Jensen Coupe 1975-76

In this survey, we look at the Jensen Coupé, the last model produced by the factory before it was wound up in 1976.

Rare among the Interceptor variants, Coupés are a largely unknown type and many people who might know a bit about Jensens have never actually seen one. A prototype was first shown at the October 1975 Earls Court Motor Show in London, the last Motor Show which Jensens attended before being wound up. The firm was, in fact, in receivership while displaying on the stand — the Receiver had arrived only one month earlier. But he decided that Jensens should try to trade their way out of difficulty, hence the continuing efforts to market the cars at Motor Shows and thus the introduction of two new models in 1975 — the Coupé on the Interceptor chassis and the GT on the Healey chassis.

All four of Jensens’ show cars in 1975 were painted blue and the LHD Coupé displayed at Earls Court was done in Nevis Blue, one of a new range of colours introduced that year to replace the bewildering array used on the earlier cars. The show car, chassis number 1716, was configured as we know Coupés today — with angular rear side windows and with a darkened glass panel running across the roof. In fact, two other prototypes had been tried with varying combinations of turret treatment, neither of which had glass panelling in the roof. One had the angular side windows as seen on 1716, later adopted for production, and the other used the curved rear windows of the normal Interceptor saloon. Each of the “glassless roof” prototypes survives but the show car, which was the only Coupé properly finished in 1975, is not known to me as a survivor. A third glassless roof car, purchased as a body shell after the demise of Jensen Motors, was built up as a roadgoing car in later years. With its Interceptor saloon rear side windows, this car is now on the road in England as chassis number CP1998. 

This is the 1976 Jensen Coupé, Federal style, photographed at Hiawassee GA in 2000.
Check out the double bumpers and reflectors on the body sides. The little badge at the
rear says Coupé — it comes off a Morris Marina. Really! My pic.

Why did Jensen bother building a Coupé at all? That’s a fair question, given their then shaky financial situation. The push for it seems to have come from Kjell Qvale, the American owner of the business — he seems to have wanted something different to market in the States. As it turned out, this was probably a good thing — car makers who can turn out new models with regularity do tend to get the jump on their competitors. For Jensens, obliged to continue with a design whose underpinnings were quite old by 1975, the introduction of a new-looking car was probably the best way to go.

The overworked Engineering Department started to get to grips with the Coupé during early 1975, well before receivership woes beset the firm. Panther Cars Ltd. was contracted to design and build the special roofs and this, as with most jobs undertaken by or on behalf of Jensens in those straitened times, was done quickly and without due regard for reliability testing. The glass-roofed cars all had trouble with weather sealing and there seems to have been quite a lot of warranty work done to satisfy owners in rainy England. An owner of one of the RHD cars found that the fabric on the roof would stretch during long fast runs due to the low air pressure created over the top of the car and it appeared rather wrinkly and unattractive afterwards but contracted back into shape after a couple of hours. This problem was made much worse if the weather was cold and wet as it took the roof a lot longer to reconfigure its shape. Posiibly because of such problems, one Coupé customer, the established coach-building firm van Hool, ordered their car with the normal roof, either because of potential water leak or fabric stretching problems, or because they just didn’t like the American-inspired top.

The cars themselves started life essentially as unfinished Convertibles, built up on the line as complete motorized shells, even down to the power rams for the roof which were installed in the boot. Depending on orders received, the factory seems then to have designated final assembly as either a Convertible or a Coupé. In the case of the latter, the cars would be sent out to Panther where the tops were installed.

WPC reporting for duty, sir! Actually, I almost bought this one in 1986 but I thought the price a bit steep
at £9000. It was rotten underneath as well so it goes to show, you never can tell. Since then, WPC has
benefited from a fine restoration and now she's a regular at club events such as this one at Cropredy
Bridge Garage on 21 April 2001. The car was finished by Jensen Parts & Service after the factory closure
and was not released until November 1976. The half-grille found on some of the later vehicles, especially
Coupés, is evident in this view. VIN 1858. My pic.

All Coupés bar the Earls Court show car were finished and sold in 1976. In general, they cost a little more than the normal Interceptor saloons and a bit less than the Convertibles. Whichever way you looked at it, at around £12,000 a throw they were still extremely expensive cars. This, coupled with the fact that the factory was in receivership and having difficulties with its cautious suppliers, probably explains why so few were made.

In fact, the exact number built has been debated for years. A figure of 54 still floats around and tends to be repeated with greater authority each time someone finds it in an old magazine article. Fact is, many years ago, one of the men who worked at the Jensen factory recalled that Panther had been contracted to supply 60 tops for the Coupé. As six of these tops wound up in the Spares Department, it was assumed that the balance had all gone into cars, hence the conclusion that 54 had been made. I now know that this was not a safe assumption. When I researched the Coupé files during my systematic study of the surviving records in the late 1980s, I read all there was to read at the factory about these cars — and that wasn’t much. Since then, I have identified 46 Coupés, plus the latterly-built CP1998. The number is not final because 18 late Interceptors are still unidentified as to body style. Yes, the factory record-keeping was that bad — in the end, they didn’t even bother writing down whether 116 of the last cars were saloons, Convertibles or Coupés. In my view, it’s likely that 15 of the remaining 18 unknowns are saloons with the other three being Convertibles, but until we get those squared away we’ll never know exactly how many Coupés were made. Of the 47 known Coupés, 20 are LHD and 27 are RHD.

As with most Jensens made around this time, the United States figured prominently in the sales pitch. In fact, the disposition of Coupés by market area was as follows:

Coupés were made initially to a pattern and then on an almost ad-hoc basis, particularly as news of the impending wind-up of Jensen Motors began to spread early in 1976. While the firm was under receivership, the Receiver’s approval had to be obtained to build cars. He alone had the authority to commit resources or incur expenditure as he tried to balance the cash flow and help the business trade its way back onto an even keel. As a result, there are some slightly unusual features of Coupés in the late period which suggest that cars were being finished off to make use of whatever materials lay to hand. Some, for example, feature fabric seat facings, possibly to cheapen the cost of trimming or perhaps to make the remaining stock of hides last that little bit longer (some late Interceptors have this as well). Some of the cars have the “half grille” look with every second grille slat removed, giving the cars a more aggressive look up front, as some see it.

Engines on the production Coupés were all Chrysler 5-series 440s (1975 model year — the Show car alone had a 4-series unit). These were well smogged for the US market but otherwise unchanged for the UK sector. All the Coupés featured the luxurious woodgrain dashboard first seen in 1975 on the US saloons and Convertibles. In addition, and in common with changes to other US cars for 1976, the Federal Coupés all carried the big double bumpers, a mandated item for this market.

There was a fairly good selection of paints on the Coupés, all of them standard colours:

Given the sloppiness in the record-keeping at the time these were built, I wouldn’t be surprised if the cars listed as having been painted “Silver Grey” and “Grey” were in fact painted Sebring Silver.

The trim colours came straight out of the catalogue:

Except for two of the three glassless roof cars, and possibly the van Hool conversion, all Coupés had their tops covered in either Tan or Black material. Again, the paucity of records lends room for speculation but 20 cars are listed as having had Black tops, 7 had the Tan variety and the rest have no details recorded.

Options-wise, Coupés came pretty well fully specified. Except for a choice as to paint and trim, you saw a Zemco trip computer on a few cars and maybe the odd Blaupunkt stereo. The vague factory records specify three cars as having had sheepskin seat facings but the possibility of fabric facings is nowhere listed in the factory literature or the surviving records. No separate owner’s handbook was issued for the Coupé and the special parts for the top were detailed only in a loose collection of roneod pages sent out to Jensen workshops, many of which then had to try to work out how best to satisfy their customers' complaints of leaks.

Well, isn't this a pretty car — a Federal model which has made the journey back to
England. Hope the top is watertight. But do you know, and I'm ashamed to say this,
I don't know which one it is! Help me out, someone? Thanks John.

Coupés continued to be made, like saloons and Convertibles, after the factory closed in May 1976. In fact, 34 of the 47 known Coupés were finished and sold after the official closure of Jensen Motors. Those despatched between June and December 1976 were completed by Jensen Parts & Service Ltd, one of the residual companies left behind by Qvale and the Receiver to serve the needs of those who were brave enough (or foolish enough) to buy these very expensive cars from a decidedly moribund car maker. Qvale himself kept a Coupé when he quit Jensens in 1976 and it survives in the United States. Three RHDs were sold off in the Isaacs auction of remaining factory assets in August 1976, and all were taken by the same buyer. One was a glassless roof prototype and the others were uncompleted production cars which were finished off by Jensen Parts & Service later in the year. As noted above, a shell which is now known as CP1998 was finished many years later.

Being the last Jensens made, Coupés probably stand a better chance of survival than any other Interceptor variants. In fact, I have fates for 44 Coupés over the years, most of them since 2000, so it looks as if they are doing well. I know of no Coupé having been broken.

With their “de Ville” American looks, Coupés are not to everyone’s taste — some like them and some don’t; some seek them out while others pass them by. They are certainly exclusive cars and generally this helps them command a premium over saloons in the market-place. In my experience, if Jensen owners as a breed have one thing in common, it is that they like something different. If you like something different, then a Coupé is about as different as you can get within the Jensen Interceptor fraternity.

If you own one of these cars and we haven’t had the pleasure of meeting, do drop me a line and tell me about your car — the address is tfmuch@bigpond.com. There’s an outside chance you might own one of the late model cars of indeterminate body style, in which case I’d certainly like to hear from you. For a list of the wanted chassis numbers, have a look here.

As always, I'm interested to hear from anyone who owns a Jensen car of any kind. Just so you don’t ask me dopey things which you could find out with a little self-education, pick up a copy of the chassis databook first — it’s available from outlets in Britain, Australia and the United States. To find out about this weighty tome, go here — and to contact one of the suppliers go here.

© 2000-2008 Richard Calver

Back to model histories

HOME