This car, Lot 149, sold for $56,201 (£41,400) at RM Sotheby’s Berkshire, U.K., auction on July 8, 2025.
By the time this Jensen Interceptor eased out of a West Bromwich factory, Alan and Richard Jensen had quit the company they founded in 1934. To understand why the Interceptor was the first Jensen built without the brothers at the helm requires a backward glance at the company’s history.
Jensen Motors, intercepted
The Jensen brothers began their careers by building a cycle-fendered, boattail body for an Austin Seven chassis in the late 1920s, then winning contracts to build bodies for Standard Motor Company and Avon Coachworks. A year working at a repair shop followed, but a disagreement split the partnership. Shortly thereafter, the brothers joined commercial coachbuilder W.J. Smith & Sons, reorganizing it as Jensen Motors in 1934.
Jensen’s strong suit was designing and building car bodies around other makers’ mechanical bits. It never developed its own engine. Instead, the right relationship seemed to come along at the right time, sparing it much of the agony of engineering. Shifting from clothing existing Singers, Wolseleys and MGs to creating an in-house production car did bring the supply of motors into sharp focus. But a commission to build “something special” for Clark Gable based on a Ford V8 chassis, and an auspicious meeting with Edsel Ford, triggered a flow of Ford V8s onto the factory floor. Thereafter, it was Austin sixes, and finally, Chrysler V8s.
Jensen alleviated periodic flirtations with financial disaster by accepting manufacturing duties for Austin, Volvo and Sunbeam. Nonetheless, the competitive landscape took a toll on the founders’ health, culminating in a sale of the company to Norcros Ltd., a family-business specialist. The managers assigned to run Jensen planned a replacement for the divisively styled C-V8 coupe, but rather than utilizing the company’s well-tuned in-house expertise, the design work was assigned to Italy’s Carrozzeria Touring. Mere months after the contract was signed, Touring’s business collapsed. The manufacture of Jensen’s prototypes was then sourced to another Italian coachbuilder, Vignale.
Nothing could have propelled the founders out the door with greater haste than this insulting turn of affairs. Consequently, the Interceptor Mk I was shown at the October 1966 Earls Court Motor Show sans the men who were instrumental to its very existence. The sole nod to the brothers’ wishes was the car’s recycled name: The company had produced an Austin-powered Interceptor starting in 1950, and naming the car after its predecessor was approved.
A 10-year run
While Jensen’s two previous production cars — the C-V8 and the 541 — were skinned mostly in fiberglass, the new Interceptor was crafted in steel, sitting on a modified C-V8 chassis with its independent front suspension and live axle rear. Also inherited was Chrysler’s 330-hp, 383-ci V8 engine paired with a TorqueFlite 3-speed automatic gearbox. In 1969 the Mk II Interceptor, of which our subject car is one, received a refresh with small cosmetic changes to the front end, new taillights and a vastly different interior with new seats, dashboard and center console. Also, the Interceptor’s suspension was redesigned to use ball joints rather than kingpins, power-assisted Girling triple-piston brakes replaced the old Dunlops, and power-assisted steering was made available. A Mk III Interceptor arrived later in 1971, with additional standard features, yet more minor cosmetic changes and a larger 440-ci Chrysler V8.
The car gained an appreciative audience for its elegant styling and commendable performance. Top speed registers 140 mph and the sprint from 0–60 mph consumes seven seconds (and a lot of fuel), despite a curb weight of 3,500 pounds. The driving experience is like a linebacker performing ballet — plenty of propulsion, but nimble in the curves. The interior is endowed with leather, burled wood, wool and a generous helping of gauges — the hallmarks of top-shelf British cars.
Though Jensen’s management hoped the cachet of the Interceptor would salvage the company’s finances, trouble arrived on another front: The company’s auxiliary manufacturing revenue stream making Austin-Healey’s 3000 and Sunbeam’s Tiger was about to vanish. U.S. safety regulations effectively eliminated the 3000 from our shores, and Sunbeam had been taken over by Chrysler, who wouldn’t build a Ford-powered car. Trickling a few Interceptors out of the factory every month could not offset the evaporation of these contracts, and the last Interceptor was completed in 1976 while the company was under receivership.
Fully priced
Our subject car presents a blend of pros and cons. In the “plus” column, we have only two owners, the last of these having kept the car since the mid-1970s. The car is accompanied by its handbook, toolkit, a Jensen Motors Statement of Origin, copies of factory build records, invoices and MoT certificates. It retains its matching-numbers engine and attractive factory colors of Metallic Quartz over black.
In 2025, minor mechanical repair was performed, including a carburetor rebuild. The car’s options — including air conditioning, the Sundym glass, Voxson 8-track and a dealer-installed sunroof — are mild positives. But these virtues do not completely offset two negatives: The mileage, while low, is something of a question mark, and the car will require “recommissioning,” according to the auction company.
Falling into the deep well of Jensen Interceptor restoration is worth avoiding. Though the drivetrain is robust and easy to service, other features are less friendly. Body panels are hand-fitted and prone to rust. As Jensen added luxury features, an already-strained electrical system grew even more complex. This example exhibits the patina of age: creased front seat upholstery, hazed chrome, a dent in the driver’s side fender and somewhat tired paint.
As with many beautiful cars that blend an American drivetrain with foreign design, Jensen Interceptor values have lagged more purebred contemporaries. Most transactions involving cars with mechanical or cosmetic flaws occur in the sub-$40k area. This Interceptor was well sold, given uncertainty around its mileage and the potential expense of renovation in its future.
