Jay Leno maintains one of the most celebrated private car collections in the world, with over 180 cars and 160 motorcycles spanning more than a century of automotive history. So when he climbs out of an automobile, calling it one of the best he's ever driven, it's worth paying attention.
That's exactly what happened when Leno recently got behind the wheel of the Czinger 21C; the 1,250-horsepower, 3D-printed hypercar built entirely in Torrance, California. Leno previously drove the 21C in 2022, but in the latest episode of Jay Leno's Garage, he catches up with Czinger founder and CEO Lucas Czinger for an in-depth look at what may be the most technically ambitious road car ever built in the United States.
All this before, the duo takes two of the three 21C available variants: V-Max (a car we've reviewed) and the record-breaking (Laguna-Seca Lap Record)High Downforce version, up into the hills above Los Angeles. The third variant is the higher-output sold-out Blackbird variant, which draws visual inspiration from the legendary stealth SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft.
<- Gallery ->
The 21C is powered by a bespoke 2.88-liter twin-cam V8, designed, built, and emissions-certified entirely in-house, paired with three electric motors producing 500 horsepower at the front axle alone. Combined output sits at 1,250 horsepower, routed through what Czinger claims is the world's first electro-hydraulic actuated seven-speed gearbox. With 1,350 horsepower, the Blackbird variant (limited to only 4 units) is on our list of the 10 most powerful production cars in the world.
Production is capped at 80 units, and all three variants share the same tandem seating layout, placing the driver at the center of the car with the passenger seated directly behind. Above them sits a panoramic fighter-jet cockpit-style glass canopy. The central driving position is an arrangement Leno immediately linked to his McLaren F1, noting how it offers an unobstructed view of the road and the same intuitive sense of exactly how much space exists on either side of the car.
What holds it all together is a chassis unlike anything else in production. Czinger's additive manufacturing process builds structural components by laser-melting powdered aluminum, steel, and titanium alloys into complex organic forms assembled robotically to tolerances typically reserved for aerospace components.
The result looks less like a car frame and more like skeletal anatomy, complete with branching nodes and tapering lattices, with material placed precisely where loads demand it and nowhere else.
Czinger also walks Leno through the bespoke braking system and the philosophy behind building a proper OEM from scratch in California. Something that Jay finds especially intriguing is how the car was from the outset designed to be fully street-legal in a state like California: CARB-certified, crash-tested, and available for purchase today.
Leno's verdict after driving both configurations through canyon roads is that he wants one, and he is leaning toward the V-Max.
View All Exotics and Luxury Cars For Sale
Images: Jay Leno's Garage