There’s Now A Second Road-Legal Jaguar C-X75

Remember the Jaguar C-X75? The gorgeous supercar that debuted in 2010 as a concept powered by gas turbines, was heading for production with a tiny hybrid powertrain, and was then abruptly cancelled, only to pop up in a Bond film several years later with a massive supercharged V8 in it?

If so, you probably also remember that earlier this year, one of those Spectre stunt cars was made road legal by Callum, the design and engineering firm established by former Jag designer Ian Callum – the man who happened to lead the C-X75’s design back in 2010.

All this is a rather long-winded way of saying that Callum has now created a second roadgoing C-X75 for another client. The last one, though, wasn’t too far removed from the stunt hack it began life as. This one’s a far more thorough conversion, intended to finally be the fully-fledged roadgoing supercar the C-X75 never got to be.

You can’t miss, for instance, that it’s now the lovely shade of Willow Green – the original C-X75 concept was silver, and the one driven by the villainous Mr. Hinx in Spectre was orange. Given that these cars were built to be skidded around in front of a camera, they weren’t necessarily the tidiest things to look at up close, so Callum has also cleaned up the panel gaps and added fresh carbon fibre and brushed aluminium accents.

The bigger transformation, though, comes on the inside. No longer a relatively rudimentary cabin, it’s been completely re-engineered and redesigned, and now has everything you’d expect a modern car to have.

One thing that thankfully hasn’t changed from the stunt car is the thunderous 5.0-litre supercharged V8, which is likely kicking out somewhere north of 500bhp. However, it’s now hooked up to a smoother seven-speed dual-clutch ’box rather than the motorsport-derived sequential gearboxes used by the stunt cars.

Other tweaks include an active aero package that starts contributing to downforce above 37mph and acts as an airbrake when the driver slams on the anchors, and a hydraulic front lift system stops that pretty nose graunching over speed bumps.

Callum’s engineering director, Adam Donfrancesco, said: “Integrating features including aircon and premium audio whilst also balancing the NVH, refinement and hygiene factors such as engineering the door seals to keep the elements out, all whilst ensuring it still sounded mega, was a formidable but thrilling challenge and the results speak for themselves.”

It’s refreshing to finally see the C-X75 become the fully realised supercar it was never able to. Perhaps the only disappointment is that it’s just a one-off. That said, there are still a few other Spectre stunt cars knocking about somewhere…