The Jensen Owners' Club

This is Mike's late mark 1 chassis number 115/3441.

Mike has just signed up on the forum as JensenMike so hopefully will tell us some more about his car.

I remember seeing the car at Ken Bird's garage near Bristol, from memory the SP bonnet had been fitted when the car was in Australia to aid in cooling. It looks a lot nicer now than it did then,




Photos above shamelessly stolen from South West rep John Pym

Very nice

Very nice indeed

Very very nice indeed.

Photos from Mike:















Some details about the car from Mike:

Jensen Interceptor MK1 chassis no. 115/3441 Reg. KXC 889H

Original 6276 CC E series engine Engine no. 164815 E

Sold by Bristol Street Motors on 4th February 1970 Original colour Mist Grey. Black interior and Sundym glass.

I bought the car from Daniel Steenstra (Ladbroke, Warwickshire) in November 2006. He had owned the car since 1995 and had various mechanical work carried out by Cropredy Bridge Garage. He had extensive bodywork restoration carried out by another garage (Clover Leaf) in 2000 and it was at this time that the colour was changed to Jaguar Carnival Red.

I had met Ken Bird at the Christmas dinner in Wickwar in 2006 and arranged for him to check her over and do the MOT etc. at his Portbury Garage, the next year. During 2007/08, Ken did some useful work, including changing the timing chain, water pump, hoses etc..

The car still remained incredibly difficult to start from cold and misfired often when being driven. At this time the car still had the original starter motor, contact breaker points and a Holley carb - the carb, I suspected, was the main cause of the problem.

Over the last three years, a local garage has at my request, done some more great mechanical work. This included the fitting of a fast wind starter motor, Lumenition Optronic, electronic ignition, a new Edelbrock 1406 Performer carb and the fitting of an ELN dosing valve for mechanical metering of the Castrol Valvemaster Plus additive. These four changes have made the car totally reliable and great fun to drive and removed all the frustration I had earlier with poor starting/poor running. So, the engine bay, although looking somewhat tired after 43 years, is more or less fully functional !

A few subtle visual modifications (deviations from original) have been made to the car, prior to my ownership. I think they all add greatly to the look of the car and there is nothing more really that I would change. They are:

Fittting of an SP bonnet.
Fitting of Minilite alloy wheels.
Big bore stainless steel tail pipe finishers.

She also has rear seat belts fitted.

Is the ELN Dosing Valve the one that was available as a special offer via the club Magazine some years ago? It appears the company was dissolved some years ago. Did the system work, and was it better than chucking a capful of additive into the tank when filling up?

Beautiful car. When was it in Australia? Do you have any details?

Adjustable regulator for the alternator? have been looking at these, any good?
Shaun.

VFK44 wrote:Is the ELN Dosing Valve the one that was available as a special offer via the club Magazine some years ago? It appears the company was dissolved some years ago. Did the system work, and was it better than chucking a capful of additive into the tank when filling up?

Yes, I'd seen it advertised in the club magazine a few years ago - they were based up in Kirkcaldy, Fife. The first valve fitted was metering the additive far too heavily, so I sent it back. They replaced it with another, saying there had been a few problems with the early valves. This one seems ok and certainly makes life easier. It is hard enough getting fuel in the MK1 (they have a tendency to blow it back, which is a pain on a busy forecourt), so not having to worry about the additive, is real bonus !.

Stoo wrote:Beautiful car. When was it in Australia? Do you have any details?

No, I hadn't been aware the car had been in Australia - it was Zac, who thinks it was and that is why the SP bonnet was fitted. I have a dvd of pictures that came with the car, when Daniel owned her, so I must look at it again, to see if that sheds any light on it. I would certainly like to know more if she was over there.

taximan wrote:Adjustable regulator for the alternator? have been looking at these, any good?
Shaun.

Hi Shaun, that's a good question ! I've certainly never adjusted it myself and I don't know of anybody who has. I do know that I've never had any charging problems in the 7 years I've owned the car and I reckon anything that has some sort of adjustment on it, is usually a good thing. Mike

I like the curved stem door mirrors. What are they from? Could be off a Triumph Stag?

Dion wrote:I like the curved stem door mirrors. What are they from? Could be off a Triumph Stag?

I'm not sure, they were supplied and fitted by Ken Bird (Portbury Garage). I guess they could be the same as fitted to Stags.