The Jaguar C-X75 has finally been made road-legal, some 14 years after it was revealed, after designer Ian Callum heavily re-engineered one of the original James Bond stunt cars.
The C-X75 was revealed at the 2010 Paris motor show and signed off for production in May 2011, packing a twincharged (turbocharged and supercharged) 1.6-litre petrol engine and two electric motors for combined outputs of 888bhp and 590lb ft.
However, the project was abandoned in December 2012. Jaguar’s then global brand director Adrian Hallmark (now CEO of Bentley) said it was “the wrong time” to launch an £800,000-£1 million supercar, in light of global austerity.
But that wasn’t the end of the C-X75 story, for it would go on to feature as the signature car of villain Mr Hinx in the 2015 film Spectre.
Several stunt cars faithful to the concept were built by Williams Advanced Engineering. These used a tubular spaceframe chassis and Jaguar’s 5.0-litre supercharged V8 engine, rather than the original concept’s complex and costly hybrid system.
An unnamed collector acquired this example – car number seven – and commissioned Callum’s eponymous design consultancy to convert it for road use.
According to the Callum firm, obtaining Individual Vehicle Approval for UK road use required several changes.
For example, it had to fit E-marked glass, a quieter exhaust with catalytic converters and genuine wing mirrors to replace the foam dummies used in filming.
It also reduced the panel gaps, removed the quick-release latches required for filming and resurfaced the carbonfibre finish on the bodywork.
Under the skin, small adjustments were made to the damping and ride height to make it easier to use on the road.
The first road-legal C-X75 will be displayed at the Bicester Scramble car meet in Oxfordshire on 21 April.
