Unsung heroes: Jaguar X-type

More than a Mondeo?

It's been more than a year since my last unsung hero, but the series makes its long-overdue return with the most modern choice so far. With Jaguar experiencing a renaissance at the hands of its current Indian owners, the cars built under Ford's ownership are often derided or forgotten, especially the subject of today's piece that is commonly regarded as a low point in the marque's history. Ford-era Jaguars get a bad press, none more so than the X-type thanks to its controversial platform-sharing with the Mondeo that dooms it to be forever classed as not a real Jaguar in the eyes of many. Is that really fair though, or is it so overshadowed by the Mondeo comparisons that it deserves a second chance?

Just a Mondeo pretending to be a Jag, or something more?
(Image: Amazon.com)

Put it in H!

One of my all-time favourite scenes in The Simpsons occurs in the 1992 episode Mr. Plow, when Homer looks for a new car at the 'Place of Automobiles' run by an eastern European chap called Crazy Vaclav. The latter tries to sell him a strange little three-wheeler lettered in Cyrillic and made in a country that no longer exists, telling him in a stereotypical Slavic accent it will do 300 hectares on a single tank of kerosene.

What exactly is this machine supposed to be though? Many of the cars in the series are based to some degree on real vehicles, and having become very well acquainted with the AC or Invacar Model 70 invalid carriage it occurred to me just how much Crazy Vaclav's 'put it in H' car looks like a Model 70. This uniquely British model is a very off-the-wall choice for an American show, but the likeness is too great to be a coincidence so here's my take on its backstory.

A strange little car from a country that no longer exists