A rare Jaguar concept car which starred in the 007 movie Spectre has been upgraded and made road legal by its original designer.
Ian Callum led the team which styled the C-X75 and now his design and engineering consultancy CALLUM has managed to convert the star car to road use.
Jaguar’s experimental supercar was originally shown in 2010 as a collaboration with Williams Advanced Engineering and featured a wild gas-turbine hybrid powertrain. Twin turbines generated power for four electric wheel motors delivering almost 800 bhp. Then, for a planned production model, Jaguar ditched the complex drivetrain for a slightly more conventional hybrid system featuring a 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine that was both turbo and supercharged to more than 500 bhp, with electric motors chipping in another 350 horses. Jaguar had planned to build 250 examples but the project was canned.
Nonetheless the C-X75 was a mean publicity machine, featuring in a spectacular car chase filmed in the Vatican City for the 2015 Bond movie. Five stunt cars were assembled by Williams, with power provided by Jag’s standard five-litre supercharged V8, and now one of those is finally hitting the road.
On the engineering side the team at CALLUM had to make “hundreds of changes” in order for the car get IVA approval and be road legal in the UK. Those included replacing the glass and switchgear, fitting a quieter exhaust and catalytic convertors, along with associated engine calibration tuning. Even the side mirrors had to be created from scratch as the stunt cars only had dummy items. The bodywork was tweaked to improve panel fit and the car was given a fresh coat of metallic orange paint, as well as slightly more luxurious interior.
Apparently four of the five Spectre stunt cars survived filming, so perhaps we could see more CX-75s drive another day. In the meantime if you’re attending the Bicester Heritage Sunday Scramble on 21 April the car will be on show – for your eyes only.
