Help identifying a Convertible

[Pymmie]

My mate snapped this Jensen today in East Devon (Honiton)

Although a convertible it’s clearly on a L Reg.

Nothing on DVLA site.

I saw a similar car being restored near Honiton last year

that was a convertible with a Mustang engine and was

told it belonged to Robbie Coltrane.

John P

[Keith]

So much wrong with that, looking at the bodywork, but it appears to have a walnut dash, so money has been spent.

[wheel-turner]

I believe the MN letters shows it is a Manx registration number so the suffix wouldn't necessarily denote the year which could also be why you can't find it on the DVLA register. I think they went over to *MN after they ran out of MAN numbers and suffixes.
Cheers
Gavin C

[Dino Fritz]

Looks to be part-way through a restoration - removed windscreen, sill panel covers, side vent trim, front grill seem to point to a respray of the front, interesting that the bonnet doesn't seem to be louvered (would have thought that most Convertibles would have been fitted with the louvered bonnet), but has the woodgrain dash as Keith has identified. 17 Inch rims up front, 15" at the back.

I'm up for a restoration project at the moment, and a RHD convertible would be perfect - anyone know if it is up for sale???

Cheers, Dino

[Richard Calver]

>I'm up for a restoration project at the moment, and a RHD convertible would be perfect

Be careful. It might be a saloon conversion. There should be a louvered bonnet on a genuine Convertible, but it's not there. The L-reg plate is not right either as the first Convertibles are M-reg. You could of course have an earlier reg as a personal issue, but I can't see anything desirable about that number, hence caution.

[Chris_R]

As Gavin has suggested, this is indeed an Isle of Man registration.
The Isle of Man was allocated the MN code in the original allocations and MAN at the beginning of the 1930s and until this day they have used various combinations and sequences of those two codes. They are the only 2 codes for the Isle of Man and they are not allocated in any UK registration sequences.
The L suffix has no meaning unlike UK registrations and does not indicate registration age. It was simply a way of allowing more registrations within their allocated ranges, they just moved to the next suffix when they got to 999 of the previous suffix.

[Richard Calver]

I had a dig into this one. It is a genuine Convertible, 2340/1268. It was completed in April 1975 but not invoiced until August, possibly because of its unusual colour scheme.

It was one of four Convertibles painted in the Triumph colour Magenta. A little bell somewhere is telling me that Magenta on a Jensen was originally the idea of a cashed up customer who wanted his car done this way. He was aggrieved to find out later that the factory made a few more (Saloons and Convertibles) in the same scheme.

All four Convertibles were RHD and three are known to me as survivors. One of them was among the five Motor Show display cars in 1974 and I think was purchased off the stand. All four were trimmed in Magnolia, two had White tops, two had Cream tops, the linings being Fawn or Mushroom, and three are known to have had whitewall tyres from new. Striking cars indeed. The factory press release says the Motor Show car had a Beige top so it's a toss up as to which one that was.

1268 was first registered as LGP 75P. It had been repainted white by the time it was exported in 1988.

Ordinarily I would say that the wood dash is not correct at this VIN, but the first fittings of the wood dash were being made when this car was in production. Although the car was finished in April 1975, the VIN is concurrent with LHD cars leaving the factory in late 1974. It may be that 1268 was held over to allow the late fitting of a wood dashboard which was used only on LHD cars at this time. This might be confirmed by an inspection of the car. 1267, which is a RHD Saloon, was also delayed until April 1975 but it has the plastic dash.

Dino, this sounds like a good match for 9480.

[Grant]

Brilliant Richard and thank you,>> have this>>
It's so so great to read "Who's Who", "What's What","Where's Where",... Bob's Your Uncle, Fanny's your Aunt & every two's a Pair, Red to Red, Black to Black and Blue to Bits!!
Good Job Richy