I’m currently reading a biography of Sir William Lyons and I’m up to the 1960s. We all know that Jaguar bought Guy from the receivers not long after they had bought Daimler, whose cars were unprofitable, but the Daimler Fleetline rear engine bus was considered the best of the rear engine double deck models on the market. So Jaguar took on two failed, or failing companies. Sir William Lyons had long harboured an ambition to get into commercial vehicle production, surprisingly. Guy was planning the Big J Range around the ■■■■■■■ V6 and V8 engines, but none had been produced and prototypes were sent over to the UK from USA. There were quite advanced negotiations taking place with Bussing in Germany for them to produce ■■■■■■■ V engines under licence. Lyons was aghast at that prospect, he wouldn’t countenance a German produced engine in any vehicle he built. A ■■■■■■■ V6 engine was trialled in a Daimler Fleetline but it was rough running and had a poor mpg. As a consequence Jaguar got involved with ■■■■■■■ and its V engines and a new company Jaguar ■■■■■■■ was actually set up. Some years before Jaguar had bought Coventry Climax and their legendary engine guru was Walter Hassan, ex-Bentley Motors, and he had worked for Jaguar previously, being involved in the Jaguar XK engine introduced in 1948. But even Hassan and Jaguar couldn’t make a success of the ■■■■■■■ V engines.
Not long after acquiring Guy Jaguar bought Henry Meadows, another basket case company, mainly for its premises which was adjacent to Guy at Wolverhampton. Another interesting snippet is that Jaguar had owned Motor Panels for a couple of years in the late 1930s. I’m at the stage in the book of the takeover of Jaguar by BMC, which predates the Leyland / BMC merger. Lyons was the last of the automotive industry autocrats, thoroughly in complete control of Jaguar. He counted amongst his friends Sir William Black of AEC, then Leyland, and Sir Henry Spurrier of Leyland. Lyons detested Donald Stokes, who of course later took control of Jaguar. It seems that no senior motor industry figures had any time at all for Stokes.
Interesting reading.