The Jensen Owners' Club

Please find below a submission by Chris Liversage.

Of the 3356 Jensen Healey Mk 1’s built, only 51 were sold in Australia.
This car was sold by Kurt Keller (Sales) Pty Ltd in Sydney on 26 January 1973 - Australia Day, no less. At least that what it says on the sales receipt, they must have worked on public holidays back then. Its first owner was a Mr Deny Linker of Rushcutters bay.

The sale price was a hefty $A6372, but included in the optional extras was a Lucas radio and tape player, which is still in the car. The dealer also supplied a tonneau cover and detachable hard top in the sale price. Both are still around although I used the hardtop very rarely.

The car spent most of its life in and around Sydney until I hauled it over to Perth, Western Australia in 2006. The heat here stopped me using it as a daily driver; the car coped fine with 40C days, I didn’t. Early morning runs along the coast in summer though are great.

I hadn’t owned a classic car before unless you count a 1974 Chrysler Galant GB as ‘classic’ (actually I think it was a Mazda 808 made under license…).

Other than replacement of part of the floor pan on the driver’s side, and an aftermarket set of airfilters it’s very original. The floor mats are even the original one piece product, most people cut them in half to get them in and out. To get the one piece floor mats out you have to take out the seats (I’m not joking), but to get the seats out you need an Allen key, which you need to shorten first, and for want of a horseshoe nail…

The engine was rebuilt in November 1989 for $5982 (someone must have really loved that car) by Zyfert and Muller in Sydney. Included in the price was a 2 year unlimited kilometre warranty. I also had it rebuilt in 2019 after the rear main seal failed (yes, the rope version; but not as difficult to seat as you might expect according to the Jaguar mechanic who did it) so 30 years between major work is not bad.

It is amazingly rust free. The original rust proofing slapped on the underside in a haphazard way in West Bromich still survives although I added quite a bit over the years.

In 2017 the brake booster needed rebuilding. This in itself was a simple job which started with getting it off the firewall and ended in me repainting the whole engine bay, replacing the front bumper, the oil cooler hoses and a heap of blanking grommets – a series of ‘while I’m at it’ jobs…

Once you get used to some of the idiosyncrasies it’s surprisingly simple to work on and maintain compared to more modern cars even for a mechanic numbnut like me.

It was probably the most impractical car you can get for a person with 4 young kids, running a single person small business and a hungry mortgage, although it is very cheap to run, insure and maintain.

I think it’s at its best early on a Sunday morning. After starting I used to let it run for a few minutes to warm up while I take the top down and allow the burbling exhaust to exact revenge on the neighbours for leaving their psycho dogs alone all Saturday to bark at blades of grass moving on the park over the road.

In June 2021 I sold it to another Jensen fan here. I just wasn’t using it enough. A bit difficult after 16 years but life moves on.

I still have a Jensen GT mind you, and for my sins I am President-for Life of the Jensen Motor Association of Western Australia (see www.jmawa.org.au ). We have 45 or so members.

KaranMK2 wrote: ↑Mon Aug 16, 2021 2:10 pm Please find below a submission by Chris Liversage.
I hadn’t owned a classic car before unless you count a 1974 Chrysler Galant GB as ‘classic’ (actually I think it was a Mazda 808 made under license…).

Nice write up!

I'd have thought the Chrysler Galant would have been a Mistubishi / Colt Galant made under license rather than a Mazda?

I agree with Martin. Very interesting article, just the job. Informative for members like me who have never driven one and have only watched people polish them!

I'd have thought the Chrysler Galant would have been a Mistubishi / Colt Galant made under license rather than a Mazda?

You are right, it was a Mitsubishi. I bought it in the 80s and it never let me down. I eventually traded it in on a Mitsubishi Scorpion (Sapporo in the UK?) because it had air conditioning. Another great car, it would do 110 kph in second gear (albeit a tad noisy at those revs...).

My wife had an 808 that would conk out when going around roundabouts and then kick back into life when you let the clutch back up. Unnerving, but at the time a car was a car.

Ta for the nice feedback, I suspect we are all frustrated novelists at heart. But never forget that:

1. Journalism is the art of filling the space between the ads; and
2. Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one.

!

Have a great day

PS - Martin- you might recognise the Black Mountain magnetic sticker from the US Jensen East meet in North Carolina in 2018 on the bonnet of the J-H in the last pic.

If I recall rightly you, the Mangroos, Colin and Diane and several other JOC members were also there.

It's a bit far from Fremantle to Baltimore so we hired a convertible Mustang rather than shipping it over.

Tough life...