1934 SS 2 Sports Saloon

This exceptionally rare vehicle comes with a great deal of well-documented history and provenance, and has graced a number of prestigious collections throughout the course of its long life – most recent among them being the JLR Collection, no less.

This Sports Saloon was constructed by SS Cars Ltd in April 1934 and supplied new through Henlys London to a Mr Leonard Babbage Short of Dawlish, Devon.

It changed hands in 1947 and, thirty years later, it was rescued from the garage of a house that was due to be demolished, having apparently spent decades laid-up there.

As luck would have it, the next owner was Arnold Crowe, the proprietor of a well-known vintage car business in Birmingham.

In 1979, he set about giving the car a full body-off, chassis-up restoration, which we believe included a new ash frame; a full engine, drivetrain and mechanicals strip and rebuild; and a full interior retrim, which included restoring the instruments and zero-ing the odometer.

Since the restoration, the car has covered a paltry 4,695 miles, with only 800 miles added since 1989.

Mr Crowe kept hold of the car for the next 20 or so years. It then changed hands again before being warmly welcomed into Dr. James Hull’s noted collection of classics.

It renewed its acquaintance with some of its marque stablemates in 2015 when it joined the JLR Collection.

Its time with JLR saw the car take a starring role alongside Ewan McGregor in the 2016 Disney film ‘Christopher Robin’ (photo stills are in the gallery).

Finally, it came to the current owner, who has had the car since 2023 and has been thoroughly enjoyed in that time, but due to change in circumstances its now time for a new home.

When he bought the car, it was a non-runner. He commissioned Davenports for specialist works, a job that ran to north of £14,000 and, amongst other things, involved new brakes with skimmed drums, new oil seals, new exhaust, new steering box, and a carburettor tune-up.  

We can attest to the fact that, today, the car starts, runs, goes and stops with commendable competence.
 

The car’s elegant and decidedly refined profile still looks good nearly a century after it was screwed together in a fog of pipe smoke by chaps called Claude and Godfrey.

The bodywork is free of any dinks, dents creases or folds of real consequence, and the doors close with all the weight and precision of old-school slam doors on a train carriage.

The paintwork, whilst presenting well and polished was last re-painted when it restored by the 3rd owner in the 70's.

There are cracks to the paintwork on all four wheel-arches, the bonnet, the front valance, on the doors and around the spare wheel housing at the rear.

We also found some outbreaks of bubbling at the bottom of both doors and on the bodywork just ahead of the passenger door.

There is some bubbling on the o/s/f wheel-arch and a sizeable rectangular patch of mismatched and/or discoloured paint on the passenger door.

The black-painted wire wheels are in decent condition, apart from a few spots of surface rust here and there, and the tyres appear to have a decent amount of life left in them (although we can’t vouch for their age).

The black vinyl roof has endured the passage of time with commendable fortitude, although some of the edging trim is a little ragged in places, and the sunroof fits snugly and works as intended.

Aside from a couple of shallow indentations around the radiator cap, the car’s brightwork has endured pretty well and there’s no significant foxing, pitting or tarnishing to speak of.
 

The interior of this fine saloon is splendidly redolent of a different era and has a warm and comforting patina to it.

The red leather upholstery is creased, lightly cracked and showing signs of wear, front and back, but it’s not holed, torn or otherwise beyond redemption.

We particularly like the self-contained layout of the partitioned rear seats – they have something of the look and feel of early aeroplane seating.

The door cards, with their delightfully Art Deco ‘sunburst’ designs, are in fine fettle, as is the wood on the dashboard surround, door cappings and various inserts, save for a few scratches, nicks and patches of missing varnish.

The fabric roof lining is decent too.

In general, the red carpets and mats are reasonable, but there are a couple of holes in the mat on the driver’s side.

The car’s controls, gauges, switches, buttons and knobs all look to be in good order and, as far as we’re aware, everything does what it’s supposed to do.

The boot, which is effectively a trunk attached to the rear, is intact and the clasps ensure a tight seal.
 

Having been recently recommissioned by marque specialists, Davenport, the car is in very good mechanical order, as evidenced by a clean and tidy engine bay where everything appears to be in its right and proper place.

The undersides of the car reflect the very sparing use the car has been put to since 1979 and everything appears solid, sound and possessed of plenty of structural integrity.
 

This car comes with more history than the Ashmolean Museum.

As provided to the SS Register, the following ownership history has been gleaned from old logbooks and MoT certificates.

•    1st Owner Leonard Babbage Short 31st December 1934 – 13th May 1947 – The Priory, Dawlish Devon
•    2nd Owner Edwin George Sambell 13th May 1947 - Woodside Kingsteignton Devon
•    3rd Owner Arnold Crowe owner of Ashted Service Station purchased the SS found in a garage at a derelict house about to be demolished 
•    4th Owner Ownership transferred to Arnold Crowe 10th January 1988 – 2007
•    5th Owner Purchased by Peter Harper of Stretton House, Warrington 
•    6th Owner Dr James Hull, Hill Farm, Llancloudy, Herefordshire, 21st March 2012 - 5 June 2015
•    7th Owner Jaguar Land Rover Heritage Museum 5th June 2015 – 8th September 2023 
•    8th Owner Imported to Jersey in 2023 by the vendor and recommissioned at a cost of over £14,000 including major works carried out by  Davenports.

The car comes with all manner of bills, invoices and receipts covering recent and historical work carried out, supported by photographs, factory records, a Jaguar Heritage Trust Production Record Trace Certificate (from which we learn that the car left the factory wearing ‘Apple Green’ and ‘Olive Green’ paintwork, handbooks, factory manuals, records of appearances at events, and even a 1935 picture of ATT39 which was subsequently featured in the April 2012 edition of the Jaguar Driver magazine. 
 

There are probably no more than 7 or 8 of these cars left anywhere and a rather smaller number that actually work and may be driven.

All of which makes this example as historically important as it is vanishingly rare.

We doubt that we’ll be seeing another one any time soon, and certainly not a fully functioning example with such a well-documented and storied past.

We are happy to offer this car for auction with an estimate in the range of £28,000 - £34,000.

Viewing is strongly encouraged, and this lot is located at Bonhams|Cars Online HQ. Viewings are STRICTLY BY APPOINTMENT and we are open weekdays between 10am - 12pm or 2pm - 4pm. To make a booking, please use the ‘Enquire About This Vehicle’ button on the listing. Feel free to ask any questions, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.