registered in West Leeds, C and 192 are simply change digits.

I am British racing green with envy.

Wow this is just fantastic. I literally have dreams of finding this car in a barn somewhere. Loved this video!

What a nice owner and the CAR s are outstanding to say the least.

This car with WT reg was first registered in Yorkshire ( West Riding ) as it was in 1938

Wow it looks nice both of them look awesome

Fantastic, amazing how modern this engine sounds!!! excellent video, thanks Lou!

I had several rides in a SS that was in Bangalore, India in 1962. It, and a MKVII were owned by an Indian family who had a machine tool company there. It was a fun ride - amazing front end with the big P3 Lucas lighting. Theirs was a coupe, not a drophead.

Hey Lou. Sweet looking Jaguar. I've never seen an SS Jaguar before. I've seen pics of them.

You must be very lucky. A Jaguar is British and it's luxury. So it's rare, also note that it's been 60 years, so its a car most will enjoy. NICE, John

Oh yeah! If the engine spins, my move would be to change the fluids, restore the fuel system, clean and oil the carbs, general tune up, and try to start it as it is. I wouldn't touch the engine until I know if it really needs to be touched. It could be fine. Have you ever noticed that in many movies, sports cars sound like Jags; but in real life, only a Jag has that sound?

Another great find Lou

This is a great one of a kind story! Great close-ups too! Thank you! One filming suggestion: maybe put your camera on a gimbal as the rapid and quick movements do not lend themselves to a nice smooth presentation.

waau i enjoyed this. my first car was a 1930 Chevrolet but I still have this toy also in black . Love from Africa

Thank You for a beautiful tour of just 2 great cars!! Did I get an education today!! Just Awesome!!

An excellent video Lou. So well filmed in detail. It sure made me gorge on and savor this elegant cat.

Almost everything about that car is pretty. Right down to the water cap with those metal extensions to help you turn it. It's like a bunch of engineers said "we have to do this" and some fricking genius or number of said. "ok lets make a joy of a design but lets take it down to the smallest level of the detail that makes the car work" That water cap.. lets make it look like this etc

And here I always believed that Brooklands Motor Racing Circuit in Surrey, built in 1907, was the oldest. Oh well.

the CWT no plate shows that the was first registered in Bristol, In England we register vehicles and that no stays with that vehicle

excellent Lou

very nice, will have to do a redux after the guy gets it running

Awesome video ! I would love to drive this car !

Great job on the video with all the info and details.

I'm truly mesmerised, thank you so much chaps for sharing this, as I'm late to the party I was wondering how the car looks now 3 years on ? My dad was born in 1938 and he has a fairly modern S type from 2000 which he loves. I intend to show him this video of a beautiful Jag the same age as him ! Oh that engine sound phooarrr love it

CW registration was in the Preston area of England, if I’m not mistaken. Beautiful car, such style and character.

Mind Blown.

About 25 years ago a friend built a JBA Falcon kit car loosely bases on the SS100 , it's called a tax disc not a tag .

As it stands that Jaguar SS is worth serious money because it is so totally original

some nice cars in that garage.

A good historic car with an interesting history. It really doe’s need to be restored to as new condition which would cost mega dollars, but that would also add mega dollars to the value of the car. I noticed that the original British tyres on the car, the spare says “made in U S A”

What a fabulous discovery! The SS100 is a spectacular car, of which I own several. Sadly, they're Dinky Toys and not the real thing. Someone has already pointed out that the Registration Plates in the UK were geographically identified by the LAST two letters of the plate. Thus CWT is from the region whose code is WT and this office was situated in Leeds, Yorkshire, part of the old county division of West Riding. DTC has the code letters TC, which corresponds with Bristol, historically part of Somerset, in the west of England.

Boy that's a beautiful piece of history there! I'm sure England would like to have that back? I wish they would just wash it off even though I know it's a barn find and they get weird about that but I don't see what the big deal of washing the damn dirt off of it that's weird to me but to each his own?

Gorgeous

CWT is actually an abbreviation for a 'Hundredweight' which is an Imperial unit of measurement equivalent to 112 pounds. THAT is why they had that number plate.100!

wow great british cars please make a video of the d types too

Jeeze all the Jagwahs is hard on the ears :-D

Really beautiful examples of motoring history Just disappointing to see the NRA poster in the background

Holy Milkcows! Respect!

Pls. keep SS100 as is- just do most necessary repairs and not to "concours standards"! It´s the "Patina" that makes ´em so precious!!!

H just seen this and I think that you will find Brooklands was the first track built in1907not Crystal Palace.

Two beautiful surviving early Jaguars and you never even mentioned the C and D Types in the background. When Carter and Carnarvon discovered Tutankhamen's tomb they could not have been more excited.

A Wonderful story, can't weight to hear the end----Just a thought---I wonder how the traditional German font for SS was recieved in the 1930's? was it controvertial ?

One little thing I noticed the spare says made in USA so I don't know if the tires that are on the ground or British but the spare is not!

Brooklands is the oldest motor circuit in the world 1907, not Crystal Palace 1927 !

A had 2 neighbours downunder in the early 60's who ha a 2.5 and 3.5 SS sedans, I may be wrong but i am not sure if Jaguar was on the badge, just SS, but my memory may not be so good today.

Sir, this is a ridiculously detailed video. Excellent job, on the camera work. You should work for the Smithsonian, with your expert wealth of knowledge, you would be absolutely Irreplaceable. Thank you again,8 for your great video.

Surprised you didn’t advance the spark on the steering wheel hub before starting it. I bought 390039 in 1955 for $1875. (and kind of ruined it).

The car at 5,19 6RPE was registered at Guildford in Surrrey

15 short Years And It Will be a Century Old

Did the photographer have the courtesy to close the fuel cap? Or did he leave the tank open fr mice to nest in?

Great advert for stone guards on the hlights!!...

The TC registration was Lancashire car , war of the roses Lancashire and Yorkshire

I'll be that guy. An SS100 Jaguar, not a Jaguar SS100. Jaguar cars didn't exist until ~1940. Yes, I know, this is a 5-year-old video.

"Mud guards" and running boards. It's an English car and that's what we call them.

Hi Folks the CW part of the Registration shows where the Car was first registered in the UK and so you know that was in Burnley in Lancashire in the town called Preston hope that helps you...The Tag you called it is a Road Tax Disk from 1957 this was what all car owners had to purchase from the UK Government to put there car on the Road you could not drive a vehicle on the Road Legally without one they had to be displayed in the front left hand side of a cars windscreen . They Purchase these for 6 or 12 months cover of the car being on the road they also by law have to have vehicle Insurance and the vehicle had to under go a MOT Inspection to ensure the car was fit for the road this is done every 12 months...hope this helps..

How can you NOT have interest in these cars? That guy must've been brain dead. The SS 100s are so cool. The only other car that tops these are 69 Lola MKIIIs. That's it. I hope this guy restore this beauty to it's rightful glory.

P.S. Thank God it wasn't outside. They do that here where I live. Absolutely nutso.

At 12:18 The tire reads "Made in the USA" The Guy says "They are British tires

They are WINGS.

Your first "barn find"

I have to stop you there right at the beginning. The car is called a Jag-U-ar, NOT a a Jag-waar. It's an English car so please use the English pronunciation lol And I believe in 1938 it was actually called a SS ( short for Swallow Sidecars ) 100 Jaguar Not a Jaguar 100 SS the Swallow Sidecars company name did not change to Jaguar until after WW2 in 1947 or 1948

What is a jagwar? Sorry I'm English

does the morgan look like these