2015-05-16 20:52:55 | Lofty writes:

Car to be at auction 5/15

www.bonhams.com/auctions/22717/lot/291/

Auction description:

Lot 291

From the Estate of Geoffrey Howard

1935 SS90 Roadster

Chassis no. 249485

Engine no. 252444

US$ 250,000 - 400,000

£160,000 - 250,000

Auction 22717:

Greenwich Concours d'Elegance Auction

31 May 2015 12:30 EDT

The 10th of the 23 production SS90 cars built, chassis 249485 was delivered new in the middle of the year, being registered on July 15, 1935 to A.L. Dyer of Cheshire in the U.K. It was licensed with the Manchester County Council plate 'BNF 346'.

Although its late 1930s history is not known at present, the car still retains its immediate postwar British Registration/Log Book, which records it returning to the road on July 9, 1945 as the property of Star Motors of Reading. By the fall, it was the property of Arthur Taylor of Holbeach, Lincolnshire, and was subsequently transferred into his business entity in 1951. The log book is fully stamped up to 1955 as being on the road; it is thought that after this time the car was laid up.

Geoffrey Howard had long held a fascination for these early pre-war Jaguars and on June 19, 1970 was able to purchase the car offered here. According to its log book his acquisition was directly from the successor to Arthur Taylor's company, Wright Engineering of Holbeach. As evidenced from photos taken in this period of a very proud Howard with his 'new toy', the SS90 was clearly quite tired by this period, but in almost all respects was complete. The sole exception to this was its engine, which by now had been replaced with another six cylinder unit, that of an Alvis.

Following his securing of the car, Howard began a restoration. Over the course of his four decades of ownership trusted British experts, which in the early days included Ashton Keynes Vintage Restorations, H.H. Cooke & Sons, Tula Restorations and others, carried out work for him. Throughout, Geoffrey Howard maintained fastidious notes on the car's progress and made copious, detailed drawings of the ways in which the features operated. Along the way, the Alvis power unit was removed and in its place a period SS unit was fitted, an overhead valve 2½ Liter (252 prefix unit) itself most likely originally fitted either to an early SS100, Jaguar Sedan or Drophead Coupe.

Having spent its whole life in the UK, as Mr. Howard entered retirement in the mid-1990s, the SS90 was brought to North America. Technically it was imported into the U.S.A., although a British Vehicle Registration remains active.

Ultimately, with a handful of distractions and a greater fascination with his own tribute to these cars, completion of the car's restoration sadly eluded him. As viewed today, it is in a state of basic assembly, with bodywork fitted, running gear in place and 'rolling'. In its stripped unpainted form and without the interior refitted it is easy to see the extent of any restoration that has taken place cosmetically and ostensibly it appears to be close to ready for painting. According to its UK log book, its original colorway was blue, and it seems that it was Mr. Howard's intention to return it to that scheme as much of the interior has been remade in royal blue leather and matched carpeting.

As with so many cars, the evolution from drawing board design to practical/usable automobile sees a certain degree of compromise, and as beautiful as its successor is close inspection of the original work here shows how exquisitely refined and well penned these forerunners are. For this reason particularly, and the fact that these cars represent the breakaway model from the SS era to the journey that lead to the XK and E Type and all that the brand became, the SS90 is a pivotal car in the Jaguar legend.

Of the 24 cars built, it is thought that the survival rate is roughly two-thirds of that production. Accordingly, opportunities to acquire examples of this highly important model rarely occur. Bonhams is delighted to present this recent discovery for sale, from its long term ownership, ready for its next custodian to return it to the road.

Footnotes: When collected from Mr. Howard's garage, all evident boxes and parts annotated as being for this car were removed and every effort has been made by Bonhams to ensure that they accompany it. However, ultimately beyond the fact that the SS90 was acquired as a complete car and then dismantled for restoration and remained in his ownership continuously, it is up to prospective purchasers to assess the completeness of the car as offered.

Sold for US$ 214,500 inc. premium