Saw a Jensen-Healey For the 1st Time

[62 Austin]

No car-for-sale or piccies, unfortunately, but I saw a circa-1974 Jensen-Healey on a truck yesterday and wondered if it´s autoshite or a shiny tribute to British motoring. Some guy was bringing it from California to Montana on a trailer behind a pickup, with the J-H strapped on top of a large steel-wheeled trailer...about a hundred years old...designed to carry industrial engines. I thought it looked pretty interesting, but the owner said it had been outside awhile & was a little rusty.  It wasn´t Swiss-cheese-rusty, but the paint was faded almost to grey. He didn´t know what kind of engine it had, 4, 6, or 8. It did say Jensen on the side and wheels. I didn´t know anything about Jensen-Healeys, but had seen 1 or 2 Interceptors with the Chrysler V-8s.

 

I looked up the 1972-75 model and was surprised to read that they have DOHC fours, made by Lotus. Some writers have said nice things about these things(140 HP/119 mph top speed), but I´m pretty ignorant about them. If I had a place to keep it I might have bought it. I don´t, and I only had the equivalent of 22 pounds on me. The condition it was in puts it in the zero-to-$2000 category, but the owner thought it was worth a 1000- or 2000-mile trip from his old ranch to his new.

 

Would any of you have made a try at putting it in your garage? Totally steered clear of it?

 

Thank you.

[Junkman]

Although two seater roadsters generally have little appeal to me, I'd rather have one of them than an OMGMGB

simply on the grounds that they are so much prettier.

[danthecapriman]

Although two seater roadsters generally have little appeal to me, I'd rather have one of them than an OMGMGB

simply on the grounds that they are so much prettier.

^whs.

 

Sports cars aren't my thing really but I'd have a Jensen Healey over the usual MG or Triumph and they do look good imho. If I had room and the price was acceptable I'd likely take one on, maybe do it up then sell it after a year or something.

[Stanky]

There is a chap up the road from me who has had two under cat-piss tarps  outside the front of his house for at least the last 8 years. Its a shame they don;t move, I think they are quite good looking cars and certainly a bit different to the run-of-the-mill dross you usually see out and about.

[DSdriver]

Back in the eighties I can remember trying to push start bumper to bumper a bloke at works Jensen Healey around the back streets off Tottenham Court Road using my DS in the dead of night

 

apologies to all grammar queens.

[Uncle Jimmy]

Not uncommon on the west coast at least; sadly the 908? engine wasn't really developed enough yet. The 912 is the choice motor. I read a contemporary road test recently, JL vs the Alfa Spider, the Jensen won that one by some margin.

[Asimo]

Proper Autoshite! There is also the GT (estate) version, there is a brown one near here, looks very tidy, seen all year around. Doesn't have these "federal" bumpers though....

[somewhatfoolish]

I feel I ought to like these but I can't get on with the looks.

[62 Austin]

Seeing the Jensen-Healey club´s pages, I read that they won the Manufacturers Championship first year out for the model, then repeated the next year. That may have been the SCCA here in the states, Class D, but no idea what they raced against...MG Midgets or XJ6s.

 

A write-up in Hemmings Motor News said they are prone to rust ¨in any land where it rains¨, but that replacement body panels are available from Martin Robey in Nuneaton, UK. Jensen was said to have made a lot of money on their bastardization cars(Jensen Interceptors) but basically were done in by the high cost of the Lotus 907 motors. They did manage to sell 10,000 of the Jensen-Healys, though.

[vulgalour]

 

 

They're a very attractive car in person, pictures do not do them justice.

[Christine]

Slant 4 innit M8

[Junkman]

They're a very attractive car in person, pictures do not do them justice.

 

Truer words were never written.

Like the Nash Metropolitan, they are much prettier in real life than on any photo.

[lovejoy]

Lots Of Trouble, Usually Serious.....   

[Ghosty]

Proper Autoshite! There is also the GT (estate) version, there is a brown one near here, looks very tidy, seen all year around. Doesn't have these "federal" bumpers though....image.jpeg

 

I like that, it's like a Scimitar but not.

[Junkman]

Lots Of Trouble, Usually Serious.....   

 

That's probably their achilles heel.

Had they opted for a less exotic source of motive power, I might have owned one already.

But is TEH FEARZ really justified?

[Uncle Jimmy]

That's probably their achilles heel.

Had they opted for a less exotic source of motive power, I might have owned one already.

 

But is TEH FEARZ really justified?

I would suggest not; a 912 engine and possibly the Toyota gearbox with it would prove remarkably resilient.

[xtriple]

I have driven a couple of these and was decidedly unimpressed   The engine is rubbish I'm afraid but then, I had a few of the LOTUS cars with the 912 motor and so were they! I lost faith in anything that said LOTUS (unless FORD based) a long time ago and even if I could get in one, I would still rather walk. Also, the looks and the build quality are dire and they rust faster than an 80s Polski Fiat.

 

Obviously, I would love one.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Proper Autoshite! There is also the GT (estate) version, there is a brown one near here, looks very tidy, seen all year around. Doesn't have these "federal" bumpers though....image.jpeg

I might be making this up , but weren't those never actually sold by Jensen. Rather people bought them from the big bankruptcy auction in 1976, hence the big bumpers on a UK right hooker. I could of course be thinking of the notchback Interceptor Coupe ( complete with Marina Coupe badge).

 

Off to Google to check , maybe should research before posting!

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

Not uncommon on the west coast at least; sadly the 908? engine wasn't really developed enough yet. The 912 is the choice motor. I read a contemporary road test recently, JL vs the Alfa Spider, the Jensen won that one by some margin.

 

 

But on reality street, the Alfa 2000 Spider was a far better car. The JH with it's Viva suspension, comedy build quality and the rather shit first attempt at a Lotus DOHC was a liability. And the rust!! They bombed in the US for very good reason; they were absolute shit.

[5speedracer]

Slant 4 innit M8

Was that half a V8 like the Dolly engine?

[somewhatfoolish]

I think Lotus used the Vauxhall slant 4(out of the Victor, Bedford CF etc) as a basis but few or no parts are shared.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

They did. Oddly, Vauxhall made their own 16v slant four based on the iron 2300 block and used in the HS Chevettes.

[Spottedlaurel]

I used to see one being raced by someone in the local Autocross club in Suffolk back in the late '80s, it was an odd sight.

 

It wasn't this one.

 

1972 Jensen-Healey by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr