2022 Jaguar XJ-C By Carlex Design

The Polish tuner is no stranger to epic transformations, as Carlex Design has worked on a variety of other vehicles, such as a McLaren 720S, Ferrari 488, and Mercedes G-Class, to name a few. While these are all modern vehicles, the tuner has decided to turn its attention to a model of the past. The specialists from Poland have chosen one of the least-common big cats – a Jaguar XJ-C.

The XJ-C is based on the Series II Jaguar XJ, a full-size sedan, and was produced between 1975 and 1978. In its three-year production cycle, the XJ-C was produced in just 10,487 copies. More than half the cars came with the 4.2-liter DOHC, inline-six engine, but a 5.3-liter V-12 was also available. Back in the day, you could choose between a three-speed automatic or a four-speed manual gearbox.

The Jaguar is a night predator and the team from Carlex Design has done a great job at reflecting that, with their reimagined version of the British grand tourer. The tuner has toned down the chrome, which gives the car a more aggressive look, similar to that of a cat, stalking its prey. The dark trim fits perfectly with the opalescent dark green exterior finish.

The front end also benefits from smoothed edges, modern lighting – presumably LED, and a thinner bumper. The car is still distinctively Jaguar XJ-C, even retaining the signature quad-headlamps. This project is, essentially, an evolution of another XJ-C from Carlex Design. While the previous design is more traditional, this one features more aggressive design cues.

The most obvious difference is the flared fenders, which remind us of Lister-tuned Jaguars of the past. The Polish tuner has also added a thin chrome strip above the wheel arches, which spans the entire length of the coupe. If we were to compare the looks of the Jag to a person, it would be a gentleman that isn’t afraid of throwing away the tie and unbuttoning the top of his shirt, at the end of the day.

In typical fashion, Carlex Design has substantially enhanced the interior of the car. It manages to nail down the so-called club atmosphere. All the classic design elements have been retained while being modernized in some areas. The instrument cluster appears to be digital, but it still features the classic layout with the chrome-trimmed gauges flush with the wooden dashboard.

A substantial amount of leather has been used throughout the two-tone interior. The dark-brown leather, used for the seats and the door panels is what they call hand-aged. It perfectly goes with the dark green Alcantara, used throughout most of the interior, including much of the dash, roof, floor, and upper and lower sections of the doors. The XJ Coupe also features a redesigned center console and door panels.

Being notably sportier than the standard car, the Carlex XJ-C features a rear-seat-delete. Instead, it now has an in-car luggage area and an X-brace for better chassis rigidity. We also expect a new sportier suspension (but not too sporty), even though Carlex Design has not mentioned such.

We know that the coupe no longer has the original, 5.3-liter V-12, which in the case of this earlier version makes 258 horsepower (285 for later-12 models). Instead, the Polish tuner gave the big Jaguar a V-8 that makes 400 horsepower. However, we don’t know whether it’s a normally-aspirated version of the 5.0-liter V-8, found in the Jaguar F-Type, as there’s much the tuner hasn’t revealed about the car.

It’s clear that Carlex Design’s reimagined Jaguar XJ-C probably won’t impress the purists. However, with this XJ Coupe, the Polish tuner has infused the term resto-mod with a level of sophistication and class, previously not associated with the term. The term retro-modernism was, quite simply, made for the Jaguar XJ-C by Carlex Design.