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JENSEN INTERCEPTOR HISTORY
The Jensen Interceptor captured its moment in time perfectly. But it was the product of a long tradition of car manufacture.
The Jensen brothers formed Jensen Motors and began coachbuilding cars and later trucks on other chassis in 1937. In the ‘60s the Jensen Interceptor dramatically changed the future of Jensen. Its development split the company and resulted in the resignation of the Jensen brothers and their chief stylist. They had argued for a cheap volume car to fill the factory; instead the Interceptor was an expensive low volume replacement for the luxury C-V8.
In 1970 Jensen was bought by Kjell Qvale, the company’s ebullient American distributor. His approach was simple – introduce the Jensen Healey, a replacement for the Austin Healey, to fill the factory and a niche in America. It went from design to production in less than two years.
But these grand plans ultimately failed. Jensen Healey sales never reached expected levels, due to quality problems and its typically fragile Lotus engine, which resulted in crippling warranty claims. Efforts to rapidly increase Interceptor production could not fill the void.
Qvale called in the receivers in May 1976. But that wasn’t the end of the Jensen Interceptor. Jensen Parts & Service Ltd survived the collapse and continued making a handful of Jensen Interceptor cars until the early 1990s.
In the late 1990s Qvale developed the luxury Qvale Mangusta sports car before selling the business to the post-BMW MG Rover. The basic underpinnings were used to create the monster MG XVR, a rather crude and expensive competitor to the Porsche 911.
Great Escape has two 1974 Jensen Interceptor Mk3s available for hire. Both cars are 'Series 4' J-Series cars with the 7.2 litre V8 Chrysler engine. One car (Jensen Interceptor No 1 - LPB 63N) features mid-blue metallic paintwork with red leather interior, the other (Jensen Interceptor No 2 - PAX 433M) is dark metallic Brienz Blue with magnolia/cream leather interior.
Jensen Interceptor No 1 LPB 63N
This Jensen Interceptor is a Mark 3 Series 4 built in June 1974 and sold to its first owner on 30th September of the same year. It features the low compression 7.2 litre Chrysler V8, which generates around 300 bhp. It is one of a handful of Jensen Interceptors made with the unusual combination of Brienz Blue metallic paint and burgundy leather interior.
It was sold new to a customer in Derby who drove 40,000 miles in the car and meticulously recorded every trip. In 1989 our car’s then owner took the car back to Jensen to be upgraded to the latest Mark 4 specification at a cost of over £15,000. The work runs to 6 pages of parts and included even better electrics and ventilation, electric colour-coded door mirrors, a discreet chin spoiler and a Blaupunkt stereo radio cassette, which is still fitted and works perfectly. The pictures at the bottom of the page were taken at the factory in 1990 just after the work had been completed.
LPB 63N is in perfect working order with the exception of the air conditioning, which uses refrigerants that have now been banned, so we can’t re-charge it. The engine has recently been rebuilt to improve its running and reliability.
The shots below show LPB 63N in 1989 when it went back to the Jensen factory in West Bromwich for a £20,000 refurbishment, including upgrades to Mark 4 specification. 
Jensen Interceptor No 2 PAX 433M
PAX 433M, our second Jensen, combines Brienz Blue paintwork with light magnolia/cream interior. This was a popular and classic Jensen colour combination.
The car was first registered in January 1974 to its first owner in London. He kept the car for 12 years - an unusually long time for a Jensen - and it then passed through five owners, all in the London area, to 1996. Throughout this time it was serviced by Jensen Motors in West Bromwich as well as specialists like Cropredy Bridge in Banbury (part of the VEight Group that makes the 'new' Interceptor), Jencraft in Brackley and Reg Vardy in Durham when on trips North.
In 1996 it underwent a major restoration by Jencraft, which included new floors, sills, door bottoms, wheel arches and a complete respray in the original Brienz Blue.
The car has several upgrades including a stereo radio cassette, inertia real seat belts, interior light delay, remote adjustable door mirrors and high output cooling fans.
