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The Interceptor was such a beautiful car and they made a convertible too. BTW there was a really nice hardtop in the movie "All The Money In The World" last year.
My Brother in law in Ireland has a Jensen sitting in his garage. I don't remember the back end looking like that one though.
He doesn't drive it much. He also has a Jaguar E type I think it is but it is in pieces. It was the car that was in the movie "About Adam". I want to see that one on the road.
Jensen Healy Interceptor. It takes me back to my college days. Loved it then, love it now. Just look. It has that timeless beauty. It could have rolled off the assembly line today.
My first thought when I saw your picture. Guy I worked with won a Pacer in a scratch off. The AC never kept up with the heat in the summer. Use the design of a large back window and we get the difference between night and day.
Bang - you hit my favorite marque (I will give you one guess as to why)
The interceptor and Healy are two different cars.
For true beauty and class, look at an interceptor convertible. That is my dream car. Fully restored they cost about $70,000 now. pull up to a hotel or resturuant in an Interceptor convertible and everyone looks. No one knows what it is, but it is obviously somehting classy. the valets will always park it out in front with the rolls and Ferrari becuase they want people to see that people with really cool cars stay or eat there.
The coupes are much much cheaper. I have seen them as cheap as $5,000 for a decent condition runner. Nice restorations run up into the $20 - $25K range. Ihave seen coupes listed for $50 K but I have not seen them sell for that much munless they have some special providence (ie once owned by a famous person). My uncle got one for less than $1000 I think, but it needed a lot of work. It is a beauty now. He is a retired mechanic.
The interceptors came with a Chrysler 383 and later a 440. The early 383 generated the best Hp and torque/ooomph because it did not have as much emissions crap on it, plus it is a lighter engine. There were a few (less than 20) made with a six pack configuration. I do not recall whether it was the 383 or the 440. Either way, you could probably watch the gas gauge dropping as you accelerated.
the ABS system worked with some part that was made of cork. Eventually it came apart and bits of cork would plug up the brake line causing the brakes to seize up. If you did not install the fix kit, you would one day hit the brakes and that would be the end of the car moving for that day. that and installing an electronic ignition system are critical fixes. The rest of the Lucas stuff is non-critical.
The Jensen FF (around 1968), which was the predecessor of the interceptor, introduced some of the more modern developments in today cars (mechanical abs brakes, awd, some other things I do not remember). AWD was used in some race cars, but not in a production car for every day driving until the FF.
The Jensen healey was/is a small two seat roadster which competes with the Miata in the scca. it has a 16 valve dual overhead cam lotus 907 engine with twin carburetors producing about 150 HP Us and about 165 in the European version with better Dellorto carbs. (mine has been upgraded to the European carbs).
Aslo look at the Jensen CV8. An 8 cylinder engine mounted to a roller skate with a fiberglass body. I almost bought one a few years back, but there are only like 4 or 8 of them in the US. Parts may be a problem.
I think healeys are also beautiful cars although less so than the interceptor. (Except the Jensen GT which is a healey that looks like a pet hearse and is pretty ugly IMO). I know more about the healey than the intereptor than the interceptors. there are about 2800 of them left in the USA. Parts are readily available from a shop in Pheonix, form people with spare parts laying around, or from overseas. Most of them died a fiery death because the original fuel T between the two carberators was made of a plastic that dissolved in the chemical that was used to replace lead in gasoline. They are not super fast and lack low end torque without modifications, but they are still really fun to drive. replacing the valves when they burn up is not so fun. Most of the restored Healys have upgraded to dellorto carbs and petronix ignition it is kind of cheating, but kind of necessary unless you do not want to drive much and just want a show car. You also need to add a roll bar, and an anti sway bar to the suspension. Putting in an electronic gas pump is also a good idea to avoid being stranded. a decent, running JH will cost between $3500 and $5000. restored they run about $10,000 - $15,000.
Elsewise, In the late 1970s/early 1980s, we had a family friend who had about 35 or so Corvairs in his yard. He cannibalized parts from many to keep a few on the road. They were fun cars and had some very innovative ideas in them. The primary unsafe problem Ralph Nader complained about was corrected before his book came out, but it still killed the car. Especially since he continued campaigning on the unsafe platform even though it had been fixed. He wanted his day in the limelight. However, they were still air cooled and without modifications could start fires at times. Our friend had one that was uber fast for the time. I cannot remember what it was called, but it was a super sport model of some kind. I think you needed ot add a roll bar to the convertables - Jensen healeys need one also.
The Interceptor was such a beautiful car and they made a convertible too. BTW there was a really nice hardtop in the movie "All The Money In The World" last year.
The Convertibles of the jensens are really good looking. The hard tops, not so much.
Lucas Electric was the Prince of Darkness. I once got the opportunity to pee on their immaculate grass in front of their wolrd headquarters. Had it not been so cold, I would have taken a dump instead. They deserved it.
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