Jensen — West Bromwich's V8 grand tourers, from the 541 to the FF

Jensen at a glance

The Jensen brothers and W J Smith

The company that became Jensen Motors was founded in 1922 as W J Smith & Sons Limited. In 1926 the young brothers Alan and Richard Jensen built a boat-tailed body on an Austin Chummy, and between 1929 and 1933 Alan designed the Standard Avon open two-seaters for the New Avon Body Company. In May 1931 Smith's announced the Jensen Wolseley Hornets.

W J Smith died in 1934. The brothers gained a controlling stake and renamed the firm Jensen Motors Limited. That year the film star Clark Gable commissioned a Jensen-bodied car on a Ford V8 chassis. The design that began as the "White Lady" became the S-type, in production from 1935, and in the late 1930s commercial vehicles were sold under the JNSN name.

During the Second World War the factory made military parts, including tank turrets, ambulances and fire engines. The PW saloon appeared in 1946, and the designer Eric Neale joined the company that year.

Interceptor I, the 541 and contract work

The first car called Interceptor was a coupé built from 1950 to 1957 at the Carters Green factory. Jensen also built for others. From 1951 to 1953 it made more than 4,000 Austin A40 Sports. In 1952 BMC picked another company's design for its new sports car, but Jensen won the contract to build the bodies of the Austin-Healey 100. By the end of 1960 about 350 of Jensen's 850 workers were building Austin-Healey cars.

The Jensen 541 was first shown at the London Motor Show in October 1953 and was built from 1954 to 1959. Its fibreglass body sat on a steel chassis, and a 4.0-litre Austin six-cylinder gave a claimed 101 kW (135 bhp). The Motor magazine measured 186.4 km/h in 1955 with an overdrive car. From 1956 the 541 Deluxe had Dunlop disc brakes front and rear. Only 226 were made.

In June 1959 Norcros Limited bought Jensen. The company finished bodies for the Volvo P1800 from 1960 to early 1963. In October 1962 the C-V8, with a 6-litre Chrysler V8, replaced the 541S. Jensen also assembled the Sunbeam Tiger until its contract ended at the end of 1967.

The Interceptor and the FF, 1966–1976

The car that defined Jensen arrived in 1966. The new Interceptor had a steel body designed by Carrozzeria Touring of Italy, credited to Federico Formenti, and the first bodies were built by Vignale before production moved to West Bromwich. Under the bonnet was a Chrysler V8: first the 383 cu in (6.3-litre) and from 1971 the 440 cu in (7.2-litre). In 1970 the 6.3-litre was rated at 250 kW (335 hp) SAE gross.

The FF was the more radical sister. It used the same 6,277 cc V8 but added the Ferguson Formula four-wheel-drive system and Dunlop Maxaret anti-lock brakes. It was the first production car outside the off-road class with both features, and it was 127 mm longer than the Interceptor. Jensen showed an early FF at Earls Court in October 1964 and built about 320 between 1966 and 1971.

The Mk II was announced in October 1969 and the Mk III in 1971. Owners changed too. The founders resigned from the board in 1966 after disagreements, William Brandt's Sons and Co bought the company in 1968, and the end of the Austin-Healey and Sunbeam contracts in 1967 made Jensen a full-time car maker.

Jensen-Healey and receivership

In 1970 the San Francisco dealer Kjell Qvale, the largest Austin-Healey dealer in the United States, became majority shareholder, and Donald Healey became chairman. Their joint project, the Jensen-Healey, was announced in March 1972. It had a 1,973 cc twin-cam, 16-valve Lotus 907 four-cylinder with about 107 kW (144 bhp). A fastback version, the Jensen GT, followed in September 1975.

The timing was bad. The 1973 oil crisis hit sales of the big V8 Interceptor, engine supply was difficult, and strikes, parts shortages and inflation added to the losses. Output reached 86 cars a week in 1974, but in July 1975 the company announced redundancies affecting 700 workers. In September 1975 Bank of America appointed a receiver, production ended in May 1976, and the empty premises were auctioned in August 1976.

Revivals after 1976

Parts and service work continued as Jensen Parts & Service. In 1982 Ian Orford bought the rights to the name and revived the Interceptor. The Series 4 of the late 1980s used a 5.9-litre Chrysler V8 of about 186 kW (250 bhp), and roughly 36 were built before that company was liquidated in 1993.

A new two-seater, the S-V8, was launched at the British International Motor Show in 1998. Only 110 orders had come in by October 1999, against a plan of 300. Production started at Speke, Liverpool, in August 2001, but only 20 cars left the factory before the company went into administration in July 2002. In 2010 Jensen International Automotive was set up to rebuild and update Interceptors; deliveries of the Interceptor R began in early 2011.

The Jensen models on 1cars are in the Jensen catalogue, and the most famous car has its own page on the Jensen Interceptor, FF and SP. Cars that Jensen built for others include the Austin-Healey 3000 and the Sunbeam Tiger. Another European GT with a Chrysler V8 is the Facel Vega HK500.

Jensen timeline

Landmark Jensen models

Photo gallery