Gentleman's finest rarity

Aston Martin V8 tells us that story literally as a luxurious muscle car where almost all of their components are handmade. But we didn’t talk about that for now, instead we’re gonna talk about the car with Italian styling, American muscle, British class – The Jensen Interceptor of the 60s.

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The story about the Interceptor was started in 1960s before the anti-pollution movement started to take effect on almost all countries around the world. Interceptor was classified as a Grand Tourer with 2 doors and 4 seats. It also have 3 body tipe such as hatchback, coupé, and convertible styled by Carrozzeria Touring of Milan, Italy. The Mark II was announced in October 1969, with slightly revised styling around the headlamps, front grille and bumper and revised rear lights. The interior was substantially revised in order to meet US  regulations, and air conditioning was an option.

The Mark III, introduced in 1971, revised the front grille, headlamp finishers and bumper treatment again. It had GKN alloy wheels and air conditioning as standard, and revised seats. It was divided into G-, H-, and J-series depending on the production year. The 6.3 litre  engine was superseded by the 7200cc in 1971.

Speaking of power plant, Jensen used Chrysler’s RB big-block engine which using wedge-shaped combustion chamber instead of hemispheric ones. The engine and transmission choice of the Interceptor are 6276cc with 4-speed manual or TorqueFlite automatic transmission before the new engine choice of 7200cc in 1971 with 4-barrel carb and 2-barrel carb choice. Keep in mind that the most powerful Interceptor produced are using 7200cc with double barrel carbs producing 330 hp. Unfortunately, Chrysler discontinue the 2-barrel carb engine in 1972 making Jensen stuck on using 4-barrel carb which producing only 225 hp

With the same styling, or more like another variant of the “Interceptor” was called a Jensen FF that stands for “Ferguson Formula” of Ferguson Research Ltd who invented the four-wheel drive system for the FF. At a glance, it looks the same as the Interceptor but in reality the FF is longer for about 127mm with different technology on the drivetrain powered with the same engine as the Interceptor’s oldest type. Because it’s 30% more expensive than the Interceptor, the car deemed unsuccessful thus made the production stopped after 320 cars only. It was started when Chief Body Engineer Eric Neale started  a frantic program of work which continued until well into 1967 as a new steel-bodied version of the FF (as well as a C-V8 replacement, the Interceptor) were put into production. It was a very difficult period for all concerned, and such were the problems with the Interceptor that development of the FF was deliberately held back to ensure that, when the company flagship was released in volume, it would be as right as it could be. Although a couple of cars were prepared for Earls Court in October 1966, very few FFs were built in the first year of production, which means the FF project was started alongside the Interceptor.

 Jensen FF Mark II, spot the difference between this and the hatchback Interceptor.

You’re gonna ask me “what is the Jensen Interceptor R?” since I’d never mentioned that variant after all this time. This “modern” Interceptor is produced by Jensen International Automotive powered with Chevrolet’s 6.2 liter LSA – the same engine used in the Cadillac CTS-V with 6-speed automatic transmission. Well, there’s also something beside the R called Jensen Interceptor S from Cropredy Bridge, the long-established Jensen specialist near Banbury that was bought last year by Tim Hearley and Alan Garnett of V Eight Ltd. While the R using LSA, this one is using Corvette’s powerhouse of the LS2. To make it simple, R is Cadillac-powered, S is Corvette-ish.