History and Heritage
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IMPORTANT JENSEN CARS
Jensen Number 1 | The White Lady
Jensen Motors car number ‘1’ is how John Page (Service Manager at Jensen Parts & Service) referred to the so-called White Lady, when contacted by the car’s owner in the late 1970s. It is generally accepted that the Jensen brothers named their prototype the White Lady, and that name has certainly stuck over the decades […]
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IMPORTANT JENSEN CARS
Jensen 541 Abbott Drop-Head | 541/4/4631| Then & Now
In 1955, Gordon Sutherland, the MD of the coach-building firm E.D. Abbott of Farnham, asked Jensen Motors if they could purchase two Jensen 541 cars, with the idea of converting them to drop-head style. The Jensen brothers obviously liked the idea, and supplied Sutherland with the third and fourth prototype 541 chassis (541/3/4564 and 541/4/4631), […]
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IMPORTANT INTERVIEWS
Jon Pressnell – Richard Graves Interview
Motoring Journalist, Jon Pressnell , was the last man to interview former Jensen Motors acting MD, Richard Graves, before he passed away in October 2011. As Graves made clear in this (most frank) interview, the final days of Jensen Motors weren’t happy. The Jon Pressnell – Richard Graves interview was originally published in the February […]
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HISTORY FEATURE
Jensen’s CV8 Replacement | From Italy With Love
Directly after the boardroom battle which had taken place in autumn 1965, Deputy Chief Engineer, Kevin Beattie, along with MD Brian Owen, flew out to Italy with the drawings of the Jensen CV8, visiting Ghia, Touring and Vignale. Each firm were asked if they would supply designs for a body replacement based on the existing […]
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MUSEUM FEATURE
Vignale’s Jensen Nova
During 1966, Alfredo Vignale had asked Jensen Motors if he could purchase a LHD chassis to build his own body on. It’s believed Vignale wanted to build one of his own designs , which he had submitted to Jensen Motors for the CV8 replacement body. Both Vignale and Touring had submitted designs to Jensen Motors […]
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IMPORTANT JENSEN CARS
Vignale’s First Interceptor | BEA 693C
Jensen CV8 chassis number 104/2142 would be the initial chassis sent over to Italy. This would be built up to become Vignale’s first Interceptor, BEA 693C. Converting the CV8 into the first Interceptor was achieved with incredible speed, and the new car would take the world by storm. The Museum looks at the story of […]
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HISTORY FEATURE
Jensen Commercial Vehicles
The era of Jensen commercial vehicles has been little explored, undoubtedly due to the somewhat unglamorous subject matter. Yet, it was the commercial vehicles, which allowed Jensen Motors to do what they truly loved; building fine motor cars. Dutch Jensen historian, Han Kamp, gives us an insight to the world of Jensen-made commercial vehicles. Building […]
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JENSEN FACTORY SERIES
Jensen Motors | Carter’s Green Factory
Carter’s Green factory is the first in a series of three features about the Jensen Motors factories. Swiss Jensen Car Club Secretary, Felix Kistler, has researched the three factories, and; together with various photographs and drawings; gives us a unique insight to the various areas of use within each factory. Kistler hopes that viewers might […]
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HISTORY FEATURE
Jensen Healey Story
The Jensen Healey Story has been written many times. However, Dutch Jensen historian, Han Kamp, gives us a fresh perspective on the whole saga of the Jensen Healey, from Donald Healey’s X500 project in the late 1960s, through to the iconic Jensen Healey that we know today. Long before the official presentation of the Jensen […]
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DAY IN THE LIFE SERIES
Jensen Motors Draughtsman | Day In The Life
Continuing our Day In The Life series, Nick Maltby gives us his Day In The Life of a draughtsman at Jensen Motors. Maltby joined Jensen Motors in 1959 as a draughtsman, working at the Carter’s Green factory. After leaving briefly to join Ford, he re-joined Jensen Motors as a draughtsman at Kelvin Way. The Museum […]
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MUSEUM A-Z LEXICON
Jensen Motors | Company Secretary A-Z
Jensen Motors had no less than five Company Secretaries during the time the Company was in business. The first, J.B.Stevenson, had remained in that position from 1928 all the way through to 1964. The following four Company Secretaries only lasted a few years each. The short periods of employment in that position, indicative of the […]
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IMPORTANT JENSEN CARS
Jensen 541 Abbott Drop-Head | 541/3/4564 | Then & Now
Back in 2010, one of only two Jensen 541 Abbott drop-heads, built by coachbuilder E.D. Abbott, had emerged from a barn in Kent. For close to 50 years the Jensen had remained in dry storage. Jensen historian, Keith Anderson, inspected the car in as found condition, and tells us the story. As Jensen enthusiasts know, […]
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Famous Jensen Owners
Harold Robbins’ Jensens
Best selling author, Harold Robbins, was big news at the Jensen factory during the 1960s and 1970s. He purchased one of the first MK.I left-hand-drive Interceptors, then a MK.II Interceptor, and a Jensen Convertible. By the 1960s, Robbins was on top of the authoring game, having dished out a variety of novels, some of which […]
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History Feature
Two Brothers with Vision – Alan & Richard Jensen
The motoring world gasped, when in 1965, the small West Bromwich car company, Jensen Motors Ltd, unveiled the four-wheel-drive CV8 Jensen FF. It was a satisfying moment in particular for Richard Jensen, who had harboured the dream of a four-wheel-drive Jensen, after meeting Tony Rolt of Harry Ferguson Research. The two Jensen brothers, Alan and […]
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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 […]