jensen interceptor

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dkbug

dkbug

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I work at a local parts store and I had a guy come in this morning with a jensen interceptor. The thing had a 440 commando in it!!! Freaking awesome!!

Never seen one or heard of one. He told me it's a pretty rare car. It was a 440-4 speed.

Anyone seen one or have any cool stories?

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jensen_Interceptor
 
They are a rare car, and they are "stupid" fast. There used to be a group that had 6 of them back in the late 70's and early 80's that used to take them to the local cruise nights on weekends.
 
My wife's co-worker had one-- couldn't understand why he kept getting tickets. He bought it thinking some hotrodder put an American engine in a British car to increase performance & reliability. The wife asked me about it & when I explained what they were her co-workergot spooked (?) ab out its rarity & value & sold it fairly cheap just to get out from under it---stupid move, IMO.......
 
Dude these cars are wicked!!! I wish that guy would come back haha. Thanks for those links nothingbutdarts. Good read on some of it. Anyone have any clue how many were imported?
 
one for sale in washington state on craigslist. he wants 25k for it. its all there in need of a resto. i believe they came with the 383 from the factory.
 
Oh and talk about a sleeper. Just the though of having one tubbed and a 440 gives me a chub.
 
younggun2.0 said:
one for sale in washington state on craigslist. he wants 25k for it. its all there in need of a resto. i believe they came with the 383 from the factory.
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If I am reading correctly they came with a 440 all the way up to 78 or 79. When the 440 wasn't being put in cars anymore the u.s. shipped a bunch of the "extras" to england? And they made this car.

Of course the 383 was an option as well as the 400.
 
younggun2.0 said:
one for sale in washington state on craigslist. he wants 25k for it. its all there in need of a resto. i believe they came with the 383 from the factory.
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The Mark I and II's came with 383's, the Mark III's came with 440's starting in 1971.

dkbug said:
If I am reading correctly they came with a 440 all the way up to 78 or 79. When the 440 wasn't being put in cars anymore the u.s. shipped a bunch of the "extras" to england? And they made this car.

Of course the 383 was an option as well as the 400.
Click to expand...

Jensen Interceptors were produced from 1966-1976. Jensen went under in 1975 and was bought out by a receiving company, production ended in '76.

They came with a 383 from '66 to '70, and a 440 from '71-'76. 400's were not offered from the factory.
 
The FF option in 67 was a 383 based four wheel drive version, imagine the burnouts you could do! 71 could get a 440 six pack too, 232 made. Looks like they stole the rear window from my 65 Barracuda.......
 
..........and there were "similar" cars that used early hemis. I can't remember offhand...........
 
When you hang with brit cars, you see them....don't forget, the 440 was also used heavily by Aston Martin..
 
My buddy Greig and I passed one on the 401 one year on the way to Moparfest in Greig's 70 GTX. The Interceptor is a beautiful car, I gave him a thumbs up. Then he paced us for a bit and yelled over that he had the same engine as Greig's GTX. Pretty cool.

I'd take one in a heartbeat.

Steve
 
72bluNblu said:
Jensen Interceptors were produced from 1966-1976. Jensen went under in 1975 and was bought out by a receiving company, production ended in '76.
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The rights to Jensen were bought and the company operated in Speke, Liverpool from 1998 to 2002. Under further new owners, a new version of the Jensen Interceptor was announced in 2011 as bringing manufacturing back to the former Jaguar motor plant in Browns Lane, Coventry.

2011 model
View attachment car_photo_456151_25.jpg

2014
View attachment 1_7964.jpg
 
My friend had one, you know the old saying about British electrical systems? Well
It's true the car was nice but the electrical system was beyond brutal!!
 
They're very "jaguar-y" inside, and yes they have the wonderful English electrical systems.

They're also not as light as you might think.

I passed on buying one about 1999.

It was hemi orange and had a moderate 440.

I believe it was a 1973 model.

Are you ready?........$3800.

Three weeks later the couple that owned it were killed in it and there was not very much left of the car.
 
Funny, I never had problems with my wiring...pretty simple really...but brit cars need preventative maintenance..
 
67Dart273 said:
..........and there were "similar" cars that used early hemis. I can't remember offhand...........
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... although they used a special order version that Chrysler never put into a car, I think it was 315CID. Bristol was a British aircraft company dating back to WWI. They built rather expensive and exclusive sports sedans using aircraft construction principles, i.e. aluminum unit bodies (no frames). Before WWII, they had their own 6cyl motors, but sometime after the war they started using Chrysler V8s.

There were several "boutique" British marques that used American powerplants at various times. Jensen, of course; another was Allard. Individual models included the AC (Shelby) Cobra, famously, and the Sunbeam Tiger (which Chrysler actually owned, briefly, but they cancelled production because the LA motor couldn't be made to fit, and they refused to sell a Ford-powered car).

Moving over to Italy, a more exotic example closely related to the A-bodies, was the Ghia 450 SS. This was an Italian coachbuilt convertible with basically the running gear from a 67 Barracuda Formula S. And throughout the 50s and 60s, Ghia produced luxury GTs with Chrysler drivetrains -- these "Dual Ghias" were a favorite of Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack.
 
grassy said:
When you hang with brit cars, you see them....don't forget, the 440 was also used heavily by Aston Martin..
Click to expand...

You must be thinking of some other make. I don't think Aston Martin ever used a Chrysler engine. They had their own V8. It displaced 5.3 liters -- that's closer to a 318 than a 440.
 
mvh said:
You must be thinking of some other make. I don't think Aston Martin ever used a Chrysler engine. They had their own V8. It displaced 5.3 liters -- that's closer to a 318 than a 440.
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I believe you are correct..brain fart time :( For some reason I thought the DB4 was a mopar engine...

Thanks, Ian.
 
EL5DEMON340 said:
My friend had one, you know the old saying about British electrical systems? Well
It's true the car was nice but the electrical system was beyond brutal!!
Click to expand...

Why do the English drink warm beer? :drinkers::drinkers::drinkers:

:blob:


They have Lucas refrigerators!!! \\:D/:toothy7: #-o


The Lucas motto: "Get home before dark."

Lucas - Inventor of the first intermittent wiper.

Lucas - Inventor of the self-dimming headlamp.

The three position Lucas switch - Dim, Flicker and Off.

The Original Anti-Theft Device - Lucas Electrics.

T-lucas-web.jpg
 
Either way. They are pretty rare. I wonder about how many of the 6400 made were imported to the u.s. that thing weight in at like 3500 (?) I think. With a 440....... screamin' I'm telling you guys all it needs is slicks
 
There was one in Springfield, MO that sat outside a business office for years. I called the guy and it was for sale, but I never asked how much because I was broke. I bet I could look him up. I don't think he knew what it was.
 
67Dart273 said:
..........and there were "similar" cars that used early hemis. I can't remember offhand...........
Click to expand...

Jensen Healeys used the 331 Chryslers. Jensen bought the finished cars from Austin-Healey and worked their magic shoehorning them in. Sold like hotcakes across the pond....
 
grumpuscreature said:
Jensen Healeys used the 331 Chryslers. Jensen bought the finished cars from Austin-Healey and worked their magic shoehorning them in. Sold like hotcakes across the pond....
Click to expand...

You must be thinking of something else. Jensen Healey's weren't made until 1972, and they were powered by Lotus 907's.

Healey was only involved with one hemi, and that powered some of the early Healey's in the '40's. It was a 2.4l 4 cylinder that was made by Riley and modified and used by Healey.

Putting a 331 Chrysler in any type of Healey requires so many modifications that the end result is nearly unstreetable. I've seen it done a few times. Most were in '60's era drag cars. I've seen one that someone made an attempt to make streetable, but it was definitely a stretch on that definition.
 
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