1972-1976 Jensen-Healey

Rust is a concern, almost as if the factory took perverse pride in building the most horribly corrosion-prone bodies

by Rob Sass

The 1970s have been called “the decade without quality control,” and alas, the Jensen-Healey was a product of that era. While it should have taken the sports car world by storm, much the same way that the Datsun 240Z swept aside mediocre competition like the MGB-GT and Triumph GT6, instead the Jensen-Healey was gone in just three years. It was a better car than most of its British contemporaries, and it deserved a better fate. The car has its genesis in the late ’60s, when Kjell Qvale, noted British car importer and then-owner of the West Bromwich-based Jensen firm, enlisted the help of Donald and Geoffrey Healey to fill a perceived gap left by the demise of the Austin-Healey 3000 in late 1967. The resultant Jensen-Healey bowed in March 1972, following the standard practice of swiping as many volume-production sedan components as possible. Front suspension came from the estimable Vauxhall Firenza and the four-speed gearbox was a Chrysler U.K. product. The...