T2#054. Jaguar Ozel Yapim

T2#054	Jaguar Ozel Yapim
real name	Jaguar Ozel Yapim
source photo status	not found
vk post 1	https://vk.com/wall-170914_32
vk post 2	https://vk.com/wall-170914_3200

I first saw this insert on a hot midsummer day in 1990. Its owner was my country friend Kostya. The inserts themselves, like cars, were of no value to him, but he knew a lot about the exchange, as it was one of his means of communication.

That day we were playing with a toy "water rocket". You take such a rocket, fill it partially with water, pump air into it with a special pump, release it, and it flies 15 meters up. In an attempt to prolong its flight, I filled the rocket with water entirely and began pumping air into it with all my might. Kostya shouted: "Va-asya! The liquid is not compressible! The liquid is not compressible!!" But in vain. The rocket exploded in my hands, dousing us with water from head to toe.

I remembered this physics lesson very well. Perhaps so that I would not grieve too much about the lost rocket, Kostya showed me his liner No. 54 and at the same time agreed to exchange it.

Even by today's standards, this Jaguar looks very impressive: with an extremely low body kit, a wing at the back and these amazing silver-gold discs. What can we say about the time when the simple Lada "eight" still looked pretty fresh.

The number 54 surprisingly combined polar things: the classic elegance of a respectable Jaguar and the uncompromising attributes of a real racing car.

This liner is the very personification of nostalgia, looking at it, you do not want to let go of a hot summer day of that time when everything around was new and bright, because you yourself were only 9. And this is not bad and not good. The main thing is that besides the past there should be a full-fledged present and future.

Jaguar XJ Series III. Artwork by Marcin Adamczyk

About the Car

The phrase "Özel Yapim" can be found on four inserts of the second Turbo series. In addition to this Jaguar, two of them are racing cars “Toyota” and “Ford”, and another is a strange “ABC” with a very much expanded rear end and a “Mercedes engine” (as it was written). In the 80s, few people knew that translated from Turkish it means "made individually", however, it was logically assumed that this designation was for not just sports, but special "ezelapim-sports" cars. The answer was given by the third series of “Turbo". On a number of inserts, instead of the characteristics, “Prototip Özel Yapim" appeared. So it started from this that the phrase means something related to prototypes, or, in fact, just “prototype". We had such a simple logic due to the lack of information sources.

Surprisingly, after 6 years of research, we have failed to answer the question of what this Jaguar Ezel Yapim is. And today, T2#054 remains, perhaps, the main secret among all the numbers of all turbo series. But we know something today:

The inscription on the wing is “Jaguar". The alleged inscription on the hood is "454". Conclusions were drawn based on the study of a large number of T2#054 inserts with different print quality.

Neither Jaguar employees, designers known for their magazine sketches, nor wheel manufacturers, nor even John R. from John's Cars Inc. (this company specializes in installing Chevrolet Big Block 454 engines on Jaguar) helped us to establish the origin of the image.

The insert is definitely not a photo, but a drawing. The analysis showed that the artist made a mistake with the perspective: the headlights, bumper, radiator grille exactly repeat the photo with the yellow Jaguar from the last page, while the side part is drawn from a different angle. In addition, the hypothesis of the drawing is confirmed by other errors: too large front overhang, uneven oval discs.