The Jensen Owners' Club

Pont-a-Mousson was part of the FV owners and supplied the manual boxes for the V8 models. So this close relationship was the driving factor behind the four pot engine coming from them.

Interesting parallel:
The underdeveloped four pot in the smaller car was the biggest or at leaset one of the main reasons for FV's demise.
The underdeveloped Lotus four pot was the main driver for Jensen's demise. With their common histort of subcontract work being the bread and butter and the big V8s being an indulgence it has never ceased to surprise me that Jensen walked into exactly the same trap that finished off Facel Vega!

Stirling Moss had one, I seem to remember being a passenger in it when he asked my friend(Lambert Schumacher) to drive it from one GP to another while he went off with someone else
joe

Per wrote: it has never ceased to surprise me that Jensen walked into exactly the same trap that finished off Facel Vega!

veruy good parrallel Per !

as Lao Tzu said "experience is a lantern that only enlights one's own way"

schumijoe wrote:Stirling Moss had one,

here is the wise man , proudly taking delivery of his first LHD HK500 in Paris
(with poor little Dauphine and 2CV in the background )
a few more famous owners : Pablo Picasso, Ava Gardner, Christian Dior, Joan Collins, Max Factor Jr, Joan Fontaine, Tony Curtis, Saudi princes, Dean Martin, Fred Astaire, Danny Kaye, Louis Malle, The President of Mexico, François Truffaut, Robert Wagner, Anthony Quinn, King Hassan ll of Morocco, Debbie Reynolds, The Shah of Iran, Frank Sinatra, and French Embassies around the world

recognize this one ?

rolando38 wrote:

Per wrote: it has never ceased to surprise me that Jensen walked into exactly the same trap that finished off Facel Vega!

veruy good parrallel Per !

as Lao Tzu said "experience is a lantern that only enlights one's own way"

... or differently put: Humans are almost unique in its ability to learn from others, and remarkable for their disinclination to do so

Per wrote:The underdeveloped Lotus four pot was the main driver for Jensen's demise.

Is that correct? Jensen built 10'500 Jensen-Healeys, making it the most successful of all models, number wise. The model having had a bad start with the engine, granted.

An annual average of 3000 cars was not enough to carry an operation like Jensen. The damage to the reputation early on killed any hope of say 8 - 10.000 cars a year which I believe is what they needed. Tony M has commented on expected sales I think but cannot remember what the target sales figure was.

Per wrote:Pont-a-Mousson was part of the FV owners and supplied the manual boxes for the V8 models. So this close relationship was the driving factor behind the four pot engine coming from them.

Interesting parallel:
The underdeveloped four pot in the smaller car was the biggest or at leaset one of the main reasons for FV's demise.
The underdeveloped Lotus four pot was the main driver for Jensen's demise. With their common histort of subcontract work being the bread and butter and the big V8s being an indulgence it has never ceased to surprise me that Jensen walked into exactly the same trap that finished off Facel Vega!

Very good point Per ... Yes they should have seen it coming ... but in all fairness and with no disrespect to anyone ... I dont think it just the engine that let the side down with the Jensen /Healy, I think it was an average/same as any other cheap convertible of that day .. nothing special and so that just didnt help either

Grant wrote:

Per wrote: Very good point Per ... Yes they should have seen it coming ... but in all fairness and with no disrespect to anyone ... I dont think it just the engine that let the side down with the Jensen /Healy, I think it was an average/same as any other cheap convertible of that day .. nothing special and so that just didnt help either

Agreed, had it been beautiful the early problems might well have been forgiven.

Richard Calver writes (http://www.richardcalver.com/article_intser4.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;):

"Summing up his findings after the Motor Show in November 1975, the Receiver said that Jensens had failed for three reasons. One, they had been required by law to undertake extensive engineering on some of their products; two, sales in the United States, vital to the company’s success, had been lower than expected; and three, high inflation in the UK had eroded the company’s profitability."

But also "Liquidity was hurt because substantial investment was bound up in the Healey project where the plan had been to produce 10,000 units a year (as against that many sold throughout the entire four years of the car’s life)."

10'000 cars a year seems quite ambitious for a company like Jensen, especially in difficult times.

Ringo Star had a Facel 11, what a lovely thing they are, like wonderfull antique that can kick most stuff into the weeds, while lightly polishing its nails!

Everyone was in the shite during the 70's- vauxhall had been making a massive loss year on year, Ford was only damaged by terrible industrial strife, but as a massive company wasn't hurt, when the Mk3 Tina couldn't be finished & put to market in numbers, B.L cleaned up with the marina- yup despite all the slagging it was then the best selling UK built car, the cavalier would later dominate the fleet market & put VX into profit it hadn't seen for years!
J-H was an expencive machine, had as been reported before they had got the deal with Rover, who knows- had the deal with GM (Vauxhall) gone through with the 2.3 F.I unit & VX building this & the GT, who knows.
This was something Kjell Qvale was making all effort to secure- he spoke direct to GM on this- his words 'jensen should concentrate on building high end luxery vehicles, the Gt would be better placed with a company such as vauxhall' the plan was Jensen build the cars for Vauxhall, no warrenty no marketing- just bread & butter production, something jensen ofcourse was expert in with the likes of the big Healey.

Aston's went skint, Rolls was bailed out & B.L was constantly propped by both governments- very interesting times.