Current Owners Comments (as at Dec 2020)

Here’s an up to date photo of my car, I’m stuck now until the weather improves and I can pull the car out and put the engine back in, the garage roof is to low for the engine hoist to pick the engine up high enough. Also just received the V5 from the DVLA, they don’t know how many past keepers there has been, but at least it’s finally re registered on its original plates for the first time since 1972

NOTE Photos added to Album

Current Owners Comments (as at Aug 2020)

I have managed to find a company who would make me some show plates for the car without the DVL documents, so now I finally have a photo of the car with its Reg Plate on the front. I also got hold of all the documents from Martin Robey and have the history the car from 1968 to 1972.. unfortunately there a gap of 15 years between the last document and my grandfather buying the car In 1987.. the car had a lot of issues from day one. According to the documents it had Complete new chrome All around every 12 to 14 months from new. As well and paint corrections and several other issues. It looks like it was in being repaired every few months. It had a new gearbox and torque converter in January 1972, at its 12,000 mile service and The cars clock currently reads 12,330 miles. Assuming the clock and documents are correct the car barely moved for a long time. The last document puts the car in The Leeds Area, yet my grandfather found the car in a field half dismantled in Cornwall..how it ended up there, half striped with the engine in bits and the paint colour changed to brown I’d love to know.

Since I last spoke to you all we continued our work on the engine and trying to get it started but had no luck, unfortunately we had to stop work for a good few months but when we returned to the car we found the engine had seized.. so we have removed the engine and completely striped it, we found that 6 of the 8 pistons were stuck solid. The cam shaft had a crack and all of the main bearings and worn down to the copper. The person who rebuilt the engine in 1991 had absolutely no clue what he was doing looking at the mess the internals were in. So I am in the process of rebuilding the engine I’m just waiting on a few bits. It will be getting 8 brand new pistons, new camshaft, cam bearings, rod bearings, main bearings. New gaskets and seals everywhere. it will look like a brand new engine by the time I’m finished with it. I have striped, painted and Rebuilt the engine bay, so I’m looking at doing the front suspension next.. because of COVID 19 I’ve not worked since February, so I have had a lot of time on my hands this last few weeks.

So in regards to the registration and the DVLA , I have a photo of the car with its Reg plate, I have also taken a photo of the first 3 documents from Martin Robey containing the reg and chassis No.

Thanks

Luke

Current Owners Comments (as at Sep 2019)

The car was bought by my grandfather Donald Sullivan in 1987 for £300 from a field in Cornwall as a complete rust bucket, missing a lot of its parts, and all of its paperwork. The engine had been ripped out of the car and was in bits. He started rebuilding the car and had it almost running in 1991 when he had a massive accident in work as a docker, from then on he was unable to work on the car and the car has sat un fished and slowly deteriorating in his garage. 

He gave the car to me ( his grandson ) in the early 2000s but it’s only now that I’m old enough ( 25 ) and have been able to finally dig my way into the garage to start looking at getting it going and finishing the car for the both of us, My grandfather is 83 now and I would love to get the car running for him so he can hear the engine, for the first time, I would be even happier if I could get it into a driving condition. … the issues with the car have always been electrical so I’ve been told. 

I hope have the engine running by the end of the year, and the car driving by the end of 2020.. 

There are many many photos of the car since my grandfather bought it in 1987, the car was brown / rust at the time. as soon as he finds the photo albums i will add some of the best. but for now here is how the car has sat since 1991. 

added next day

An update For you, “I started working on the car today 26/09/19. The first times it’s been worked on since 1991.. I’ve replaced all fuses and relays throughout the car, And checked all the ignition wiring from the ignition key onwards.. refitted the distributor cap, rotor and points. And released the frozen carburettor “.. 

Oh very interesting, I’ve met Eric Clapton several times, I do believe he had a Jensen at some point but not for very long. Yeah ginger baker has had a few, I remember seeing photos of him driving one. Though I’d hate to think of its condition after he’d finished with them. 

I’ve added a few more current photos from today at the bottom. I’ll take a few more when I get hold of some tyres and a battery, and pushed the car out into the daylight. Hopefully fingers cross the engine will finally fire for the first time since 1979, when we believe it was last on the road.. looking at the car I can’t see any obvious reasons why it won’t. I was always told the car had been stored with oil in the engine and all it’s fluids, because it had just been rebuilt and put back in the car when my grandfather had his accident in 1991.. but looking around the car today, everything is bone dry, apart from the smallest amount of gearbox oil and water... I hope the water pump hasn’t rusted away and the engine isn’t frozen... 

Luke