Jaguar SS100 – The remarkable story of 18008

Launched in 1935, the rakish SS100 was a landmark model for the company that had been founded by William Lyons as Swallow Sidecars and which would evolve into Jaguar. As the first true performance car to wear the Jaguar name, it soon attracted the attention of drivers who recognised its competition potential – and chassis number 18008 would become perhaps the most famous SS100 of all.

Better known by its registration number BWK 77, or simply as ‘Old Number 8’, it was sold new to Sammy Newsome before being bought back by the SS Cars factory. It went on to become the works development car before making headlines when the husband-and-wife team of Tommy and Elsie Wisdom achieved a penalty-free run on the 1936 International Alpine Trial.

After being modified into lightweight 3.5-litre form, BWK 77 raced at prestigious venues such as Brooklands and Shelsley Walsh, eventually being sold into private ownership after World War Two. Its competition history did not end there, however. Subsequent owners have continued to use this revered SS100 in the manner to which it had become accustomed and this, the 11th book in the Exceptional Cars series from Porter Press International, brings its remarkable story right up to date.