Jaguar Diecast Models

In 1934, William Walmsley formed S.S. Cars Limited from the restructured assets of The Swallow Sidecar Company that he founded with William Lyons in 1922. The name Jaguar first appeared in 1935 on an SS Sports Saloon and an open two seat sports model called the SS Jaguar 100.

In March of 1945, the company name was officially changed to Jaguar Cars Limited.

From 1966 through 2008, Jaguar has undergone numerous mergers with the likes of British Motor Corporation (Austin-Morris) and British Leyland Motor Corporation (Leyland, Standard-Triumph). It then was nationalized in 1975 due to financial difficulties. In 1984, the company went private until it was sold to Ford Motor Company in 1989. Ford ran the company as the Premier Auto Group (Jaguar, Aston-Martin, Volvo and Land Rover) until 2008 when it was again sold to Tata Motors who today runs the business as Jaguar-Land Rover Limited.

Jaguar made its name by producing a series of beautifully successful sports cars, the Jaguar XK120 (1948–54), Jaguar XK140 (1954–57), Jaguar XK150 (1957–61), and Jaguar E-Type (1961-75).