Jensen
Jensen was a company that started out in the coachbuilding trade, but it wasn't until 1936 that the brothers Jensen produced a car which had their own name on it, using Ford V8 engines to power them. Post war, Jensen used the 6 cylinder Meadows engine, followed by the big capacity Austin Sheerline and Princess engines for their Interceptor and 541 series cars. Then came the Chrysler V8 engined CV8 which later included the 4 wheel drive FF version. The Interceptor name was revived for a new Jensen launched in 1966 with the big Chrysler engines (again with 2 and 4 wheel drive options) which were built into the early 1970's, with an ever larger capacity special variant 7.2 litre Jensen SP in 1971.
Donald Healey was aware that Healey 3000 production would be coming to an end at BMC by 1973 (who Jensen had been manufacturing the bodywork for) and Donald Healey knew there would be a good demand for a big Healey replacement, particularly in the USA. As a result Kjell Qvale from the USA became a major shareholder in the Jensen company, with Donald Healey as Chairman, and so the Jensen-Healey was born, with these cars being produced from early 1972.
So in addition to the Interceptor and SP, the new Jensen-Healey was also made, later on with a Jensen GT version option. Unfortunately there was a bottleneck shortage of engines at one stage, and some say Qvale had spent too much on the factory production efficiencies in an attempt to increase production, probably more than there was demand for, but Qvale was insistent that demand from the USA was plentiful and the demise of the Jensen-Healey was purely a result of the Trade Union trouble, which led to Jensen Motors closure and the loss of the 700 workforce.
