History and Heritage
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HISTORY FEATURE
Jensen FF | Motor Show Mystery
It has been common belief that the first two Jensen FF cars, chassis numbers, 119/001, and 119/002 were prepared for the 1966 Motor Show, typically with one FF being left outside the motor show building for test driving by the motoring press, and the other being on the stand. The original chassis files state that […]
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Museum A-Z Lexicon
Jensen Motors Distributors A-Z
Until the birth of the Italian styled Jensen Interceptor and FF, Jensen Motors had a ‘small family’ of distributors that sold the company’s cars. Bearing in mind the relatively small number of Jensen cars being produced at that time they had no need for a larger distribution scheme. This was about to change. As the […]
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HISTORY FEATURE
The Jensen ‘F’ & ‘G’ Types | Interceptor & Healey Successors
As early as 1970, Jensen Motors were already looking towards creating a successor for the Interceptor. The proposed new car was going to be large and radical, and was simply known under its code name of Jensen F-Type. Work to bring the F-Type to fruition was going to be anything but simple, and to […]
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HISTORY FEATURE
Jensen Motors | Their Swedish Distributor
Wendels Bil & Motor -became the Swedish distributor for Jensen Motors in 1974. The Company was founded by Henning Wendel, and run by him, along with his son, Lars Wendel. To date very little information has been known about this small Swedish motor sales company. The Swedish academic, and Jensen enthusiast, Jakob Dittmar, has researched […]
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LIFE & TIMES OF A JENSEN EMPLOYEE
Jensen Motors Production Manager | Life & Times Of Douglas ‘Eric’ Lucas
Eric Lucas joined Jensen Motors in 1971 as Production Manager. Straight away he started making changes such as increasing Interceptor production, and undertaking all the initial work to get the Jensen-Healey line ready for large scale production. Everything was looking rosy for Lucas, including an early promotion to Works Director. Then the Lotus engine escapade […]
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HISTORY FEATURE
Monte Carlo Rally 1953 | Jensen Interceptors
Who would have thought, that not just one, but two Jensen Interceptors, were involved in the 1953 Monte Carlo Rally. One participating car, and one press car. Ralph Sleigh, the well known rally & endurance driver, drove an Interceptor Saloon on the 1953 Monte Carlo Rally, along with Jensen Motors’ Workshop Supervisor, Stan Miller, as […]
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HISTORY FEATURE
Jensen CV8 FF | A Revolutionary Car
To this day , the CV8 FF remains shrouded in mystery. In part this is due to a 1990s failed scam to build, and pass-off a CV8 FF, using a later FF chassis. The story of the events leading up to the creation of the CV8 FF is something of motoring legend, but the mystery […]
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LIFE & TIMES OF A JENSEN EMPLOYEE
Jensen Motors Rectification Manager | Life & Times Of John Baker
John Baker joined Jensen Motors as an Inspector, and was given the title, Rectification Manager. It was a job he quickly bored of, leading him in 1972 to take a position as a mechanic in the new enlarged Service Department. After the demise of Jensen Motors, Baker moved across to Jensen Parts & Service, […]
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HISTORY FEATURE
Jensen At War | Jensen Motors 1939-1945
The world changed in 1939, with Britain declaring war on Germany in September 1939. Most car production in Great Britain stopped in its tracks, and very quickly the government was issuing out contracts for a huge variety of war-driven vehicles and materials. Veiled in secrecy was the wartime exploits of Jensen Motors. Incredibly, this small […]
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HISTORY FEATURE
Jensen – Lotus Engine Nightmare
Back at the end of the 1960s, it was clear the Austin Healey contract was coming to an end. Donald Healey had already started working on a successor as early as 1968/69. The successor would later become the Jensen-Healey. But bringing this successor to market was going to be far from easy. […]
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HISTORY FEATURE
Topic Interceptor | Jensen Employees
The 1960s businessman, John Ball had created the Nottingham-based glossy magazine, TOPIC. It was a Tatleresque style magazine, but rather than feeding the egos of the gentry, this magazine fed the egos of the the young upwardly mobile. Ball had previously owned a Jensen CV8, but now fancied the Italian-designed Interceptor. In late 1967, beginning […]
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HISTORY FEATURE
Geneva Motor Show 1967 | Jensen Interceptor 117/2501
As soon as Carl Dusio signed the Agreement between Sincar and Jensen Motors in January 1967, he ordered a left-hand-drive Interceptor. But, he needed the car as a matter of urgency, since the hot-headed Italian had also booked a stand for Sincar at the Geneva Motor Show of March 1967. The Museum looks at […]
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HISTORY FEATURE
Jensen’s Austrian Press Launch 1969 | Marshall’s Memories
When the Museum acquired a group of press photos showing two left-hand-drive Interceptors, we wanted to find out more. Amongst various people photographed around the cars, one was none other than the former Jensen Motors Sales Manager, Tony Marshall. A telephone call later, brought the story behind the photographs to life. Marshall’s ‘razor-sharp’ memories of […]
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HISTORY FEATURE
1965 Earl’s Court Motor Show | Jensen Brochures & Photography
Amidst a backdrop of boardroom chaos, the 1965 Earl’s Court Motor Show was just over a couple of months away. This was an important motor show for Jensen Motors, it would be the official launch of the ground-breaking four-wheel-drive Jensen FF. Then there was the launch of Eric Neale’s (less than ground breaking) ‘vision of […]
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RECOLLECTIONS
Austin Healey Track | Kendrick’s Recollections
Clive Kendrick joined Jensen Motors in 1963 as an apprentice, and after spending time in various departments, including the trim shop, he was placed with a sub-assembly ‘gang’ on the Austin Healey track. Kendrick gives the Museum his recollections of the various procedures, and ‘gangs’ that led an Austin Healey to become a completed shell […]