Exemplary restoration
Estimate £200,000 - £300,000
Registration No: KV 9740
Chassis No: 247994
MOT: Exempt
Understood to be one of just seven 1934 model-year S.S. 1 20hp Tourers that have survived to the present day
Supplied new to Rossleigh Ltd. of Edinburgh, as a dealer demonstrator, before being sold to a local doctor
Discovered by the vendor in Waco and purchased into the Stewart Collection in 1990, in a thoroughly derelict condition
Comprehensively restored three separate times until entirely satisfied by the vendor, with some 20,000 hours spent on the car
Regular award winner upon completion; most notably coming 3rd in Class at the highly exclusive Pebble Beach Concours d’Élégance in 2015
Offered with an extensive history, including significant records of the restoration
Thoroughly revised for the 1934 season, the S.S. 1 range comprised Coupe, Tourer and Saloon variants. Although similar to that which underpinned their predecessors in terms of its 9ft 11in wheelbase, underslung rear axle, all-round semi-elliptic leaf-sprung suspension and cable-operated 12½in drum brakes, the trio’s cruciform-braced chassis offered superior roadholding thanks to a two-inch wider track. Sourced from the Standard Motor Company, the two straight-six engines on offer were enlarged to 2,143cc (16hp) and 2,663cc (20hp) respectively with the latter also gaining a higher performance alloy cylinder head. Easier and quicker to use, the improved four-speed manual transmission incorporated synchromesh on second, third and fourth gears. A world away from earlier S.S. 1 variants – in dynamic if not stylistic terms – they were proof that there was real substance to William Lyons’ fledgling marque.
Allying flamboyant curves to subtle detailing, the svelte two-door 20hp Tourer was little short of an Art Deco masterpiece. With its shield-shaped radiator grille, fold-flat windscreen, voluptuous dual cowl scuttle, sloping tail, full flowing wings, cut-away doors, heavily louvered bonnet / chassis side rail covers and sleek blade bumpers, the open four-seater was arguably among the best-looking British cars of the 1930s. Barely less dramatic, the interior featured an imposing four-spoke sprung steering wheel, hexagon surround instruments, sunburst patterned door cards and sumptuous Vaumol leather upholstery. Belying appearances, it could accommodate tall drivers with ease. Reputedly able to exceed 80 mph and return 23 mpg under favourable conditions, the S.S. 1 20hp Tourer proved a worthy ancestor to the likes of the S.S. Jaguar 100. Of the 1,250 S.S.1 cars made during the 1934 model year, just seven 20hp Tourers are thought to have survived to the present day.
The Stewart Collection’s 1934 SS1 tourer boasts an alloy cylinder head topped 20hp engine. Registered new by SS Cars in Coventry, it was despatched when new to Rossleigh Ltd. of Edinburgh, where it served as a dealer demonstrator before being sold to a local doctor. It is understood to have remained in Scotland until 1964, when it moved south, and in 1969 it was exported to Texas. It then languished in single ownership from 1971 until December, 1990, when it was discovered and subsequently reimported by our vendor, having been found in Waco in a dismantled and thoroughly derelict condition, with a pair of rattlesnakes—fortunately dead—nesting in its cylinder head. It was then restored on quite a monumental scale, until it was brought up to a condition fit for the world’s greatest concours d’élégance.
In the vendor’s own words: “In 1991 I took 1,000 hours to research the car, as there was no internet, all drawings were burnt in the factory fire, and I could not see another car to copy as there are only seven 1934 models left. In the second year, I dismantled the complete car, removing every nut and bolt. All items were restored by me or world-class companies. From 2014 to early 2015, the car was still not good enough, and I restored lots of items again, after seeing cars at Pebble Beach. I have restored it three times (to its best ever condition) into a work of art, which was my original objective in 1990. I have spent 20,000 hours myself over thirty years on it, and over 100 hours have been spent with the top restoration companies, so it could be the best SS1 in the world.”
Choosing a period colour scheme of Cream and Chocolate with chrome wire wheels (as fitted to the personal SS1 of William Walmsley, William Lyons’s business partner), our vendor performed the majority of the restoration himself, and in 1996 it made its first major public appearance as one of twelve cars selected for the Edinburgh Festival Cavalcade of 1996, which marked the centenary of the British motor industry. In 1997, it formed part of a heritage display at the Centenary Scottish Motor Show, and was crowned the Autoglym Champion of Scotland in 1998. Also in 1998, it was invited to be displayed at the opening of the new Jaguar Daimler Heritage Centre at Browns Lane. Having acquired a reputation, in 2000 it was invited by Lord March to star at the Cartier Style et Luxe Concours at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. This was followed by participation in the Sir William Lyons Centenary Rally in 2001, where it won the Spirit of the Event award, and in 2004 it placed second overall in the European Concours d’Élégance at Düsseldorf Galopp, with event chairman R. A. Gathercole writing “This car is 100 per cent. perfect in every respect and certainly is better than when it was new.” In 2006,
it attended the Jaguar Drivers’ Club’s Fête Champêtre & Concours d’Élégance at the Hurlingham Club, and was named “The Car I Would Most Like to Take Home” by Sir Michael Burton, Chairman of the Hurlingham Club, but its greatest honour to date was participating in the Pebble Beach Concours in California in 2015, where it placed third in its class—it might have clinched victory had it not been for a faulty headlamp! The vendor adds, “The top judge told me it was the first time in sixty-four years that a private person, having done most of the work himself, had won an award there.”
Other concours appearances and awards are far too numerous to list, but it was most recently exhibited at the Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court Palace in 2021 on the recommendation of James Brooks-Ward, chief executive of Thorough Events and a member of the Pebble Beach committee. Our vendor says, “To exhibit among sixty of the rarest cars in the world was unbelievable. I wish I had been there myself but I had just had a knee replacement. After the event, James telephoned me to say the other cars were incredible and there was not one worth less than half a million pounds. Whoever would have thought a car that was left as scrap for twenty years could have won awards at Pebble Beach and twelve other events?”
