1938 Jaguar SS 100 3.5
One of just 118 SS 100 3.5 litre built between 1938 – 1940.
Dave Garroway ownership for thirty years.
Steve Sim Roberts ownership for thirty years.
In-period Jaguar factory supplied XK120M engine.
Period correct SS 100 3.5 litre engine accompanies.
Astonishingly voluminous history file dating back to new.
Original letters, magazine features and photos dating back to new.
Pre and Post-War racing history.
In-period alligator interior.
Recent major servicing.
Worldwide event eligible.
One of the most important and certainly the most widely known and extensively documented SS 100 in existence, 1938 Jaguar SS 100, Serial Number 39067. Known as the “Dave Garroway” SS 100, Mr. Garroway the original anchor and host of The Today show on NBC and owner of the SS 100 for thirty years starting in the late 1940s. Mr. Garroway raced 39067 regularly into the early 1950s at all the usual spots, Watkins Glen, Bridgehampton, Wilkes Barre, Elkhart Lake, Equinox. As his friend and fellow racing driver Walter Cronkite penned, “Dave was a gutsy driver but basically he was in the category as several of us – something of a dilettante driver.” High praise indeed! Mr. Garroway quite handy in the workshop too, assisting with the fettling and upkeep of the SS 100, along with the Rolls Royce’s in his collection. He had 39067’s original 3.5 litre engine outfitted with a Rootes supercharger and as told to Sports Car Illustrated in 1955, “I blew out this powerplant while tearing off a few rounds at the Studebaker proving grounds. I guess the old boy just collapsed from over work – it’d been bored to the nth degree.” Mr. Garroway ultimately was able to convince the Jaguar factory to supply him with an XK120M engine, the very first 120 engine sold out of the factory independent from a motorcar. The 120M engine made for a giant leap in horsepower to nearly 180hp, from the original 3.5 litre’s 125hp. And with the mechanicals fully tended to, Mr. Garroway also made his mark on the interior of 39067 by outfitting the seats and dash with alligator. Yes, alligator. These half century plus old hides show beautifully today. And not content with just any rugs, Mr. Garroway imported these materials from Italy. All this adds up to what Mr. Garroway calls, “The most beautiful sports car in the world. It’s my most precious material possession.”
Following Mr. Garroway’s racing days in the early 1950s, he would go on to own 39067 for another two and a half decades until selling his prized SS 100 to noted Jaguar collector, Steve Sim Roberts, of Colorado. Once owning 39067, Mr. Roberts embarked on an extraordinary campaign to procure any and all artifacts relating to the SS 100, whether they be magazine, letter, or photograph. The lengths to which Mr. Roberts went to are simply mind boggling, writing letters to anyone he could think of that might have been in contact with 39067 – Sir William Lyons, Alec Ullman, Barbara Walters, Walter Cronkite, to name a few, all the sports car magazines of the day and even another SS 100 owner in Russia. A jewel of the literature collection is an original letter and photographs from the very first owner of 39067, Mr. H. P. Terry of Cheltenham, England. The history file that Mr. Roberts accumulated is nothing short of unbelievable. Kudos to him for his passion and tenacity. He showed the SS 100 regularly at various concours and Jaguar meetings out West as well as running 39067 in the California Mille. The SS 100 instantly recognizable with Mr. Roberts’ Colorado license plate, PIZZAZ. And just like Mr. Garroway, Mr. Roberts owned the SS 100 for three decades as well.
Mr. Roberts sold his thirty year friend back to the UK in 2007. It was for a few years with Mr. Henry Pearman of Eagle E-Types and for the following six years in the wonderful collection of Mr. Luay Allawi. While with Mr. Allawi, 39067 was treated to a detailed sorting and refurbishment at UK specialist, DK Engineering, totaling some 40,000 pounds sterling.
Having seen little use since its comprehensive servicing and looking today very much the way it did with Mr. Garroway, this distinctive SS 100 in need of only a new custodian, maybe for the next 30 years.
