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Ex-Jaguar design boss Ian Callum starts his own design firm

A month ago, Ian Callum stepped down from his position as Jaguar's director of design. In a 20-year career with the English sports car maker, Callum's pen has traced the lines of everything from the original XK, the XJ, the F-Type, I-Pace, and more. Before that, he made use of employ at Aston Martin by contributing to the original DB7, the DB9, the previous Vantage, and the first Vanquish. After a career in service to OEMs that's been brilliant enough to earn him a CBE, for Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Callum has stepped up to take the reins at his eponymous design firm, called "Callum." Established with four fellow ex-Jaguar executives, Callum will design and engineer bespoke and limited-edition creations in the worlds of art, audio, automotive, fashion, lifestyle, and motorsports. The other trio of founding members are program director David Fairborn, engineering director Adam Donfrancesco, and commercial director Tom Bird. Fairbarn was the head of bespoke and special commissions at Jaguar Land Rover, where he helped bring the Lightweight E-Type to life. Donfrancesco left his role as engineering manager for JLR 's bespoke and special commissions; before that, he developed road and race cars like the Aston Martin GT8 and GT12. Bird, after stints at PWC and Barclays, had been commercial manager at JLR, where he shepherded the C-X75 concept into the James Bond movie Spectre. Callum said of the venture, "I wanted to get back to the essence of creativity; the challenge of producing something wonderful and personal. To design the alternative has always been my mantra, but always the beautiful alternative and something to enjoy." The man's still contracted to Jaguar as a brand ambassador, but at 64 years old, he feels "I've got maybe 15 years of design aptitude left, and I want to make the most of it." With 18 employees and based in a 20,000-square-foot facility in Warwick, the firm is ready right now with the engineering and manufacturing machinery to create products in-house. Even with the company's wide remit, we expect to see Callum take a stand in the automotive space. He admitted that he'd "like to take some of the cars I've designed and maybe redo them a little bit," but the team will always consider the entire vehicle, looking to upgrade dynamics and handling, too. We're told the first project will be announced soon.

Evo pits Jaguar XKR-S vs. Mercedes SL63 AMG in heavyweight droptop fight

We recently received the sad news that the Jaguar XK is ceasing production by the end of the year, but what better way to bid it farewell than with some big, smoky powerslides? The retirement of the sporty GT isn't actually the topic of the latest video from Evo - it's on hand to compete against the Mercedes-Benz SL63 AMG to see which is faster around a track. Still, we can think of it as a wonderful sendoff for the Jag.
Both convertible grand tourers get their laps around the course, and they couldn't be more different. Driver Jethro Bovingdon gets some grins out of them both, but absolutely giggles while behind the wheel of the XKR-S convertible. The SL63 AMG is the more powerful of the two, but as we know, that doesn't always matter at a racetrack. You'll just have to scroll down and watch the video to see which of them is actually the winner.

Watch 2 clay modelers build Jaguar E-Types out of plasticine

Ah, quarantine time. When put to good use, it can be a time of ingenuity and creativity — precious time given back to us, in a sense. So here are two chaps, Joe and Lucas, who work at JaguarÂ’s Design Studio, stuck at home, ready to make a couple classic E-Type models out of some plasticine. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. ItÂ’s not exactly an instructional video, since itÂ’s mostly sped-up time lapse footage with no instructional explainers. But itÂ’s meant to show us that anyone can do it. The tools they use to shape the plasticine are common household items: a rolling pin or similar cylindrical items — they use a can of hair spray — to roll out the material, a plastic spoon, potato peeler, a knife, cardboard, tinfoil and a glass of water to apply to the plasticine and make a smooth finish. As for plasticine itself, itÂ’s a modeling clay thatÂ’s similar to Play-doh except that it is oil-based, where the latter is made of flour and water. (If youÂ’re interested, hereÂ’s a video that shows you how to convert Play-doh into plasticine.) So weÂ’re shown how the designers shape the signature fender bulges, greenhouse, head- and taillights and wheels. But it frankly all goes by in a blur, and we suspect that most of us amateurs would be left with something that looks more like an undefined blog. Still, itÂ’s fun to watch. Built between 1961 and 1975, the E-Type two-seat roadster is considered one of the major icons of automotive design and part of the AUTObodies collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Design/Style Jaguar Coupe Classics