surviving Mk1s

[RAP72]

A new survivor, second this month, identified thanks to Nicholas L. It is on the welcome page click link to 117/2582.

[Christian]

You mean 2592? On the photo-page it's 2792...

[Pymmie]

Always wanted to know one thing about early Mk1's.

'Supplied as a motorised chassis to Sincar'

What did Sincar have to do to complete the cars , and what was the advantage of supplying an incomplete car ?

John P

[RAP72]

You mean 2592? On the photo-page it's 2792...

Thanks Christian, I will amend the album page for 117/2592 as soon as I can.

Dyslexia rules KO so to make it as clear as mud....

The tag underneath the photos will be changed on the January new survivor find 117/2592, http://www.joc.org.uk/Interceptor_Mk_1/117_2592.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


the March new survivor find is 117/ 2582.
http://www.joc.org.uk/Interceptor_Mk_1/117_2582.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Dion]

Always wanted to know one thing about early Mk1's.

'Supplied as a motorised chassis to Sincar'

What did Sincar have to do to complete the cars , and what was the advantage of supplying an incomplete car ?

John P

Same here - 2610 is a car with a similar description. I have read somewhere that part of the Jensen - Vignale deal was that Vignale was allowed to finish off / produce a certain amount of cars until mid 1967. It would be interesting to know exactly what that is. Did Vignale receive all parts which they just would assemble? Logistically it would be more sensible to get local (Italian) parts but surely that must have been in the deal description. I now 2610 has some parts that wereVignale only - like the thin chrome wheel arch finishers. Also it seems most of the early LHD cars were finished at Vignale, to be distributed by SINCAR.

Maybe it is all in the new book which is on its way to my door, any day now!

[ajm541s]

A deal was made between Jensen, Vignale and a company called Sincar whereby Sincar would have the rights to sell Jensens in Europe. Motorised chassis were sent from West Brom, as per the initial production arrangements prior to Jensen assuming building of bodies. The supposed advantage of supplying Sincar was to have most of the production process carried out in Italy, bearing in mind that the UK was not a member of the EC at that time.
Whether there was some unacceptable history behind Carlo Dusio and his organisation or for some other reason, this deal was going sour by mid 1967 and when Carl Duerr arrived in January 1968 his first priority was to buy Dusio out, and negotiations with Dusio were completed during the Brussels motor show in 1968. By this time Sincar had appointed at least two distributors, in Brussels and Paris which I inherited as I developed the export sales department at the same time. 32 Interceptors wee sold by Sincar and are listed in the chassis book.

[Dion]

Thanks Tony for setting this straight. But it does not disclose what "motorised chassis" actually means. Maybe that was the deal but with the one stamping set (I presume) for the body parts being already at Jensen it probably meant the "motorised chassis" was sent with the body as well (maybe in parts)? I cannot imagine Vignale hand building bodies.

[shaun]

Vignale did hand build the bodies.

See attached photo taken 9 June 1966

[ajm541s]

Thanks for those pics, Shaun, and I have amended my post having answered my own question about numbers.

[Dion]

Great pictures!

Vignale did hand build the bodies.

See attached photo taken 9 June 1966

Sure, as they did for all the first batch of Interceptors. But what I am curious am about is what happened after the presses and tools went to West Bromwich, much later than June 1966. When Jensen themselves started to produce Interceptors. At that point they delivered "motorised chassis" to Sincar / Vignale. Vignale did not have the tools and presses anymore so how would they produce the bodies?

[shaun]

Good point, but from the Chassis Data book, the "last" Vignale chassis 115/2556 is shown as ex-factory 23.6.1967.The last motorised chassis 117/2615 shown as ex factory 2.8.1967. None of the motorised chassis have any body colour or other details (apart from engine no) recorded so I do not think it unreasonable to assume the bodies were added in Turin.
No doubt somebody out there has some further information.

[ajm541s]

Try page 70 in the Chassis book

[shaun]

Yes, but are the body colours those they left Turin with or did they leave West Brom with those colours?
Interesting discussion but in my mind these motorised chassis were no different to the others sent to Turin except they never came back to West Brom and were then distributed across Europe directly once they had been built up by Vignale.

[Dion]

None of the motorised chassis have any body colour or other details (apart from engine no) recorded so I do not think it unreasonable to assume the bodies were added in Turin.

In the Data Book for 24 of the 32 Motorized Chassis the body and trim colours are noted.
In a note for 117/2569 we find this (in answer to my own question):

Supplied as the first Motorized Chassis to Vignale in October 1966. Although later Motorized Chassis had Jensen-built bodies, this car would have been unique in that it had a Vignale body.

[shaun]

Dion,
I think between all of us we have gone around the block to solve this. I suspect, thinking about it, the term motorised chassis may have been to avoid import taxes and not a true reflection of the actual state of completion of a particular car.
The question I have wondered though is, whilst Vignale produced the bodies by hand, presumably the "moulds" (I know I should know the correct name as I know it is NOT a mould) would have formed the basis for the dies to press out the panels back in Britain?