The Last of the V8 Interceptors

The Interceptor fell from grace as quickly as fat sideburns, leisure suits, razor-cut hair, and other artifacts of the ‘70s

by Rob Sass

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Jensen Interceptor cruised near the top of the food chain. It was an expensive, handmade gentleman’s express built to blast across Europe at triple-digit speeds, powered by a lazy but unfussy Chrysler V8, like the Facel Vega a decade earlier.

By the time the 8-track music jammed during the fuel crisis (and the tape was flung out of the window), Jensen had produced 6,387 Interceptors in hatchback coupe (saloon), convertible, and notchback (coupe) form. After that, the Interceptor fell from grace as quickly as fat sideburns, leisure suits, razor-cut hair, and other artifacts of the ’70s, never to regain its initial popularity, although the car was revived briefly as the Series IV.

IMPROVEMENT OVER GROTESQUE CV8

The Interceptor made its debut at the 1966 London Motor Show. Vignale’s Italian styling was a vast improvement over the grotesque CV8. Strangely, Jensen—which had built bodies for Sunbeam...