In the USA, Jaguar fit 'leapers' their cars ; current s-Type, XK and XJ ranges.
However in the UK I understand that Jaguar have not been allowed to fit leapers' since the days of the MKII and the first S-Type - {which was basically a streached MKII.}
I do like the leaper on MKII Jags. It's a pity that safety regulations in the UK will not allow the Jaguar leaper in one form or another. For example MB and RR etc still have their mascots.
How is it that Jaguar are not sued by the US courts if / when a US pedestrian suffers added injuies due to the Jaguar Leaper on the 'hood' ?
Alex
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I was always amazed, when I lived in britain, with people putting silver-plated dogs or horses on the bonnet's of their Ranger Rovers and volvos's...
Does this practice still go on?
Alex, the RR spirit of ecstasy seems a pretty hefty piece of kit, as any yob who has tried to steal one will tell you. They would need to be whacked pretty damn hard to break off ...
The MB star, however, is more fragile, and gets knocked back when nudged. hence you see many MB's without, as the yobs have had a go.
BTW, many local jag s-types have the little cat on them.
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Many years ago as a young biker I fell foul of a Saab 99 fitted with a leaping horse on the bonnet, he pulled out of a side road in the middle of town as I was virtually level with him and I ended up sliding across his bonnet and amazingly landing on my feet! I stood there for a while in a state of shock trying to put my hand in my pocket and eventually looked down to see a horizantal rip across the front of my coat starting from a point very close to a very delicate part of my anatomy! Took me a while to see the funny side, especially with the amount of damage to the bike, keep them banned as far as I'm concerned.
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Ian {cape town} I assume SA?
My point exactly, abroad {outside of UK} jaguars are fitted with {small} leapers.
Esp' in USA, how do they get away with it?
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Maybe if you have a jag there, you have enough insurance so you don't mind getting sued? :)
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No Euro NCAP pedestrian safety tests in the USA. Leaping Jags are the best way to take a pedestrian's eye out. Did anyone see the Peter Weir movie, 'The Cars That Ate Paris'? This was Paris somewhere in Australia where the locals set up accidents so they could use tourists cars (and the tourists themselves) for spare part surgery. One of the more loony looters collected Jaguar mascots from Jaguars.
HJ
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HJ you?re an endless fountain of knowledge, I looked it up and look what I found, along with hundreds of similar results.
I?ve never seen the film? Has it been on TV?
Got very mixed reviews on wed sites.
As a child, I so liked the leaper on my Dad?s MK II ? made it very easy to open to sprung loaded / counterbalanced bonnet too.
Bit like the system on my Volvo ? but no leaper.
www.google.com 'The Cars That Ate Paris'
www.ba
dmovies.org/comments/?film=14
I first saw ?The Cars? at the not-so-tender age of 19 and being the gear head that I am I ?got it? immediately. In spite of your very cool website, you have this movie all wrong. This is NOT a motorized version of ?Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.? It is actually a dark comedy with some truly disturbing undertones that has a lot to say about both modern societies? dependence on and worship of cars, and about the desperation of rural small-town life. The ?cigarette ad? opening is just one of many barbs thrown at modern day consumerism, and the idea of a whole town?s economy depending on cars is only as ridiculous as Detroit! The whole idea of a town of ghouls is really unsettling, and some of the film?s scenes are just creepy: the townspeople at the bar slavishly putting down their beers in preparation to strip another ?victim? at the sound of the bell as the hapless traveller in the Jaguar approaches his end, and the ?rally? outside the church where cars are being wrecked to the tune of the townspeople singing a church hymn. While most young men?s cars are the objects of their careful affection, the young men in Paris.
Alex
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Yes, 'The Cars that Ate Paris' has been on TV. But I first saw it at the movies in the 1970s when you still sometimes got two features for the price of one.
HJ
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Given the effects of a collision with the average (never mind the large) American SUV, the Jag mascot pales into insignificance.
Now, about the Hispano-Suiza Stork mascot......
Regards
john
PS I believe the 'spirit of ecstacy' also folds like the MB star?
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Could they not be made of rubber?
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Most of the mascots I saw were on cars owned by the aristicracy. Putting a leaping whippet on the Cortina would be a challenge to Mr. Plod to find the appropriate piece of legislation.
I haven't seen any of these in a few years. They were even dafter, and more vulgar, than bull-bars. Does anyone know the law about this? Are they now verboten?
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AFM
Still a few round our way - usually horse related.
Usually mounted at the windscreen end of the bonnet, presumably as a concession to safety.
Regards
john
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A slight aside, but did anyone see the 'Antiques Roadshow' on BBC1 on sunday 3/2/02 ? One item was a motoring collector with two Jaguar bonnet motifs, one alledgedly a rejected design, the second the finally adopted design.
My interest was the collection of AA badges which were unfortunately not discussed.
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I've got a leaping cat cast in brass on a brass plinth (came from antique shop n Birmingham)Has anyone else ever seen one of these?
It looks as though it was cast in the original mould...
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Alex......are you sure mascots are fitted to USA Jags?
I remember them being banned there in the 60's on MkII's & later models, when they were still being fitted in UK.
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www.us.jaguar.com/Default.asp?Levels=3210
From this you can see that the leaper has returned to the US market.... it was under ban for a while...
in the lat 70s early 80 I think...
M-Benz was not as the star was spring loaded going back to the early 60s in my memory and so I would guess came in withe 59 model and it's seat belt and crumple zones... RR had an exemption due to volume shipments being uder something like 1000 a year...untill its shorth term fix of the springloaded version came out and then of course was replaced by the vanishing spirit of today about 20 years ago I think... the leaper now is both spring loaded and may also be 'breakaway' and some owners will remove them and put them in the glove box if parking in dodgy areas....
In the 30 years my fathere and later I had the 250SE I lost none fort eh first 20 years but durring the last 10 years I lost 14 or 5 of the stars... the police told me it was a tean fashon statment to wear on on a chain on the neck but onlu if the star was stolen... actualy M-Benz seemed to want to help the problem as I recall teh replacemnets in 1987 wer about $30 by 1997 the price on them had gone down to about $12
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Yes, seen lots in adverts {US web sites} and sen planty in the US too.
Also the subjest was touched on in the Jaguar Drivers' club mag, but the legal side was not discussed.
Look at
www.us.jaguar.com/
and you even see the leaper {a small one, smaller tha UK MKII days of the 60s} fitted on the new X Type on the home page.
Click on the S-Type page and again the leaper is shown, the bonnet badge has moved onto to rad' grill {very MKII / 60 S-Type} nad the leaper is fitted wheer the bonnet badge goes on UK spec cars
The XJ range too is shown with the leaper, olny the XK shown without
- - the power of the Internet !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Alex
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Hey Boss, you got there first, see my post 3 mins after yours
My spelling as bad as HJs See post two above.
Randy got there three mins before me. I was on the Jag USA web site. Great minds think alike !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, seen lots in adverts {US web sites} and seen plenty in the US too.
Also the subject was touched on in the Jaguar Drivers' club ma, but the legal side was not discussed.
Look at
www.us.jaguar.com/
and you even see the leaper {a small one, smaller the UK MKII days of the 60s} fitted on the new X Type on the home page.
Click on the S-Type page and again the leaper is shown, the bonnet badge has moved onto to rad' grill {very MKII / 60 S-Type} and the leaper is fitted where the bonnet badge goes on UK spec cars
The XJ range too is shown with the leaper, only the XK shown without
- - the power of the Internet !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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