Jensen Buyer's Guide

Jensen occupies a particular corner of the British classic imagination: West Bromwich glassfibre and steel wrapped around big Chrysler V8s. Our two tracked sales, an Interceptor at £45,760 and a C-V8 at £23,000, sit alongside three live Interceptors, healthy supply for so small a marque.

The story, briefly

The Jensen brothers built bodies for others before building their own grand tourers: the glassfibre 541 and C-V8 through the fifties and sixties, then the Vignale-styled, steel-bodied Interceptor from 1966, with its vast glass tailgate and 6.3-litre (later 7.2) Chrysler power. The FF variant pioneered four-wheel drive and anti-lock braking years before anyone else sold either. The company failed in 1976; the cars never quite did.

Which Jensen, for what money

Interceptors span project money to £70,000-plus nationally for the best; our £45,760 result bought a good driving example. FFs command a substantial premium on historical significance and scarcity. The C-V8 at £23,000 represents the earlier, rarer, glassfibre-bodied line, long undervalued against the Interceptor and quietly correcting. Restoration costs comfortably exceed values on rough cars of either type.

What goes wrong

The Chrysler drivetrain is the easy part: parts are cheap, plentiful and shared with half of American motoring. Everything around it is the hard part: Interceptor steel rusts in sills, wheelarches, floors and around that tailgate; trim and glass are Jensen-specific and priced like it. Fuel consumption is historic in every sense. The specialist scene is small, expert and essential; a pre-purchase inspection from within it is the best money in the transaction.

Our view

An Interceptor bought on structure at £35,000 to £50,000 is a genuine event car with sustainable mechanicals, and the market has treated good ones kindly for a decade. The C-V8 is the connoisseur's contrarian pick at £20,000-something. Buy the best body available and let Detroit worry about the rest.