FF 255 at CCA Auction

[AH1951]

Try this for a discussion on IRS.
https://www.joc.org.uk/forum/viewtopic. ... suspension" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
You can Google "Bespoke Auto Developments" and see two of their 'past-project' Jensens.
Spot the error!

Looks like they are still in business.

[Peter Rothery]

ff255 axle_LI.jpg (197.66 KiB) Viewed 5470 times

I'm not sure what on earth has been done to the bottom of the rear wings. Is that steel or filler?
I see no fuel tank, calipers, exhaust. Not sure the auction description of a complete car is going to turn out to be accurate. The mad headers made for the car presumably also found a new home!

[cannonball]

that rear end looks an abortion as do the rear quarters and valence, this is the sort of thing that makes Jensens a tarp car, i suspect those pictures may be old unless its been stuffed in that magnolia hole back alley recently and was actually garaged for the last 15 yrs,

[johnw]

ff255 axle_LI.jpg

I'm not sure what on earth has been done to the bottom of the rear wings. Is that steel or filler?
I see no fuel tank, calipers, exhaust. Not sure the auction description of a complete car is going to turn out to be accurate. The mad headers made for the car presumably also found a new home!

Reasonably sure I got an aluminium fuel tank with the car. If so I would have sold that with it. I know I didn't have tank straps for it. I also gave the purchaser calipers, which looked like 2 sets (ie 4 off), 4 piston Girling XJS front calipers, to use on both front and rear. These came with new pistons, not fitted, and were with the car when I got it. There was no handbrake mechanism. I remember talking to Dave Barnett at the time, and he suggested a Wilwood handbrake kit. I wonder if Girling rear calipers would fit? I wasn't sure if that was a modified Jensen rear axle or not. If it is then that could be solved with Jensen rear calipers, and the extra set of fronts sold off.

That is steel at the bottom of the valance, it looked like gas welding. It did baffle me why it was done. I sold the car with a complete used FF transmission and transfer box as supplied by Medway.

The boot lid is going to need support struts engineering. The boot area is very different to a standard car as the battery is rear mounted, because the headers required changes to the front inner wheel arches.

[Peter Rothery]

…..crikey the price is going down/the work schedule to put this right is getting bigger with every key stroke John! Cannonball's description was spot on!

[Peter Rothery]

Sold to a brave soul for £28,500..or £31,236 with commission. Hopefully it can be reunited with the shed load of missing parts some time soon.....

[cannonball]

Sold to a brave soul for £28,500..or £31,236 with commission. Hopefully it can be reunited with the shed load of missing parts some time soon.....

what a tulip take ffs

[cannonball]

did this end up an online auction only and phone

[Grant]

What does a tulip take mean Dunc?

[mojo]

As in "tulipping down with rain"and "stop at the next services, I need to go for a tulip", I suspect.

[johnw]

Sold to a brave soul for £28,500..or £31,236 with commission. Hopefully it can be reunited with the shed load of missing parts some time soon.....

Did anyone see what kind of condition it was in?

If those were the bodywork and interior shots, then someone like JIA might have gone for it. They could fit their own IRS rear end conversion, sell the six pack, transfer box, etc.

[Peter Rothery]

Makes 278 look like a real bargain and far less costly to restore to original condition. https://www.glenmarch.com/auction-cars/ ... 53/results" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

CCA auctioned off 10 cars a day for 16 days via the Proxibid platform. No viewing possible..only a video of 255 taken by their transport guy so not that informative.

The original owner apparently passed away and the son inherited before going through a divorce. The car was removed from the house now owned by the ex-wife and photographed outside the vendors residents (see Cannonball's earlier graphic description of the location!) before moving to a storage facility prior to auction. The remains of the engine and the box were too heavy to move onto the trailer at the same time....so no one got to see it.

Auction money is due immediately but collection will not be possible until after lockdown in a few weeks/months..luckily no storage fees will be due until then.

There is no evidence that the missing parts not seen in the video are available...indeed it seems that a fellow JOC member already has many of them in his garage following his bulk purchase last year...servo, pedal box, prop shafts, maxaret etc. Certainly no suggestion that there is a six pack included!

Interesting to see what happens to it and whether it is ever restored to original condition.

[cannonball]

That blue one is an example of how the arse has fell from Jensen high end cars yet again, yet people will buy a magnolia house one like this,, words fail me

[RogerBrotton]

Yes, I agree with Cannonball, but some of us cannot refuse the seemingly impossible. If one hasn't got £100K in free funds for a mint example, then the only option is to buy a shed-case, or puzzle car, and spend the next 10 years rebuilding it. Always assuming that one has the skills and somewhere to do it.....not to mention the enthusiasm. If this is the case with this one, I applaude it.
There again it could have been snapped up by a specialist, who will just sit and wait 'til the right customer calls in; with deep pockets, and very long arms.

Hopefully, it will have been saved...……….anything is possible if you throw enough time and money at it.

[johnw]

Makes 278 look like a real bargain and far less costly to restore to original condition. https://www.glenmarch.com/auction-cars/ ... 53/results" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

There is no evidence that the missing parts not seen in the video are available...indeed it seems that a fellow JOC member already has many of them in his garage following his bulk purchase last year...servo, pedal box, prop shafts, maxaret etc. Certainly no suggestion that there is a six pack included!

Interesting to see what happens to it and whether it is ever restored to original condition.

Really interesting to hear the story Peter. Great job of filling in the details. I do remember the chap very well who bought it. It was a difficult project to finish as it would have needed some engineering skills of sorts to either finish it or put it to stock.

I would imagine the custom fuel tank, headers, block rebuilt by Geoff Hauser circa 1990? and dyno run only, new alloy 383 sixpack manifold, and new never used six pack bought in the 80s are included, along with a six pack air filter. No fuel lines or linkages. Also a proper FF transfer box and maxaret were included when I sold it. Diff and drive shafts should be there, on the car. You are correct that the original gearbox and transfer box, prop shaft and maxaret are not with the car, but proper items from another FF were supplied when I sold it, perhaps no Prop shaft though, also FF gearbox mounts were missing i think. There was no FF servo, probably no pedal box. There might have been a Mk3 servo.

I would imagine the seller of the FF bits you mention Peter, has the receipts for the work he had done on the car. I understand that over £40k? was spent on it, pre 2000 money, and the car has not seen the road since. The buyer has the car for less than the cost of work done so far, even at this price. The parts you mention, bought by another forum member, were separated from the car long before I acquired it.

The truth is, at the end of the day, Jensens, apart from FFs, are perhaps a bit of a folly financially! This one sold for a few times more than I sold it for. I didn't lose on it either. FF 289 was probably the best value someone had out of me, followed by FF No 6. FF 123 proved quite expensive at £1. Owning FFs should be felt by the owner as both a privilege and a pleasure, even, especially if you never drive the car. I think you need to do both though, maintain one and drive one, to fully appreciate your good fortune as an owner . I can't realistically ever see me driving FF 122. It is an endless FF project that thankfully fills the void, the addiction. The only cure I have found so far, an endless supply of the drug in small doses.