December 2015 Classic& SportsCar 159time.Thenwe showedthe clay modelto Walter
and he askedfor a few subtlestylingamend-
ments.For example,he insistedthat we have
chromeddoorhandles,and the only car we could
find withthosewas the Mazda323 estate.We
also fittedthe doormirrorsfroma CitroënCX.
“Tom lookedat the claymodeland said,
‘What’s betterthana clay version?’and we said,
‘A GRPcar.’ Thenhe asked,‘Andwhat’s better
thana GRPcar?’so we replied,‘A steelversion.’
We had full experimentaland buildfacilitiesat
Kidlington,so this enabledus to makea steel
prototype,whichtookaboutfour months.”
Walkinshawwas satisfiedwith the resultwhen
it was finishedin ’92, withonlyminorimprove-
mentsneeded to bringit up to his demanding
standards.“Underevaluation,the prototype
handledwell,”says Callum.“We camouflagedit
and did a lot of test milesaroundthe Cotswolds.
“At a meetingin 1993attendedby Hayes,
Walkinshawand me, the DB7was unveiledfor
scrutiny. Walter turnedto his Jaguarcounter-
partsand said,‘Whycouldn’t you do something
like this?’”It wouldtakea furtherthreeyears
beforethe XJ-Sreplacement,the XK8,arrived.
The DB7madeits debutat Genevain ’93: “It
drewhugeattention.I had no idea the effectit
wouldhaveon my life, and I was thrustinto the
limelight.I recallJackieStewartcomingup and
saying,‘It’s just sucha beautifulcar, well done.
And,you’rea Scot– that makesit evenbetter.’”
With sucha promisingorderbook,Fordgave
its agreementfor DB7productionto begin.
Engineswouldbe builtat Kidlington, whilea
factoryat Bloxhamwas usedfor assembly.
The Volantesoft-topwas unveiledto a recep-
tive publicin 1996,whilethe 420bhp,5935cc
Vantagewas released
in ’99: “Fordwanted
us to do that,adapting
its V12engine.It was
moreaggressive,with
a deeperchinspoiler,
greaterflarein the
archesanda more
obviousflick-upto the
transom,althoughI
was neverreallyhappy
withthe V12installa-
tion.I didn’t thinkit
workedthat well.”
But wouldCallumchangeanything?“I could
havebeenmoredetermined.I certainlywould
have made the side belt-line and door window
sillshigher,andthegrilleaperturelarger.Overall,
it’s a littlelackingin finesseand detail,whichwe
wouldn’tbe able to get awaywith today.At TWR
we didn’t havea viewinggalleryto gain an over-
all impressionof whatthe car lookedlike, so all
our designworkwas achievedat closequarters.”
Summingup, he says:“Theopportunityto
join TWRcameat just the righttime;afew years
earlier, I wouldhavelackedthe designexperi-
ence;afew yearslater,Iwouldhavebeenfar more
cautious.But after10 yearsI had a cravingfor
mainstreammanufacturing;I realisedthat I was
missingout on so much,so I wentbackto Jaguar.
“Myonlyregretis that,in 1992,the finance
wasn’t thereto put in the detailsI wanted.That
said,it has a lot of joy in it, it’s my ‘happycar’, my
callingcard.If it wasn’t for the DB7, I wouldn’t
be Jaguar’s directorof designtoday.”ThankstoLouiseAllinsonandGarethRichardsClockwise,fromtop:
CallumandNeilSimpson
(whostyledthecabin)put
TWRDesignonthemap
withtheDB7;itwasmeant
tohave a V12,whichcame
withthemoreaggressive-
lookingVantage;fussybut
luxuriouscabin;CXdoor
mirror;Callumwouldn’t
altermuch,buthe’dmake
thegrilleopeningbigger“I HADNO IDEATHEEFFECTTHAT
THEDB7WOULDHAVE ON MYLIFE”