Magnus Walker-Backed TWR XJS Falls Victim To The Same Uncanny Valley Look That Curses So Many Restomods
Tom Walkinshaw Racing is back, and to celebrate, TWR has, of course, revealed a restomodded, racing-inspired Jaguar XJS coupe that it calls the Supercat. Considering Walkinshaw’s history of racing Jaguars, is that really a surprise? That said, the TWR team didn’t just throw some wide fenders and a body kit on a hot-rodded XJS, though. No, they brought in Khyzyl Saleem as the lead designer and noted British car enthusiast Magnus Walker as a design consultant.
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Not that you should ignore the engine. There’s a supercharged V12 under the hood that TWR says makes more than 600 horsepower. Sadly, this is just a design reveal, so we won’t get the full details such as how much power the engine actually makes, its displacement, whether or not it’s sourced from Cosworth or just a modified Jaguar engine, etc. until the full reveal this summer. One feature that’s almost definitely not stock is the six-speed manual transmission.
Photo: TWR
TWR claims it hired an engineering team from the likes of McLaren, Ferrari, Porsche, Williams, Mercedes F1 and Renault F1 to ensure that the Supercat drives well enough to handle the boost in power, and we’re sure it really is great to drive. We just keep coming back to the design. There’s something about it that’s ever so slightly off. The LED headlights are probably the most egregious issue, although that’s nothing new in the world of restomods.
To be clear, the official Jalopnik opinion is not that the Supercat is bad. There’s just something about it that doesn’t quite come together. Again, though, that’s an issue that so many restomodders run into when they try to bring a classic into the modern era. Or maybe we’re just a bunch of dumb idiots who don’t know what we’re talking about because Bradley described it as, “sick as fuck,” so at least one person on staff is a big fan.
Not that it really matters either way. TWR only plans to build 88 examples with a starting price of $281,521 at current exchange rates, so even if one of us could afford it, we probably wouldn’t be able to get an allocation. If you’re interested, though, you’ll need to send TWR a $12,512 refundable deposit to reserve your place in line before deliveries begin in Q4 of this year. And if you do end up getting one, maybe be kind and let Bradley drive your Supercat once it shows up. He’d really appreciate that.
