The Jensen Interceptor made its debut in 1950 as the second car made by

Jensen Motors Jensen Motors Limited was a England, British manufacturer of sports cars and commercial vehicles in West Bromwich, England. Brothers Alan and Richard Jensen gave the new name, Jensen Motors Limited, to the commercial- and sports car body-making ...

after World War II. The car was based on Austin components with a body built by Jensen and styled by Eric Neale. The

straight-six engine A straight-six engine (also referred to as an inline-six engine; abbreviated I6 or L6) is a piston engine with six cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. A straight-six engine has perfect primary and secondary engine balanc ...

and

transmission Transmission or transmit may refer to: Science and technology * Power transmission ** Electric power transmission ** Transmission (mechanical device), technology that allows controlled application of power *** Automatic transmission *** Manual tra ...

came from the Austin Sheerline and the chassis was a lengthened version of the one used on the

Austin A70 The Austin A70 Hampshire and later Austin A70 Hereford are cars that were produced by Austin of Britain from 1948 until 1954. They were conventional body-on-frame cars with similar styling to the smaller A40 Devon and A40 Somerset models resp ...

with a modified version of the independent coil sprung suspension. Production continued through 1957. Jensen later reused the name for a second-generation Jensen Interceptor which debuted in 1966 and was revived several times after that.

History

The Interceptor was launched as a convertible in a mix of aluminium and steel on a wood frame. The entire front section hinged forwards to give access to the engine. The wrap around rear window was made of rigid plastic (Perspex) and was arranged to drop down into a well for stowage when the top was lowered. In 1952 a hardtop version with fabric-covered roof was launched and a few sedanca versions were also made. Total production was 32 convertibles, 52 saloons and 4 sedancas. The brakes used a mixed Girling hydraulic/mechanical system at first to be replaced by a full hydraulic system later. The four speed manual transmission gained optional overdrive in 1952. When the overdrive was fitted a lower, 3.77:1, rear axle gearing was used. A convertible tested by ''

The Motor ''The Motor'' (later, just ''Motor'') was a British weekly car magazine founded on 28 January 1903 and published by Temple Press. It was initially launched as ''Motorcycling and Motoring'' in 1902 before the title was shortened. From the 14 ...

'' in 1952 had a top speed of and could accelerate from 0- in 17.8 seconds. A fuel consumption of 20.3 miles per gallon(imperial) was recorded. In 1952 the car cost £2645 (including tax) on the home market. The overdrive was an extra £116. In 1953 American race car legend

Briggs Cunningham Briggs Swift Cunningham II (January 19, 1907 – July 2, 2003) was an American entrepreneur and sportsman. He is best known for skippering the yacht Columbia (1958 yacht), ''Columbia'' to victory in the 1958 America's Cup race, and for his effor ...

had a left hand drive Interceptor made with a , Chrysler "Firepower" hemi engine. With a top speed approaching 145 mph it was the second fastest production built car of 1955 behind the Mercedes Benz 300SL.Jensen V8 The Complete Story Of The American-Powered Cars. Mark Dollery. The Crowood Press UK. Jensen also made the Austin A40 Sports, a much smaller vehicle which somewhat resembled a scaled-down Interceptor. Jensen cabriolet Schaffen-Diest

References

{{Jensen Motors timeline Interceptor(1950) Cars introduced in 1950 Cars discontinued in 1957