Ian Callum’s Street-Legal Jaguar C-X75 Purrs Like a Lion
by AutoExpert | 31 October, 2024
Jaguar’s C-X75—a supercar that never made it to production—first roared to life as a concept at the 2010 Paris Motor Show. The recession quickly led to the abandonment of production plans, leaving the C-X75 as a tantalizing "what if" for car enthusiasts.
However, the sleek coupe managed to survive. In 2015, it starred as the ultimate villain car in Spectre, the James Bond film, and just this year, the car’s original designer, Ian Callum, reimagined one of those stunt models as a street-legal vehicle.
Now, Callum has completed a second conversion, bringing even more of Jaguar’s dream to the road. This latest project revives chassis 001, one of the seven stunt cars Williams Advanced Engineering built for Spectre. Following the completion of filming, Callum's team sold four of these stunt cars, allowing them to transform two into street-ready marvels.
This time, they transformed chassis 001 into something even closer to the C-X75 Jaguar once envisioned, finishing it in an exclusive Willow Green and spending over 1,000 painstaking hours. The project includes active aerodynamics that deploy at speeds above 37 mph, a front-axle lifter to navigate bumps, and a newly added air brake, all combining to make this car look like it’s ready for the track but built for the street.
Under the hood, this reimagined C-X75 carries a supercharged 5.0-liter V8 engine—the same powerhouse used in other Spectre stunts—instead of the original concept’s hybrid system, which featured a turbocharged and supercharged 1.6-liter engine with electric motors. Power flows through a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic, sending force to the rear wheels for a thrilling drive.
Inside, Callum’s team brought a new level of luxury to the stunt car’s raw appeal. The interior now boasts three circular displays reminiscent of Bugatti's styling, an aluminum steering wheel, and modern touches like wireless charging, Apple CarPlay, and a digital rearview mirror. A refined overhead console mounts controls and the start button, offering this C-X75 a unique blend of performance and elegance.
Jaguar's focus is now firmly on a fully electric future, with plans to relaunch the C-X75 as an ultra-luxury EV brand by 2025. Yet Callum’s team continues to honor Jaguar’s heritage, with projects like the C-X75 and a custom edition of the Aston Martin Vanquish that Callum reimagined after launching his design company in 2019. These cars prove that some classics refuse to fade quietly into the rearview.