Why do you think so many Jensen Interceptors were neglected?

[felixkk]

It seems that the European Experience may be somewhat more conducive to sustaining your cars properly.

In America, with no MOT (except in some states, like TX) to keep these running, it shouldn't be that hard, it's just a big Chrysler... except for the rust factor.

Our cars end up in the scrapyard, as most people don't have the property to keep them. A local Healey owner contacted many of the scrapyards a number of years ago to see if there were any Jensens still around- but all had been sold and were exported. Many Healeys went to Holland.

According to Richard Calver (https://www.richardcalver.com/survive.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;), USA originally had 50.1% of the Jensens. The number today is 35%. I imagine many are still existing and are not accounted for, and many were sold to Europe.

Richard writes: "In general, I receive relatively less information about cars in the USA than anywhere else, which would go a long way to explaining why the observed survival rate of Healeys is so low. Most of them went to the USA and that's the region from which I am least likely to receive news about vehicle fates. To narrow it down further, about half the cars which went to the USA were sold in California. This means that a quarter of all Jensen cars — most of them Healeys — went to that one State. Given that California was the world leader in emissions controls for cars, forcing them off the road if they failed their smog tests, and given that the Healeys were the cheapest Jensens ever made and more likely to be discarded when they wore out, I should think that a high proportion have now been junked. The stats bear out this contention.."

Continental Europe originally had less than 7.5%, today it is 11%. UK had 38.4%, today they have 42% of the existing Jensens. There seems to be is a big rise in the Asia-Pacific region. But it is difficult to say where the cars survived the longest. I'd have to check our records on how many cars which were originally sold in Switzerland still exist or are accounted for. Today we have many Jensens here which were orignally in the US or UK.