Comments (as at Mar 2019)

I failed to record/ update and in Mar 2019 comment was made on the JOC Forum asking about a MK1 owned by Lord Carrington. Looking back through the emails i found this post from 2014 so I am adding it here to keep the records straight.

  Reading the service record is incredibly interesting; from the days when being a Lord meant something.  Charles Follet and Jensen bent over backwards to keep him happy (but then he was also a great brand ambassador).  He complained about the rear hatch demisters and Jensen replaced the hatch with later Mk1 glass with the heating element in it and removed the fan blowers, he also complained about the seat belt slipping off his wife’s shoulder and so Jensen got the Engineering Department to design a clip that held the seatbelt higher (no idea if it still exists).  They also repainted the entire car while it was under a year old and retrofitted power steering at about 18 months.

 

I’m going to have to start investigating the trim as John mentioned to me that there were some unique bits on the Vignale Interceptors that are almost impossible to find.

 

I have learned something about shipping cars over the last 4 months – mainly: a.  It’s not as cheap as you think it’ll be, and  b: it’s an experience I never want to repeat!  I’ll try and get the process down in writing, it might help people falling into the same traps as I did.

 

Regards,

 

Graham

Comments (as atJan 2011)

Hi Steve,

 

My early Xmas present has just arrived in Cornwall from Oklahoma after much blood, sweat, tears and wallet busting bills, so I thought I’d drop you a note to let you know that I was the new owner and give you some update details and new photos.

 

This is the car that I saw in 2009 for $15K on Ebay that started me thinking about restoring a Mk1.  I couldn’t afford it then nor in 2011 when it was (I think) $10K.  By the same token I couldn’t let it pass at $3.7K and Ebay makes purchasing these things very easy.  Surprisingly my wife agreed to the purchase even with 115/2844 still not started! 

 

I’m out of the country again until January so it’ll be a while before I have a proper look at her, but I’ve dropped all the photos that my wife has sent me onto my photobucket account and put the link onto the data form.

 

I promise next year I’ll stop buying on Ebay and knuckle down to starting work on them.

 

Kind Regards,

 

Graham

(Graham M on the forum)

Graham also added

I should not be trusted with a computer that has the ability to connect to Ebay.

Seriously – I couldn’t believe that this wasn’t selling at 2K GBP, even in the condition that it is in.  Having spent 4 months working through all of the transportation, shipping and handling problems I can fully understand why nobody wanted to take on the repatriation.  I’ll save the story for a forum post! On arrival it appears that most of the rust on the body is surface and not rusted through, although it’ll still be a marathon to remove.  The bonnet is probably a write off but the engine and engine bay look remarkably complete.  The bumpers and other chrome work appear to be in good nick but from what I can see from the pictures the inner and outer sills are just a mess of rust and the floors are rusted through.

The car’s going into storage for the time being (at least until I’m home in Jan 2015) and I can decide which of my 2 wrecks is going to be the most logical restoration.

Photos are at

http://s92.photobucket.com/user/Graham9697/library/Jensen%202?sort=2&page=1