Sean Connery owned one, and adored it massively during the year he owned it. Slade guitarist Dave Hill had one. Maybe 500 escaped the workshop, maybe seven of them with four-speed manual transmissions. The looks are a mashup of 1960s upper-crust British GT car with a bit of weird for good measure. Most were right-hand drive, and many still survive today. Jensen is one of those back-shop car crafting companies from England, a company that cranked out handcrafted cars by the hundreds per year on a good year. You bought high into exclusivity, into comfort, and you certainly bought in for the speed. Jensen is probably most famous for utilizing Chrysler V8 engines where they could, and the C-V8 was the first example of the partnership. Early C-V8s used the 361ci mill, but later cars made the switch to the 383ci big-block. In a British machine, that would make for one hell of an afternoon of motoring along. You had the grunt of the Chrysler mill attached to a car that would handle and brake better than just about any American-sourced machine. You had a handcrafted interior that looked positively stunning and was a rich place to plant your hide for mile after mile, and whether or not you can deal with the styling or not, you have to admit that it’s overall a bit of a looker.
With only 500 or so built, and far fewer in the States, seeing one at all is rare. Here, Jay Leno is going to take you for a ride in his personal C-V8 and he’ll show you the details, ins and outs of his dark blue machine. With the wire knockoffs and that Chrysler song playing, does it get much better than this?
thank you jay for a nice day at the office
Can you imagine one of these fine cars fitted with a Hellcat motor, uprated suspension and a strengthened chassis? As the body is fibreglass it won’t rust and it could even be replaced by carbon panels – who needs an Interceptor?
Steering wheel on the right, probably why most of didn’t know that there was a Chrysler powered Jensen before the Interceptor.
Hmm, fibreglass body, Hellcat motor, Geordie gave me an idea. I smell a reproduction opportunity. It is knock out beautiful