May 26: Jag's hot rod suv

Quiz time........who was the first company to field a hot rod suv? These days there are many high powered, big, almost lumbering suvs in the market. Mercedes, Audi, Jeep, BMW, Range Rover and several others have excited their buyers with high horsepower sport utes, that will out run just about any sportscar from the recent past. I think that maybe Jeep was the first to do it, but I stand to be corrected. Makes no matter, but now Jaguar has joined the fray with the performance F-Pace SVR.......

Well, not actually Jaguar, but a company that has been associated with them since 1954, Lister. Although an independent enterprise, Lister has been modifying and racing Jags for years. They also work their black magic on the F-Type, the Lister Thunder, which to my mind is a much better use of their resources, but who am I to judge?

Lister has also produced their own cars and a few years ago did a commemorative redo of one of their old race cars. Limited to ten cars at a million bucks US per, they would make yours race ready or something for the street (as if).....

This is the Knobbly Stirling Moss edition. Knobbly? Named for all the bulges. Strange, but true. This is a modern day replica of a car Moss drove to victory so long ago (60 years)........

Over the years, Lister has modified many other Jags and also tried to have success with their own cars. Now this is where I step in with a pithy comment about them staying with their strengths. Strengths like performance and staying away from weaknesses like design. Need proof?

Hands up those of you who think they might have been able to improve on this Lister Storm (yet another meteorological reference). Or how about the visual massaging they did with the XJS........

Compare that to the original..........

My money would have gone into a Lister power plant and left that beautiful body alone, but each to his own and they probably sold two or three to blind aficionados.

Anyway, back to what is important today and that is our love and lust over suvs. And more important, our love and lust over lustier suvs.

The Lister F-Pace, a very serious suv with the world's fastest suv bragging rights on the line. Time to drop by your local Jag dealer, since your new Lambo Urus only does 190 mph. Those runs to the cottage are getting more entertaining by the minute.

Until next time......