Influx Daily

Jensen: Beauty or Beast?

We’re not sure wether to love or hate all things Jensen
Written by on 22.11.10
7

Having had a lot of feedback from our dear readers as to wether or not the Jensen Interceptor is one of the ultimate cars of the sixties, we delved into our memories (as well as the image files) to reassess the whole Jensen thing.

And what we’ve come up with is an even split. Some of us love that awkward, oddly crass countryman sportiness of the marque — from the slant-​​eyed C-​​V8 (an uncle of mine had one in the seventies in racing green, loved it), through the phallic Interceptor and the off-​​beat Healey ragtop.

There’s a sort of juxta­pos­ition in Jensens, a schism between the Italianate design influ­ences, the Detroit-​​bred drivetrains and the walnut-​​clad Englishness that either jars or resounds in you according to your perspective.

Ultimately, we think there should be an Interceptor in the dream garage; but that it would only come out and see the light of day when one was in a particular, devil may care mood.

What do you think?

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Do you have an opinion on this post? Have we forgotten anything we should have mentioned or made an error? Whether you want to pat us on the back, or vehemently disagree, we'd love to hear what you think - enter your comments below:

  • Silas

    Here I was thinking there would be a HOT or NOT for Jensen Button.
    But these cars certainly look a great deal better than they perform.

  • Jamesfparry

    These are the sort of cars that should be celeb­rated, especially as they were British, innov­ative and looked pretty good! I owned an Intercetpor for a brief period in the eighties and, even then, they were pretty outlandish. It always turned heads and whenever you drove it it seemed as if it were a real event. you have to pay a lot of money these days for a car that does that.

  • Tidyscratt

    quite funny as at the moment we have a jensen cv-​​8 in our bodyshop having a full respray !!

  • Thorpey

    ex employer had one it was a night mare it had a mind of its own mainly on round abouts

  • Davidjhope

    I cannot believe therre is any debate about this motoring icon in the dream garage … and I’ve never owned one or even been anywhere in it. I fell for it in a scrap yard — one of those bashed front semi wrecks that is waiting to be stripped. Just sit in the seats and feel the care that went into it … pop the hood and admire the engin­eering. This motor sits alongside the design achieve­ments of St Pauls, Westminster Abbey etc. It cried out for a tv show to be built around it … Look at the Saint in that horrible Volvo.
    Its on the list after the lottery win.

  • Phing

    Recently sold an E type FHC , a pretty toy which forever needed to be fixed .It had the potential to turn into a black hole money pit My wife called it ” The world’s fastest sauna ” because the ventil­ation was terrible ;my adult sons said ” Sex on wire wheels “
    I now have a mk II Interceptor which is faster than the E type , handles well , is reliable, AND the aircon­di­tioning works well at 35C .My wife says “Ah , luxury , and we can actually use it ” My older son calls it” Porn on Pirellis “, my younger son says ” Leave this one to me in your will “
    I’ve christened it “Monty Python — something completely different “
    My comments are based on recent , real life driving exper­i­ences ; not pub posers received wisdom .
    Patrick

  • (midlife) crisis what crisis?

    I have just bought a healey, cheaper than a basic hatchback,
    fast stylish and unusual, the cheapest genuinely fast sclassic sports car, and apart from a tendency to rust , very relaiable, lots of spare parts.
    love it.

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