Page 142 - Bespoke Issue

deemed a great success and Lister’s place as one of the leading Jaguar tuning companies was sealed.
In 2013 Lancashire businessman Lawerence Whittaker along with his father invested money to breathe new life into Lister. He said of the cars phenomenal success in the 1950s, “That would be like entering a car that you had built yourself, with no massive car knowledge, at your father’s engineering plant, into Formula One and winning the Constructors Championship in your rst season”. “It was a fairytale come true” said Mr Whittaker.
Now in true Lister family style the two self confessed “car-nuts” have started to bring their own dreams to life.
With the success of their Continuation Car program which they launched in 2014 with the Lister Knobbly and the subsequent Lister Stirling Moss - the only racing car to be endorsed by Sir Stirling Moss, the
Thunder has been added to the stable. The company today still combines the two main attributes seen in so many companies which have lasted the test of time. Traditional skills and craftsmanship combined with expertise with new materials and the very latest up to date techniques. The jigs may be old, but the engineering skills and techniques and machinery are bang up to date. All of the experience learned in racing the cars of the 1950s and the Lister Storm of the 90s and later years is being called up with the original participants - Colin (Chippy) Crisp, Chris Keith-Lucas and Laurence Pearce all pitching in, doing more than just lending a hand.
The Thunder with its top speed of 208 mph and 0-60 in 3.2 seconds is stunning with the bespoke exterior and interior. it has a full carbon bre front bumper and extended front splitter, Lister vents on the bonnet and decals on the side panels of the car and a bespoke grille centre, decals and calipers matching the interior combination. The rear bumper
diffuser is also carbon bre housing the enlarged exhaust tips that give it its signature thundery exhaust note. A solid brass Lister badge adorns the rear spoiler, chromed for added effect. A beautifully enameled green and yellow racing Lister badge sits perfectly on the front grille, with the Scimitars mirrored to re ect the road ahead.
As with all bespoke Listers, the only limit on personalisation is your imagination. When the car was rst launched in February 2018 they received £3.1 million in orders in the rst 24 hours, these cars will not hang around by any meaning of the word. The good news is that the Thunder is only one of several Jaguar models from Lister, so if you miss out on buying the very limited Thunder, look to the horizon as every cloud has a silver lining and more creations are to come to light in the future from these two iconic brands.
With Lister hoping to become synonymous once again with tuning Jaguar vehicles, giving customers new enhanced, bespoke performance and design alternatives to Jaguar’s highly acclaimed model line up.
142