Britain ’s in high spirits - performance 1966 - 1991 Jensen Interceptor never seemed to get much care in the United States , and that ’s strange . After all , every one of these Italian - title grand tourers carry a Chrysler V-8 railway locomotive and TorqueFlite robotlike transmitting .
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What ’s more , the circumstances of Jensen Motors , Limited was once dictated by a couple of Americans : first Carl Duerr , a Chicago - born incorporated " Mr. Fix - It , " then San Francisco import - gondola baron Kjell Qvale .
Underappreciated by Yanks it may have been , but the Interceptor merits attending for its " overachieving " carrying out . Like Studebaker ’s Avanti , another sixties creation that hung on for a foresighted time in very limited output against all odds , the Interceptor became its own " replica " in a signified – and all the more interesting for it .
Then there ’s its historically pregnant offset , the FF , which offer up full - time four - wheel driveway and antilock brakes more than a decade before Audi claim that first with its original 1980 Quattro .
The Jensen story began with blood brother Richard and Alan Jensen , who in 1931 began turn out machine and truck body of their own plan in the English Midlands hamlet of West Bromwich , near Birmingham .
Three age later they took over the old local coachbuilding firm of W.S. Smith & Sons and forge Jensen Motors . A class after that , in 1935 , come the first all - Jensen car .
Like William Lyons of Jaguar fame , the Jensens ab initio switch in customs styling for various British output human body , but they also worked on U.S. Ford V-8 , Lincoln V-12 , and even straight - eight Nash political program . Dick was chief engineer , Alan the administrator ( which may explain why some of their intent were n’t all that attractive ) . Still , their work found increasing favor among monied character who wanted to drive something dissimilar and sporty , including picture idol Clark Gable .
Besides a more modern tubular - sword figure , this unexampled example was notable as the creation ’s first production four - seater with bodywork in that new postwar " curiosity material , " looking glass - reward credit card ( GRP ) , or fiberglass .
The Jensens were soon earning most of their money as contract body suppliers for the unexampled Austin - Healey 100 sport car , but they deal to evolve the 541 into improved , higher - power radius and S model , significant as early exploiter of all - saucer brakes . By 1961 , they ’d picked up a commission from Volvo for assembling that firm ’s new P1800 sports coupe , whose former bodies had been ab initio provide by England ’s Pressed Steel company .
They were also busy set a unexampled Jensen , which was launch in 1962 as the CV-8 . This was fundamentally a facelifted 541 pack a 361 - cubic - in Chrysler V-8 with 300 vulgar horsepower , link to the American shaper ’s responsive three - pep pill TorqueFlite robotlike transmission .
Though not very pretty – especially its project nose with slanted quad headlights – the CV-8 sell well for a specialty motorcar on its attractive compounding of coachbuilt exclusivity , reasonable damage , and high carrying out . The last went even higher in 1964 with the adoption of Chrysler ’s four - barrel 383 V-8 , whose 330 horses were good for an honest 130 stat mi per hour .
Jensen was going great guns financially , too , still turning out Healey body and its last Volvos , as well as the new Ford - power Sunbeam Tiger sports car for the Rootes Group , which was before long to become Chrysler UK .
See the next pageboy to learn about the first of the series – the1966 Jensen Interceptor .
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1966 Jensen Interceptor
With the futurity looking very rosy – and the CV-8 looking very dated – the firm set about planning the new 1966 Jensen Interceptor in 1965 . Even more ambitious , there would be a second mannequin build with the " Ferguson Formula , " the full - time four - roulette wheel - drive system that inventor Harry Ferguson had been evolve since the early 1950s , and with Jensen since 1962 . As a preview , Jensen display a Ferguson - converted CV-8 at the 1965 Earls Court Motor Show .
While there was never a incertitude that the raw manakin would retain the canonical CV-8 chassis , styling was hotly deliberate . The planned pattern was an observational in - house convertible labeled P66 , but its rather bland lines did n’t suit main applied scientist Kevin Beattie , who insist that these more upmarket Jensens needed the Italian ghost to contend with the like of Aston Martin , not to mention Latin exotics Ferrari , Maserati , and Lamborghini .
Beattie stock the day with the Jensen add-in and , after a whirlwind tour of Ghia and Vignale , opt a proposal from Carrozzeria Touring : a shapely fastback coupe of for the most part squarish appearance , hold open a rounded hindquarters topped by a huge , compound - bender backlight hinged hatching - fashion .
Alas , Touring was in no location to nail down this designing , let alone build it , so Beattie sent the drawings across Turin to Vignale and secured that house to ply both paradigm and initial production bodies , which would be rendered in sword , not fibreglass . A CV-8 chassis was duly sent to Italy in February 1966 , and was rebodied by June .
As planned , the new Jensens bowed with a tucket at the annual London show the espouse October , barely a yr since the project had begun – an stupefying achievement . Even more remarkable , jigs and tools were transferred from Vignale to West Bromwich during 1967 , when Jensen took over body construction solely .
The bountiful Interceptor would have been triumph enough for such a small firm , but its all - wheel - drive familiar , called the Jensen FF , was a sensation . Both offered smashing , loping performance with their Chrysler 383 V-8s , somewhat detuned from CV-8 contour to 325 horsepower ( SAE 144 ) .
Also deal were the expected Chrysler TorqueFlite ( a manual transmission choice was announced for the Interceptor but never offer ) , plus an improved tubular flesh , wrack - and - pinion steerage ( attend to on the FF only ) , great power all - phonograph recording Pteridium aquilinum , and an orthodox interruption comprising double wishing bone and coil outpouring in front and a heavy leaf - sprung alive axle with Panhard pole locating at the rear . in spite of appearance was the walnut tree - and - leather discussion traditional in British cars , sporting or not . In all , the new Jensens were quite something .
But the cars were not without sales challenges . For one matter , Latin - styled Yankee - powered GTs were springing up everywhere . Britain ’s AC , for example , had just introduced its new Frua - corporal , Ford - powered 428 , and even the little Italian makers – Bizzarrini , DeTomaso , and Iso – had similar railroad car .
Moreover , the new Jensens were not cheap . The Interceptor bow at £ 3,743 , then adequate to $ 10,480 at the hold £ 1/$2.80 rally rate . The FF be a towering £ 5,340 , which translated to $ 14,952 .
Nevertheless , both of these British newcomers were invite with capital ebullience . If only they could be in good order built and prove reliable , they would certainly be a great succeeder . Not that they had much of a sale record to ticktack , for the CV-8 had seen only 391 examples over four old age .
1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973 Jensen Interceptor
The 1967 , 1968 , 1969 , 1970 , 1971 , 1972 , and 1973 Jensen Interceptor would sell , and in numbers far above those of most Italian rivals , though former prospects did n’t seem all that promising . In the later sixties , Jensen seemed to be in continuous bother of one sort or other – if not financial , it was strike ; if not strikes , it was quality problems .
By this time , the aging Jensen blood brother had sold out to a pudding stone hold company called Norcros , which was quite capable of sustain casual loss . Trouble was , Jensen Motors was losing money with alarming regularity .
On top of this now came the sizeable expense of putting the novel Interceptor and FF into output , exasperate by the death of Jensen ’s last two physical structure contracts ( for the Tiger and A - H 3000 ) . The only real manner to better the bottom product line was to ameliorate sales , yet the self-aggrandizing unexampled GTs were ab initio set to be built at a combined charge per unit of only 200 a year , which was far from enough .
Seeking to avoid disaster , the Jensen control panel hired Carl Duerr in 1968 to serve straighten things out . In a way , he did . Within month he arrange to trade the house to merchant bankers William Brandt , Sons , and Company , Limited . But he also managed to boost Jensen output to 506 units in calendar 1968 – a better than two-fold increment – followed by 644 in 1969 , the year the 1,000th Interceptor was construct ( in August ) .
Another 594 cars were completed in 1970 , when a fresh savior appear in the somebody of Kjell Qvale , a choice U.S. West Coast purveyor of British cars from MG to Jaguar to Rolls - Royce .
Qvale speedily move to pad faith in Jensen Motors , ready Alfred Vickers – of the far-famed British aero - engine house – his managing director . Even more inspiriting for enthusiasts , he installed world - renowned sports - car builder Donald Healey on the Jensen board .
Because Qvale had sold a lot of Healey 3000s , he naturally saw a lower - priced , higher - bulk Jensen variation car as the best route to successfulness . Indeed , he had agreed to take over at West Bromwich only if Healey and his boy Geoff would design a new two - seat roadster for Jensen to deal .
The result come forth in 1972 with four - cylinder GM / Vauxhall - derived power , making it a form of latterday Austin - Healey 100 . Called the Jensen - Healey , it ’s another story altogether .
meanwhile , sale of the bighearted Interceptor and FF cover to climb despite inflationary pressures at home and abroad , plus the additional production burden of the new Jensen - Healey . The merge 1971 adult Jensen sum was 808 , followed by 1,043 for calendar 1972 , and 1,253 in 1973 .
Of of course , the Interceptor still accounted for the vast bulk of these sales , no surprisal given its lower price and nigh identical appearance compare to the FF . Indeed , the four - wheel - drive model had been canceled at the oddment of 1971 , a victim of minuscule sales event that made alter it for loom U.S. safety standard uneconomic . More surprising , perhaps , was that the Interceptor was deal well than ever despite its well - known inclination to betimes rusting , a trait shared with the FF .
Although the basic Interceptor / FF design would not see any fundamental alteration for a decade , a good many item changes were made , and were always applied to both models at the same metre . Power steering became an alternative effective with October 1967 production and was made standard equipment in 1968 . Mark II version arrived in October 1969 with great fuel tanks ; standard radial tire , exchange biasplys ; and new optional air conditioning , a belated concession to the important U.S. market .
To learn about the next generation of Jensen Interceptors , the Mark III , go forward to the next Thomas Nelson Page .
Jensen Interceptor Mark III
on the button two years later come the Jensen Interceptor Mark IIIs boasting a vamp DoI with " prophylactic " instrument panel – again to fulfil America – plus vent brake , casting - alloy wheels supercede five - verbalise Rostyle sword rims , and an even larger Chrysler V-8 : the large - block 440 with a undivided four - barrel carb and 300 horsepower ( 215 SAE net ) .
But the big news for the Mark III Interceptor was a second , more potent model , the SP , packing a 440 with ternary two - choking coil Holley carburetors , honest for a smashing 385 horsepower ( SAE gross ) . Those carbs reportedly prompted the initials SP , refer " Six Pack " as in its domestic Chrysler lotion .
As one might reckon , SP performance was formidable . Autocar , test one in 1971 , reported 0 - 60 miles per hour in just 6.9 seconds ( versus about 7.5 for the 383 Interceptor ) and a top terminal of 143 miles per hour ( against 130 - plus ) – plus overall fuel " economy " of just 11.5 miles per U.S. congius . Only a standard vinyl ceiling and discreet hood louvre differentiate this premier cut of British beef from the stock clause .
But the SP did n’t have farsighted to live because it was dropped after 1973 in the wake of the Middle East oil trade stoppage and the resulting worldwide energy crisis , plus uphold splashiness . output came to just 105 whole . After this , there was again one Mark III Interceptor , still with the undivided - carb " J - character " 440 and 300 horsepower .
That energy crisis sent fuel prices soaring around the earth , leaving Jensen , like most other supercar builders , fighting for sale . Nevertheless , the business firm do a smart Mark III Convertible in March 1974 , which was unveiled at Geneva . This was basically the " glassback " coupe with a force - operated soft top – fully lined with wool , but not too bulky when pen up – and a tail slenderly restyled to form a separate trunk .
In October 1975 , Jensen added the Coupe , in effect the Convertible with a newfangled set top conferring a notchback profile and bearing reverse - slanted B - pillars and oddly shaped rear - quarter glass .
Though sales were well down by mid - decade and the canonical pattern some 10 years previous , the Interceptor might have carried on had it not been for the Jensen - Healey , which conk out to attract the hoped for sale as a medium - priced sports gondola and thus recede Jensen Motors a luck of money .
This prompted Kjell Qvale to pull out , and the company went into liquidation during 1976 . However , at least three fragment of the business go . Among them was a so - called Parts and Service Division that was later reorganized with new management and fresh financing .
To read about the Jensen Interceptor in the eighties and 1990s , continue to the next Thomas Nelson Page .
Jensen Interceptor in the 1980s and 1990s
Reorganization was enough to give a new lease on life to the Jensen Interceptor in the eighties and 1990s . As it turned out , Parts and Service had retained all the original Interceptor tooling , which it used for the next 10 years to keep and even restore existing railway car for enthusiastic owners .
It was that enthusiasm , plus sufficient profits from the " service " business , that eventually attracted raw ownership interest , and by 1986 P and S had been reorganize as Jensen Cars , Limited . More amazing yet , the revitalized firm announced its intention to raise an updated Mark III called , logically , Mark IV , though this was listed by some sources as " Series 4 " or " S4 . "
Production would n’t be eminent : only about one a month – a twelve or so machine per year . Yet the mere fact of this revival after so many years spoke eloquently of the Interceptor ’s ageless prayer . Moreover , such tiny numbers made it a profitable suggestion for this smaller Jensen company .
Though even more of a handbuilt car than Interceptors I - III , the Mark IV was outstandingly like them , right down to the original 105 - inch wheelbase . The Convertible returned , as did the hatch coupe , though the latter was normally refer to as a " Saloon " ( sedan ) and could be supply on special lodge sans backlight with established iron boot , which made it await uneven indeed . A revival of the convertible - based coupe , renamed " Hardtop , " was announce in former 1986 .
Because Chrysler had reject its big 440 V-8 years before , the Interceptor IV was switched to that business firm ’s 360 - cubic - column inch small - blockage unit with standard four - drum carburetor or , at extra cost , multipoint fuel shot . Otherwise , all was much as before save key and trim – which could now be virtually anything a client trust , appropriate for a coachbuilt car and much gamy prices : initially £ 39,950 for the Saloon and £ 45,950 for the Convertible , about $ 60,000-$70,000 U.S. at then - existing exchange rates .
small has been heard of Jensen Cars since recent 1987 , when it was the guinea pig of much surmise . At that clock time , Automotive Newsin Detroit reported that a restyled " Interceptor V " meeting all the latest American standards , let in inactive restraints , would seem in 1989 with a $ 90,000 US . price and a " 7.8 - liter " Chrysler V-8 .
output continued to trickle in until 1993 , when financial troubles forced Jensen to once again conclude its doors . An S8 version came on the marketplace in 2001 . The two - seater sport auto sold for £ 40,000 , but only a smattering were made before financial troubles once again – for a final time – bring the Jensen Interceptor to an end in 2002 .
