Jeremy Clarkson’s Flax-Bodied Jaguar F-Type Debuts in Italy

A sports car built around farm materials

Jeremy Clarkson’s Flax-Type makes a striking case for using farm-grown materials in a coachbuilt sports car. The one-off Jaguar keeps the mechanicals of a discontinued F-Type, while replacing much of its exterior and cabin with materials sourced from Clarkson’s 1,000-acre Diddly Squat Farm in Oxfordshire. That split gives the project a clear premise: retain the familiar performance hardware, then see how far agricultural materials can reshape the car around it.

The project will feature in Jeremy Grows a Car: A Clarkson’s Farm Special, scheduled to premiere globally on Amazon Prime in 2027. Clarkson brought in Ian Callum, the designer of the original F-Type and founder of Callum design studio, to shape the conversion. His involvement ties the altered bodywork to the design lineage of the donor car, even as the project turns its attention to a very different source of materials.

That combination is the Flax-Type’s most interesting choice. A coachbuilt conversion can change a car’s appearance without changing what makes it work; here, the materials are part of the story rather than an incidental trim choice. The result invites a practical question: can farm-grown inputs be made to work within the demanding shapes and surfaces of a sports car?

Farm materials, reworked F-Type

Flax grown on Clarkson’s farm was turned into lightweight composite body panels. Composite materials are used where designers want to form shaped components while managing weight, but the source of the fibre gives this project its distinctive angle. The article doesn’t establish how the panels compare with the F-Type’s original bodywork in weight, strength, durability or cost, so the car’s significance rests for now on the demonstrated conversion rather than on measured performance gains.

Callum’s design adds a reshaped front bumper with aerodynamic flaps and sculpted openings, plus wider fenders at both ends. Those changes give the car a more assertive stance and make clear that the project involves more than swapping one material for another. Bronze alloy wheels with a star-shaped five-spoke design complete the exterior; the high-profile tires look suited to uneven farm roads. The styling sets up a deliberate contrast between a sports car’s low, sculpted body and equipment that appears ready for rougher surfaces.

The body wears a green finish identified as Tonga Green, along with a tractor emblem and “Flax-Type” lettering at the rear. The name and badges make the agricultural connection explicit, while the colour helps the altered car read as a distinct build rather than an ordinary F-Type with a new set of panels. How much of that identity comes from the farm materials, and how much from the visual treatment, is part of the project’s appeal.

Inside, the two-seat cabin combines tan leather from Clarkson’s livestock, carpets made from farm-raised sheep’s wool and tweed inserts. Tractor logos are embossed into the headrests. The cabin extends the material story into places occupants will touch, giving the idea a more complete expression than exterior panels alone could provide (and this is the part most people overlook). Materials can make a project feel coherent when they connect the exterior, interior and branding.

Under the new bodywork, the donor remains a pre-facelift Jaguar F-Type roadster with a supercharged 3.0-liter V6. It produces 380 horsepower and 339 lb-ft of torque, and sends power to the rear wheels. The project changes the car’s materials and appearance while leaving its core drivetrain intact. That means the Flax-Type’s central test is about construction and design, not a new engine or a different approach to power delivery.

What the conversion can show

Keeping the original drivetrain provides a useful point of continuity: the car’s mechanical character is already established, while the conversion puts attention on its body and cabin. Still, a material’s origin doesn’t tell you how well it performs in use. A farm-grown fibre might make for a compelling panel, but a finished car also has to contend with fit, finish and the ordinary wear that comes with driving. The available details don’t answer those questions yet.

That’s where the Flax-Type could become more than a television premise. If you’re working in this space, the relevant question isn’t simply whether a natural fibre can be used in a car, but what it takes to turn it into a component that meets the shape and use expected of one. The source describes the panels as lightweight, but gives no comparative measurements or account of their development. The special may fill in some of that process; the public details so far leave the technical case open.

Public debut ahead of the Prime special

Clarkson took the car to Tuscany for its first public outing at the Villa La Massa Excellence event, appearing in Italy before the show’s planned 2027 release. He seems to have received a trophy for participating, likely in a concept category. That qualification matters: the available account doesn’t confirm the category, and a trophy at an event doesn’t by itself establish how the car performs or how its materials will hold up.

YouTuber Varryx filmed a short montage of the car at the event. That footage offers an early look, but a montage can show the car’s presence and styling without revealing much about how it was built. More footage is expected in the coming months, which may show how the farm materials were developed and assembled. The project’s total material cost remains undisclosed.

Early social media reactions praised the specification, though some viewers questioned the wheel design and pointed to apparent fitment issues around the front bumper. Those comments are useful as a first impression, but they aren’t a substitute for close inspection or more detailed footage. The shape and fit of custom bodywork can be difficult to judge from short clips, and the article doesn’t establish whether the concerns reflect actual problems.

The numbers here are underwhelming as a technical brief: there’s no disclosed material cost, no comparison with the original panels, and no account of testing. Yet the Flax-Type still makes a clear point. It shows how a farm’s products can become the starting material for a car project, while leaving the harder questions of cost, performance and repeatability for the special—or a later build—to address. A striking demonstration. Not yet a complete case for wider use.