Just Cool Cars: SS Cars pounced before Jaguar

Before Jaguar came this unique 1935 SS1 | Just Cool Cars

At Pebble Beach, Paste BN's Chris Woodyard checks out a 1935 SS1, a company that later rebranded itself as Jaguar.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Before there was Jaguar, there was SS Cars, an English company that produced beautiful tourers like the 1935 SS1 Saloon.

Andre Wallimann of Maur, Switzerland,, brought his near-perfect example of the SS1 Saloon, as the model was called, to last month's Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.

The car is gorgeous from end to end, but Wallimann says it wasn't always that way. After having been rediscovered in 1993, the car underwent a restoration that consumed an estimated 6,000 worker hours.

SS1 was designed by William Lyons, who would later founded Jaguar. SS was said to stand for Standard Swallow, but the twin letters were dropped after World War II.

The car may be beautiful on the outside, but it sounds like a beast to drive.

No power brakes, no power steering, he points out. But to look at? It's a classic.