Another Bond villain’s Jaguar becomes a street-legal car

Callum, a car design company founded by former Jaguar designer Ian Callum, has introduced a road-legal car based on the iconic C-X75.

Having originally debuted as a concept vehicle in the James Bond: Spectre movie, the C-X75 was produced in a mini-series of just seven units. It was never intended to be driven outside of the movie set, yet Callum decided to retrofit one for public roads.

After the filming was over, four out of the seven prototypes went into private hands. The owner of the example number 1 contacted Callum with a request to make it drivable. Modifying the bodywork alone took over 1,000 workhours. The company had to replace the headlights and the taillights, reduce panel gaps, and devise aerodynamic parts that would act as air-drag brakes. The suspension was rebuilt for a fairly low stance, but the front axle ended up with a lift mechanism for those pesky speed bumps.

The interior was overhauled from the ground up. The dashboard, the individual gauges and the center console with its haptic controls are all new. You may notice that the console is virtually free from buttons, but that’s because most of them reside on the ceiling. The steering wheel rim is a solid piece of machined aluminum, and the seats come wrapped in leather worthy of an actual Bond-esque villain. A wireless charger and a digital rearview mirror are also on the list of features.

For propulsion, the exotic C-X75 still relies on its original 5.0-liter Jaguar V8. It does benefit from a more modern seven-speed DCT and improved ECU software, though, so it should be a great deal easier to drive on a daily basis than the original could ever hope to be. Rounding off the modifications is an all-new exhaust system with an opportunity for sound adjustment.