SS Jaguar 100 by Finch: Does a brand-new vintage car still feel like the real deal?

Restomods might be the classic car market's flavour of the year when it comes to vehicles from the 1950s through to the '90s, but there's another growing trend for vehicles predating that period. The difference is, it doesn't involve making a vintage car new again, but rather making a new vintage car.

Compared to a restomod, the recipe is quite simple: take the original blueprints for a pre-war car, combine it with measurements taken from 3D-scanned examples, whip it all up in a CAD program, and set about building an authentic but brand-new version of that car from the ground up. Okay, it's actually a bit more complex than that, but you get the idea.

While some manufacturers such as Bentley have adopted this trend in-house with its Continuation Series models, there are independents doing the same thing, including right here in Australia.

A prime example of this is Finch Restorations, based in Mount Barker, South Australia, who just completed this 1938 SS Jaguar 100 for a client in Florida. Forget your VF II Commodore or the Brabham BT62 – believe it or not, this is the newest car built in Australia.

As a complete ground-up build, this SS 100 is technically the newest car built in Australia (Image: Marcus Cardone)

Before it heads to the other side of the globe, I was lucky enough to be thrown the keys to it for a day, and I was curious to see just how authentic this feels. Mind you, if you ever wanted a repro SS 100 that was true to form, Finch is clearly the company to enlist.

The company was originally founded in Mount Gambier by Ray Finch, who had a dream of building his own SS 100 one day which he did using a set of factory drawings purchased for £100 along with some other parts shipped over from England.

It was such a success that after he moved the business to Mount Barker, he produced three further examples for customers, with each build costing around $400,000 in today's dollar.

The business is now owned by Peter and Harbinda Roberts, who purchased it in 2014, growing the staff from four to 30 and growing its workshop floorspace sixfold. Although small jobs aren't off the cards, Peter told me on a previous visit while this car was a work in progress that "ground-up restorations are our specialty, particularly the hardest and most complicated ones".

Finch Restorations has decades of experience producing SS 100 replicas, dating back to company founder Ray Finch's fascination with the cars (Image: Marcus Cardone)

There's no denying that this build sits right on the high end of that difficulty scale, requiring extensive 3D modelling work which saw designer Andrea Manclús Clemente win the Emerging Innovator category at the 2023 Women in Innovation awards.

The chassis was modelled based off original drawings that were then turned into more accurate plans for workshop staff to follow. As for the SS100's stunning bodywork, this was laser-scanned based off a number of original cars and others' replicas to ensure the shape and scale was as accurate as possible. Since the originals were all built by hand, this could arguably be more precise than them, especially with how stunning the build quality is throughout.

Given how inaccurate some replicas can be, it was surprising just how petite this authentically-sized SS 100's proportions are. Indeed, it's such a small vehicle that a number of minor changes were made in the cabin to accommodate the client who stands at 6'4". Even at two inches shy of that, I still found space to be at a premium if now manageable, so this is one area where a little bit of inauthenticity is welcome.

Several changes were made to the seating position and firewall to accommodate the tall client it was built for (Image: Marcus Cardone)

One other welcome enhancement was a Wade RO34 supercharger mounted right out the front, much like you'd see on a Blower Bentley. While seemingly there for a laugh more than anything, you can hear the odd whine from it while the mid-range torque it delivers is potent. The only other change is a modern fuel cell design – an important safety consideration.

Powered by a 3.5-litre straight-six paired to a four-speed manual gearbox, the soundtrack makes it easy to see why the first 'leaper' Jaguar bonnet ornament was fitted to an SS 100 delivered to Prince Michael of Romania back in the day. The roar this lets out is a truly vicious, mechanical sound that sounds like it ought be laid over early Formula 1 footage.

While the name was derived from the original's supposed 100mph top speed, I wasn't keen to test it out; I've driven some serious cars before, but this is probably the most expensive by some margin. Indeed, Sunday drive speeds were plenty when you consider the work involved in keeping it going.

From behind the wheel, there's no denying the experience feels thoroughly authentic (Image: Marcus Cardone)

The steering input required just to hold a straight line was like driving through an American movie, while executing a smooth gear-change required the concentration levels of an open-heart surgeon as you carefully timed every element of your double declutching. Oh yeah, this thing feels thoroughly authentic alright.

I was at least assured by the staffer who accompanied me on this drive through the Adelaide Hills that quite a few in the workshop couldn't master the gearbox, so that at least made me feel pretty good about myself.

Indeed, that's the rewarding part of driving a vehicle so utterly raw as this. Nailing a gearshift feels like scoring a World Cup-winning goal, and getting the right line and pace through a corner feels like lifting the trophy afterwards. If you love driving above all else, as I do, driving a vehicle like this at least once has to be on your bucket list.

Even with the minor changes here and there, all for a good reason, it absolutely feels like the real deal from where I was sitting. That only goes to show just how much attention to detail has been put into producing this vehicle. To the lucky chap in Florida who'll soon be behind the wheel of it: I envy you.

The Wade supercharger might not be true to the original, but this car's stunning lines certainly are (Image: Marcus Cardone)

Decoding the SS Jaguar name

Starting out in life as Swallow Sidecars, the SS Cars name was used from 1934 after the company was acquired and liquidated to maintain a link to the original.

As for Jaguar, it started out as the name of the brand's 1935 saloon car, before soon being applied to all of the brand's vehicles. Given some unfortunate wartime connotations with the original SS name, the decision was made in 1945 to rebrand the company as Jaguar Cars Limited.

Since vehicle production was obviously ceased during World War II, Finch Restorations offers another vehicle, the uniquely coachbuilt SS 120 by Finch, which answers the question of what might have happened had production not been halted. Thus, it's the halfway point between this SS 100 and the resultant XK 120.

You may note that from some of these photos, the SS badging wasn't applied to this car. One of the workshop's staff told me that while this could constitute a copyright breach if the business stuck it on, it's not an issue in the original marque's eyes if the customer applies it themselves.

Photography for this story was captured by Marcus Cardone.