Sir William Lyons on Jaguar: The Legend Explained in His Own Words

This is a Jaguar book with a difference. In 1969 Sir William Lyons gave an address to the Institute of the Motor Industry under the title ’The History of the Jaguar and the future of the Specialised car in the British Motor Industry’. Delivered just after the launch of the seminal XJ6 saloon, it is a captivating personal account that explains how he built up Jaguar and what, in his view, made Jaguars special and distinctive. His extensive text forms the heart of this book, supported by a vivid array of archive photographs and rounded off with a preface by Michael Quinn (Sir William’s grandson) and an epilogue by Giles Chapman (the book’s originator and compiler) examining Sir William’s lasting legacy and the future of the great British brand he created.

- Never previously published in book form, this is the fullest known account Sir William Lyons ever provided of his company’s evolution and the famous cars it created, together with numerous insights into his philosophy, strategy and thinking.
- Carefully illustrated with archive photographs that precisely illustrate many of the points Sir William made in his text and the beautiful cars he was responsible for.
- This trenchant contribution from Jaguar’s guiding hand marches straight into the current furore over ’what is a Jaguar?’
- A totally different approach to a much-published and very popular subject.
- A beautiful square-format hardback produced to the highest quality with eye-catching modern design.
- Published at the 40th anniversary of Sir William Lyons’s death and the 90th anniversary of the first appearance of a ’Jaguar’ car.

Here, uniquely, is the essence of Jaguar by the man who started it all, and who so rarely aired his thoughts in public.

Giles Chapman writes and talks about the motor car, its industry, its history and its culture. He is the author of some 60 books on a spectrum of car-related subjects, including My Dad Had One Of Those (nearly 200,000 copies sold), Chapman’s Car Compendium, Britain’s Toy Car Wars: Dinky vs Corgi vs Matchbox, Gentleman Heroes: YU 3250 - The First Blower Bentley & The Men Who Made it Happen and Three Million Miles In A Volvo And Other Curious Car Stories, as well as two books about Jaguar. He was Editor in Chief for Dorling Kindersley of The Car Book, The Classic Car Book and Drive: The Definitive History of Motoring, acclaimed reference books all published in multiple language editions. Early in his career, he edited Classic & Sports Car, the world’s best-selling classic car magazine, and has contributed to countless other publications. He founded the Royal Automobile Club Motoring Book of the Year Awards, and his own work has received numerous awards and nominations, including 2023 Classic Car Writer of the Year from the Guild of Motoring Writers.