115/3079 - the saga continues

[JamesE]

Hello all,
I thought an update on this car was long overdue.
It’s going to be pretty traumatic and pretty self-indulgent, I’m afraid, but I am sure many have suffered the same or worse.
To précis, bought my Mk1 in 2006 and broadly put 6000 miles a year on it until 2019. In between those dates it had spells at Rejen, had most panels done elsewhere (quickly, cheaply and badly), was used for my wedding in the Pyrenees (2010), then much later spent a bit of time with a mechanic friend who moved to Wales and lost his mojo. When I got it back from him in 2018 I really set about it and spent a lot of time getting it purring like a kitten. Eventually the aged drivetrain was running near-perfect, so much so that the rank bodywork became an embarrassment and I thought the car deserved better.
Enter my saviour, a friend of a friend who has done a spectacular job of restoring my pal’s Alfa. He quoted a too good to be true price and it went to him in March 2019 for a quickfire body restoration and spray and the promise that I would be able to collect it when I came to the car show he organised at the end of May.
Things started unravelling pretty quickly to be honest, his business partners walked out and everything with his business and personal life went to pot. I should have cut my losses and run at that stage, but perversely decided to leave it with him until he had at least done an amount of work close to the amount of money I had already given him (which surprise surprise, was already double the initial estimate.
His spiral just continued and all the time, sitting in his workshop was my Jensen. You can see from the pictures what was and wasn’t done in the past five and a half years. Some of the welding that has been done (by oxy) is genuinely lovely, some is Your First Fisher-Price Mig Welding Set standard. I reckon somewhere between a third and a half of the work has been done.
There’s were obviously a lot of times I wanted to just sell it as it is, and a lot of times I just wanted to cry, but I am nothing if not belligerent and just left it with him (out if sight, out of mind?).
Then the inevitable happened. I received a call on 16 August telling me he was closing the workshop for good at the end of the month and if I hadn’t collected the car he would have to just push it outside and leave it. That would have been pretty stressful in any circumstances, but seeing as I was flying out of the country the following day and not back until 3 September, I went into meltdown.
Luckily, most classic car people (other classic car people) are amazing and with two phone calls, I had someone who would collect it for me, somewhere to store it and, fingers-crossed, someone to take on the project on. Tomorrow, I go and visit them and discuss what it will cost and whether they are prepared to take it on. And, because I couldn’t be there to load it up and clear the workshop, to also discover what parts and panels (all bought in advance) have been lost or thrown away.
Yes, I was bloody naive and trusting, but aren’t we all? And my saviour may have been bloody incompetent at running a business, but he wasn’t actually evil, he didn’t set out to rip anyone off and his work was genuinely exemplary. I did of course ask him how much money he was going to return to me and he told me to call later when he’d worked it out, but dammit his phone just seems to have stopped working.
Believe it or not, this situation may look bad, but right now I am genuinely feeling more positive than at any point in the past five years. Onwards…

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[Mark1Stu]

Sorry to read of your trials and tribulations James. I do hope the enforced change of circumstances will be the beginning of a more positive outcome for you and your Interceptor.

Stuart.

[Series3Jensen]

Hi James

Sorry to hear about your woes
Hopefully things will now move forward more positively

I remember reading the ongoing articles on your car in the Classic & Sports Car Monthly magazine and have kept copies of all of these - if they are of interest to you - i would just ask that they stay with the car

A small query
I recorded the mileage of your car from March 2007 - when it was 93,085 to December 2009 when it was 102,507
However in February 2010 the mileage had dropped down to 89,663 to August 2011 when it was 93,865
From then until now the Mileage seems to have remained at 93,865 although in April 2012 i have recorded the oddmeter as being broken

I look forward to seeing the car on the road again with you enjoying it

Regards

Jim Smith
JOC Mem No 1639 136/8791 RJF 17 Owned since Sept 1978

[JamesE]

A small query
I recorded the mileage of your car from March 2007 - when it was 93,085 to December 2009 when it was 102,507
However in February 2010 the mileage had dropped down to 89,663 to August 2011 when it was 93,865
From then until now the Mileage seems to have remained at 93,865 although in April 2012 i have recorded the oddmeter as being broken

Hello Jim,
Well spotted.
First speedo went kaput. It made me well aware that it was on the way out by going bonkers, though that did allow me to get a passenger to take a photo of it reading a completely false 140mph-plus on the A3.
Because I had a working spare, I just replaced rather than repaired but when that one also went, I just left it. So "broken" was quite correct. If I can see the restoration through, I will install a repaired one.

[pcourtney]

you're in good hands James, I know the shop in Park Royal, they do wonders on old Maserati's and Alfa's - so a Jensen should be a piece of cake

good luck with the project and you might be driving it by early next year I hope !

[JamesE]

you're in good hands James, I know the shop in Park Royal, they do wonders on old Maserati's and Alfa's - so a Jensen should be a piece of cake

good luck with the project and you might be driving it by early next year I hope !

I am afraid the pictures are of my car being rescued from Autostilo not delivered to them. They did many years ago do some excellent work on Italian cars, granted, which is why I took my car there in the first place, but they had it for five and a half years and did very little except take my money. Park Royal shut a while back and Potters Bar shut its doors a week ago. I think they are no more.

[DPP]

Sadly this is not uncommon James and at least you are strong enough of mind to carry on.

Its also a problem that many bodyshops want upfront money and you have no choice but either pay in good faith or find someone else to do the work, should anyone else find themselves in this position I would recommend paying as little upfront money as possible.
I would argue that a weeks money upfront is enough and if they provide photographic evidence they have done the work you will send them more money immediately, which is fairly easy and quick with a bacs payment.

I have had problems with the last painter I was using and although nowhere near as bad as your experience 3 years of constant delays and excuses later I have removed my car and am sending it elsewhere to be finished.

Good luck with the project it will be worth it in the end.

[johnw]

Sadly this is not uncommon James and at least you are strong enough of mind to carry on.

Its also a problem that many bodyshops want upfront money and you have no choice but either pay in good faith or find someone else to do the work, should anyone else find themselves in this position I would recommend paying as little upfront money as possible.
I would argue that a weeks money upfront is enough and if they provide photographic evidence they have done the work you will send them more money immediately, which is fairly easy and quick with a bacs payment.

I have had problems with the last painter I was using and although nowhere near as bad as your experience 3 years of constant delays and excuses later I have removed my car and am sending it elsewhere to be finished.

Good luck with the project it will be worth it in the end.

Interest rated doubled, rents followed. Electricity prices doubled. Finished car prices halved for some makes, any own jobs a restorer had ongoing are worthless now.

In comes a project that will take 3 years, with enough new spare parts to finish 3 stalled jobs in the workshop. Untraceable, new virgin parts. That is where we are today. At the time you did the sensible thing going to reputable shops with a track record. How could they have survived everything doubling? The job can no longer be done for what you paid, and they haven't started it.

If you are just sending out a shell on axles with placeholder wheels and tyres, and keep the rest of the parts yourself. I would be tempted to do that. Be totally paranoid. It seems to be what Dave does, a bonnet to fit to a shell, etc. Even that has issues. Buy or rent a trailer locally, get your own straps and hand winch. Shops survive with simple jobs that can be brought in, done, paid for and collected. It costs the shop serious money to have your car sitting in their shop not being worked on. If your own work life is too busy now, that's good. Get on, enjoy, store the car in your own garage. Clean a few bits when you get time, go back to it in 10 years. Buy another Jensen for now. Seriously. You need and deserve a bit more Jensen goodness and positive vibes. If that car is in your garage now as it look that is a brilliant result! Congratulations. The car doesn't look too bad! I understand why you are on a high. Rightly so!

Just noticed those headrests! Don't they look good! Exactly as they are!

[Kevin Birch]

James sorry to hear your woes, please persevere with this, there are so few MK1s on the road we need to keep the mark going. Mine regularly gets out but the body is starting to let it down, and I'm intending taking it off the road next year once my Cortina is sorted, so that will be another off the circuit for a good few years. They are the best and purest, the interior and bullet over riders are design icons, and I still have a massive grin on my face after 10 years of ownership, every time I drive it.

The costs and pain of restoration will soon disappear when its back on the road and your driving it. It will all be worth it, they are unlike anything else, that's why you have one.

Haven't seen you since Turin I believe, hope you're keeping well and must catch up soon, it's always a pleasure.

Regards Kev

[JamesE]

James sorry to hear your woes, please persevere with this, there are so few MK1s on the road we need to keep the mark going. Mine regularly gets out but the body is starting to let it down, and I'm intending taking it off the road next year once my Cortina is sorted, so that will be another off the circuit for a good few years. They are the best and purest, the interior and bullet over riders are design icons, and I still have a massive grin on my face after 10 years of ownership, every time I drive it.

The costs and pain of restoration will soon disappear when its back on the road and your driving it. It will all be worth it, they are unlike anything else, that's why you have one.

Haven't seen you since Turin I believe, hope you're keeping well and must catch up soon, it's always a pleasure.

Regards Kev

Hello Kev, great to hear from you. We'll both get there... eventually.