Jensen Interceptor MkI Manual

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Dubbed ‘the Birmingham Ferrari’, the handbuilt Interceptor just oozes jet-set glamour and makes most other cars look cheap by comparison. Vastly expensive when new, it is still an occasion to see one of the 800 that survive on UK roads today from the 6,408 made in total.

Small wonder that the Interceptor attracted the glitterati of '60s society – Frank Sinatra, Clark Gable, Tony Curtis, Keith Richards, Dusty Springfield, Lord Carrington – the list of famous owners goes on and on, making it all the more surprising that these superb machines are so under-valued today. As rare as any DB Aston, better made and far more potent to boot, they are perhaps the classic car bargain of the modern age.

Making its debut at the 1966 Earls Court Motor Show, the Interceptor had bodywork designed by Touring of Milan and was powered by Chrysler’s 330bhp 6,276cc V8 mated to Torqueflite three-speed automatic transmission. With 425lb/ft on tap, the early Interceptors could sprint to 60mph in 7.3 seconds with a top speed of 133mph, very respectable figures for a big GT, then and now. The later 7.2 models were not as quick with slower revving engines and lower compression in an attempt to clean up the emissions. The early cars also benefit from the fabulous wooden centre dash that was only fitted to the MkI before being replaced with boring black plastic for subsequent models in the vinyl-obsessed ‘70s.

What very few people realise is that Jensen also made a tiny handful of Interceptors with a four-speed manual gearbox – 23 to be precise, all built to special order and only available on the MkI model. With even better performance than the slush-box versions, they are readily identifiable by the 116 chassis prefix, automatics having a 115 prefix. Only eight are thought to survive today, and this is one of them.

In fact UOL 368H has a particularly interesting and well-documented history. The keen-eyed among you will already have noted the 1970-issued registration number. This is because it spent its first two years unregistered in the dealer network. Copies of the factory build sheets show that it was completed on 12th September 1968 and was originally Mist Grey with a red leather interior. Despatched to Cyril Williams (Motors) Ltd of Wolverhampton on 13th November, it was bought by another dealer, Beech’s Garage (Hanley) Ltd of Stoke-on-Trent just a week later.

However, Mrs Beech was not happy with the clutch action, which she thought was too heavy, so a flurry of letters ensued with the Jensen works and, failing to gain a satisfactory resolution, Beech’s Garage ended up selling the car to another garage, Chisholm Motors Ltd of Kilmarnock, who had a customer for it by the name of Mr R Paton. Unfortunately the Jensen broke down on the way to Kilmarnock and Mr Paton cancelled his order, leading to another flurry of letters. The car was then bought by another dealer, Philip Mist (Autos) Ltd of Birmingham who sold it to a Mr P Wood, Chairman of Thermoplastic Coatings Ltd of West Bromwich in June 1970 when it was finally registered as UOL 368H.

In August 1971 the car developed an engine fault at 16,000 miles, sparking yet another flurry of letters, Mr Wood becoming so incensed that he set his solicitors on Jensen and ended up selling the car in 1972. It then had two further keepers (who also had gripes about Jensen’s customer service) before being abandoned in a lock-up in Hexham when the owner moved to America in 1977. To cap it all the car then got vandalised – not putting you off, are we?

Don’t worry! In the immortal words of D:Ream, ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ and sure enough, they did. A saviour came along - no, not Tony Blair but Mr MD Ryan of Carlisle who rescued the forlorn Jensen in 1987 and set about a meticulous four-year restoration to turn it into the car it should have been from the outset. At this point the Jensen still had only 54,600 miles on the clock but Ryan had the engine rebuilt anyway, along with the brakes, suspension and steering. He also fitted a new clutch, radiator, Larini stainless steel sports exhaust plus a host of other items, all documented in bills on file.

Naturally he also had the bodywork restored, repainting it in the Spies Hecker solid white you see today, fitting new windscreens front and rear. The original red leather seats were carefully renovated and new carpets fitted throughout. Finally back on the road in 1991, Mr Ryan enjoyed the car until 2002 when it was sold to a gentleman in Boston, Lincs, from whom our vendor acquired it in 2008 to join his collection of interesting cars.

For the past 11 years the car has been kept in dehumidified storage and has been started and moved regularly to keep everything free. Immediately before the auction it was treated to a recommissioning to prepare it for sale. This included an overhaul of the power steering rack, new battery, new fuel pump, rebuilt Carter AVS carburettor and refurbished front brake calipers.

Still showing only 63,417 miles on the clock which is almost certainly correct and is backed up my many old MOTs and invoices, it started promptly and ran beautifully as we moved it around for these photos. And before you ask – no, the clutch did not feel heavy at all.

Supplied with a large and entertaining history file, it also comes with a V5C, many old MOTs, tax discs and invoices, several wiring diagrams, a diagram of the gear-change mechanism and pedal controls, workshop manual, an original owner’s handbook and a useful quantity of spares.

As good underneath as it is up top (see the photos on our website), this exceedingly rare and handsome manual GT is now nicely mellowed and is sure to attract a great deal of interest wherever it goes.

PS: This car now has an MOT to August 2020 with no advisories recorded.