Next project???
Hmm...
29th April 2000
Having been all the way to Hemsby, on the East coast, I have decided not to pursue the Jensen, it is a 541S;I have already made an offer to the present owner but it has been rejected, and I just don't love the thing enough to spend any more.
I also enquired about a TR4 with "slight frontal accident damage". Turns out that the car's handbrake released itself and it ran down a hill into a lamp-post! The impact was enough to push the radiator back onto the fan, crunch the bonnet, valance, grille etc.
Still looking........
Another one. "What's missing?" "Well, front grille, valance, lights and wings. Windscreen, instruments, rear wings and lights. And there's no bumpers. And the engine's stripped. £1,250 please."
Yeah right. Not on my planet mate. Checking back issues of the classic car mags, you find the ads for all the bits which are "missing, presumed sold". This is a bloke who then comes out with the classic line, "We should keep these classics on the road shouldn't we?"
Thursday 1st June
Hello, what's this? An advert for two Jensen Healeys. Nah, I haven't got the room for two. Next day I decide to ring and see where they are located (I know they're local). "For God's sake come and take the f****** things out of my way!" was the response as soon as I showed an interest.
My mate Andy and I went to have a butcher's at them on Friday 2nd June. The main (black) one had been imported from California and someone had spent a lot of time on it before selling it on. The white one had been acquired as a donor.
Long story shortened: I bought them.
Built by Brummies
Oops!
Apparently not. I have had mail from a reader
who is far more educated than I, who corrects this statement thus: They were not Brummies,
they were Yam Yams.
Oh dear. It would seem that Yam Yams are dwellers of the Black Country, and Brummies are strictly from Birmingham centre, the border defined by the last brick of the West Bromwich Albion football ground.
My
God! You really do learn something new every day, don't you?
Now you're going to ask me to define the Black Country aren't you? I'm
working on it....
Baked in California
Restored in Leicestershire
Wednesday 7th June. It does fit on the trailer, honest!
Bird crap and dust all over the place! One day, these two cars will be almost the same colour.
Depends how good your pc's resolution is, but take it from me, that's a pic of a clean bottom! (Cheap camera, dark area, black subject!)
Motor with added broom! Geddit? The white 'un will be giving up it's Dellorto's to fit in here.
Sad, but here's one due to for disposal. It's a RHD '73 with Irish plates. OK, so I forgot to take any pics before we pushed it into the garage where the black one was! There is not a rot free panel on it and care is needed when opening the doors as the chassis bends due to lack of sills!
1st Inspection.
Looking under the rear end of the black one for the first time it was obvious that someone had spent a lot of time cleaning and preserving this car. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING is covered by a substance which is black and greasy, like Shutz mixed with Waxoyl - this car could survive a few years on the sea bed! There had been some welding done to the floors and other areas, but it was good; the welds were solid and dressed. Repaired panels were well protected by paint.
It starts and runs OK but... around 6 inches of the upper cam cover gasket was not seated and a sheet of oil peed into the Valley of the Plugs. Everything else OK.
The white one is a donor car in every sense. We didn't even try to get it to start and for the price of the two cars together, it doesn't matter! At least I should have two of everything and an easy LHD/RHD conversion. It did however, yield a hard and soft top. the ht is in a bad way; rear window missing and a securing lever short, but it will serve a purpose as a support for a car cover. The st is white but hasn't been used for a while. There is no apparent damage and it should clean up nicely thank you.
Back at base.
..I removed the offending cam cover and to my great surprise (the first of a few) there was a new gasket which just took a clean up and proper re-fit. Also, the cam itself looked remarkably new. The speedo reads 36,800 but who knows???
There were no brakes, we were told they just needed bleeding. I removed the rear drums and Good Heavens! There are new everything's in there! Fluid in, pump, pump, pump........nothing. Pump, pump, whoops! A puddle under the front right wheel.
Turns out that the bleed nipple had been left loose. That's when we found that the front callipers had also been renovated.
So now we got go and stop, what else? Oh. No indicators; the switch is too stiff.
11th June.
That's about it for now, but here is a pile of techy questions. You have three quarters of an hour and no talking to the boy next to you or I'll tear up your paper up and report you!
History of the Lotus engine? Someone suggested it's Vauxhall based
What spline is the steering wheel mounting?
What's going on with the wipers? They sweep the wrong way on LHD and RHD?
Why the hell did I buy them?
Am I mad?
On a recent radio broadcast, an "expert" said that symptoms of the male mid-life crisis started in the early forties and involved a desire for sports cars and young women in short skirts. Hmmm.... I'm only half way there, but I'm determined. After all, I've worked for it and owe it to myself!
23rd June.
Latest pictures taken on Wednesday, when we collected the white 'un. More of an explanation later, but I'm off to the Lake District until the 2nd July, so there.
Ooops!
Is this repairable? Where will I get a new rear window with heater elements?
Sunday 9th July
Isn't it annoying when you get to your holiday destination to find that you have either just missed an interesting event, or there will be one after you have left? Well not this time; on our arrival in Keswick, we noticed a banner, "The Lakes Triumph weekend" at the Rugby club. And on the Saturday we left, "Saab Owner's Club" at the same venue.
Well anyway, back to Jensen messing. Before I went away, Andy and I had a fun day fiddling with the White 'un. Before starting the strip-down, we thought it best to try to start the engine to asses it's condition, so battery on..ignition on..no pump. In the boot we found two fresh, red wires connected to the positive feed of the fuel pump, one disappeared under the upholstery and the other was just a coiled up length about 10 feet long.
Ah! Hot-wire! We did what seemed obvious and un-coiled the free length and put it to the positive battery terminal. Ignition on...nothing. It worked eventually after Andy gave it a bit of "technical adjustment" with a bit of 4 x 2. That's better. It fired up after a couple of turns and surprise yet again! It runs better than the Black 'un. Good oil pressure and no rattles, brilliant.
The rest of the day saw us remove the headlights, rear bumper, wiper/indicator switches, dash, windscreen, and the Dellortos; they're safely hidden away for the future.
The Black 'un is locked in my garage awaiting an MOT and it's debut UK registration. I have been informed by a very kind gentleman from the Jensen Mailing list that the engine in this car is not the original; it comes from a Tangerine JH with black upholstery.
I have removed the wiper/indicator switch to find two of the wiper wires melted together. Stripping the switch revealed a further melt-down around the terminals. Oh dear. Not a major problem as I have a spare switch, but it does mean that I will have to completely inspect the wiring harness to look for a short.
Oh, and another thing. How about this - I removed the steering rack for reconditioning and thought it odd that the splined shaft came out of the lower coupling as soon as I loosened the pinch-bolt. The pinch-bolt stayed put. (Is there a put-bolt somewhere that could stay pinched? - Sorry).
I removed the bolt and....... some w****r has ground
half of the shaft away! And not just the bit that keeps the spline captured, the
whole length of the bolt's shaft has been attacked with a bench grinder, and there is
barely enough left to hold the nut. By the way, I've got a vacancy for a chauffeur if
anyone wants to.........no, I didn't think so :-)
Don't worry. This car will be systematically stripped and thoroughly checked before it's
allowed over 5mph.
So God only knows what I'll find in the loom!
24th August
Last Sunday was a good day, and plenty of progress was made towards this car's debut MOT. Andy came over for the day and immediately whipped the top off of the Strombergs to free up the adjusters and try to reduce the smokey exhaust problem.
Then it was time to dive under the dash to check the wiring and suss out the burning wire story. Feeding 12 volts straight to the wiper motor couldn't shift it; a bolt of lightening may have stood a chance. So we removed and stripped it and Pooh! What a sort of pongee, electrical type burning smell! Shagged.
There were tell-tale signs on closer inspection: the top of the left side wiper arm shows signs of rubbing on the under side of the bonnet, so it would seem that the extra friction caused the motor to run hot until it burned out altogether, shorting out the wiring. Expecting another good day tomorrow.
6th September
I typed all this shit once, but the bloody PC wouldn't save it for some reason, Balls!
Seems to be OK now. Well, as I once expressed, we DID have another good day; we fetched a few bits from the White 'un, mainly switches and the wiper motor, after the fitting of which, (O-level English Language, me) we, no I, made the exciting decision to dump the Strombergs and go with the Dellortos. So while I made a start on the stripping and cleaning of Italy's finest vapour makers, Andy disappeared under the dash to ferret out excess wiring, which seemed to be in abundance.
Some American bod must have been practising basic house wiring on this car. But after removing unwanted bits, we had no temperature gauge! And when trying to fit the Dellorto's air cleaner, it fowled on the alternator, hmm... Someone has gone to a lot of trouble to fit a non-standard alternator, making a special mounting bracket at the top and extending the old bottom one. Looking from the side though, the pulley is about 1/4 inch out of line and the only thing saving the fan belt from jumping is the distance between the pulleys. Oo-err.
Since taking these shots, I have moved a couple of wheels so that one side has black ones and the other silver.
18th September
So no air cleaner, so what? It'll be alright for now until we rebuild an/the engine. Main news is that it stopped smoking so we took it for the MOT which it passed on Tuesday 5th September. Weather was dry but iffy so I fitted the hardtop (the softop is still in the back of Son No2's Escort, having come of second-best after a battle with various cleaning agents!), but this created it's own problems; once on Andy's trailer, the mudguards prevented the doors opening. As Andy had insisted on driving it up there he had to get his 6'4" frame out through the missing rear window!
So that's the first big milestone, but now what? Registration.
I filled in the V55/5 and organised the transfer of insurance from the TR7. Damn! That reminds me, I MUST get round to sending them a cheque! With all the relevant documentation now intact, I tried to ring the Vehicle Registration Office at Nottingham, engaged. For two days, engaged. I tried Northampton, no answer. Sod it! I'll just turn up. I was trying to find out whether or not they wished to inspect the car.
I decided to wait until Friday as that was my rest-day (don't talk about work, OK) and go to Nottingham because they took over all the registrations from my local VRO in Leicester when it closed, and believed it would increase my chances of getting a local reg. Nope.
The queue was about 3/4 hour long as I went into the VRO. When the chap in front moved to a window, leaving me next to be served, I noticed a memo directly in front of me stating, "All personal imports will be dealt with via the hatch to the right and will take around 3 to 5 days to process." Thanks.
"Stuff that!" I thought, and waited. Eventually, my humble civil servant informed me that it referred to new cars, phew! But then he said, "Is this letter from the Jensen Owner's club the original?" No, it was a photocopy but so what? Then, "There's no make and model on this Californian registration document." "Yes there is look, just there where it says "Make and model, Jenhe."" "Just a minute please." He disappeared.
I saw him come back into view a couple of times during the lifetime he was away making his decision.
"That seems to be OK, we can do that for you." YESSSSS! And I got KAU 579N not Leicestershire, but it'll do.
There you go look, Top Down Motoring! That's my TR7 and Peugeot Estate in the background and Son No2's Escort on the lawn. They ALL live off the street normally!
First Drive: 10th September 2000
As Friday was my rest day* and I start work at lunchtime, Saturday morning was spent fitting the 'plates so Sunday 10th was to be the big day.
*OK, work - I am employed by one the "Big Four" supermarket chains who don't deserve the publicity here, and by way of playing God, they have abolished weekends. So I get Friday off, then Wednesday, then Saturday and Sunday together, although it is stressed that this is NOT a weekend; it is just two days together that just happen to have those names. I hope that makes it clear.
We had a bag of garden rubbish laying around so taking this to the local tip would provide an added sense of purpose to the proceedings. Luckily it was a beautiful morning so the Financial Director and I set out, with us both sitting on the wrong side of the car, respectively, if you see what I mean. As the engine warmed, the idle speed quickened... Ooh. Air leak? It also backfires a bit on over-run.
The FD was well impressed. Job done!
By the time we got home the idle speed was annoyingly fast. Under the bonnet I found the throttle cable far too tight; I had re-fitted the cam cover the night before and moved it just enough to "stretch" the cable. The simple adjustment took a minute.
The car feels fast, very fast. And noisy. The gas analyser at the MOT station suggested the mixture to be fine, so the back-firing and noise could be due to a lack of baffles in the exhaust system! Handling is not good enough for the power of the engine but overall, it's a fun car.
Now it will get played with for a month to see what's what, then rebuild to RHD and modify - brakes and suspension first! I don't seem to have explained anywhere that a kind person at Nottingham VRO told me some time ago that if I converted it BEFORE registration, it would probably get issued with the dreaded "Q" plate. Hence the order of things.
1st October - It's first show
I spent Saturday morning (30th) wrestling with the mucky white hood from the White 'un which had refused to clean up despite my best efforts. I had fitted the frame to the Black 'un during the week and now needed to put the fabric on. It was about 1 1/2 inches short of closing so half an hour of fan-heater-with-the-windows-closed later, I just managed it. It doesn't look too bad, but not brilliant either. Good enough. Pictures later.
Andy and I took it to "The Chequers" at Ashby Magna for the monthly informal classics meeting on this bright, Sunday morning, arriving bang on 11.00am. We were the first there, and thought we had got the dates wrong! We hadn't.
Having parked up, we were soon flanked by two gorgeous cars: a 1962 MGB Roadster and a 1964 Mercedes 230 softop. Both were ground-up restoration jobs in concours condition.
The JH attracted a fair amount of interest, we had a couple of drinks (small!), a roll with freshly roast pork, took some pictures with the hood up, and came home. A good day.
24th October
It's now been put away for the winter. Actually, It's stored at another location whilst I finish off the TR7.
Nothing much to report here but I am having hassle with the insurance broker Adrian Flux. Without going into too much detail, I am unhappy with their crummy after-sales service and the amount of correspondence they generate so I cancelled the policy.
This created another round of correspondence to declare the mileage before they will return my money. Ah well.
Christmas Day 2000
Not much to report, just an update so you don't think I've lost interest. Got me money back from Flux and the car's still in storage. That's all.
28th Jan 2001
Several things, well two mainly: At some point I forgot to mention the disappointment of discovering a small rot hole in the boot floor. Not serious enough to reach for the welding gear but it has spoiled an otherwise excellent bodyshell. That and the bootlid which has rotted in the usual place on the rear edge.
I have scraped, treated and painted the boot floor to halt the rot but stopped short of welding for now as it would mean removing all that luverly Waxoyl underneath (leaving it there whilst welding would be a fire risk especially that close to the fuel tank!).
But what to do with the White 'un? I have enough running gear to use on a new chassis and keep the V5 and therefore the Irish plates. Another project? I know but I just can't stop myself. I have an idea for a classic style sports-tourer and have already started taking measurements from the two cars for the new chassis.
I have press-ganged Son No.2 into the CAD work; Well, it's what he does for a living but he needs more 3D experience so this will be a good exercise for him as well. After my visit to the Morgan factory last year, I am also inspired to use traditional wood (ash?) in the bodywork. We'll see....
4th Feb
It's first showing at Ashby with newly fitted hood.
That hood still doesn't fit right; probably early hood on a late car? You don't get wet.
I visited the Black 'un (LHD) the other day, in remote
storage awaiting attention to the steering position. Jump leads on, it fired up after just
three turns and settled immediately into a steady, chokey idle. Five seconds and the oil
pressure started to rise gently to settle at just under 50 psi, that'll do nicely.
Especially as it still has oil of unknown origin; the car is officially "on the
road" but only for test purposes, the oil will be changed after storage now that I'm
happy everything is OK internally.
Disappointingly, there is still a small amount of oil
leaking on to the exhaust manifold which burns off harmlessly after a short time but not
without an unpleasant smell. Is it just the camcover leaking or is there
something else under there I should check?
I was also reminded that other deferred jobs include a new timing belt, new engine mounts
and fit the choke cable properly. The RHD conversion is still on the cards but beginning
to look daunting and
I am considering deferring this project or even selling the car, we'll see.
12th Feb 2001
Right. Now listen here!
Just after the purchase of the two Jensens featured here, a couple of people from foreign parts enquired after LHD spares to do the reverse conversion. One person even offered to buy the whole LHD car, this planted the seed in my head (plenty of room in there!) of the idea to sell.
Several other factors have now come into play: Metal seems to be disappearing from the TR7 at a faster rate than I can replace it, the very garage in which it is housed is in dire need of maintenance, winter gales have removed part of my garden fence which I am responsible for, and my central heating faltered the other day. It's still working but I rebuilt the boiler ten years ago and it should have been scrapped then!
So...
The conversion has no chance of being done this year and I won't enjoy pootling around sitting on the wrong side of the car, so it goes, both of them. Sell up, clear out, start again fresh after the summer. I cannot continue to keep the Black 'un in a garage which, in my humble opinion, is where a car of this age should be kept. I have recently had to free off the rear brakes on the TR7 after they seized due to lack use; they were all new, it was the first thing I did after purchase, so the Jensen would probably stagnate as well.
It is easy to say that I should not have bought these cars in the first place but hey, that's me buying on impulse. Too many people piss about worrying whether or not they are making a good investment. Come on! This is a hobby for Christ's sake.
Money?
Oh that, yes. Well I reckon it's condition 2; engine average, interior crap, body exceptional.
I will change the timing belt, oil, filter and engine mounts. The new owner will want to change the tyres; they passed the MOT but only God knows how. They will get you home but I wouldn't go fast motorway cruising on them. They are well aged American things.
The interior is California baked. the tops of the door cards are faded, seats are OK but you will want change most of it. There are no carpets but you can rob the White 'un for some used ones.
Engine runs OK on it's Dellorto's, and loud like a sports car should.
You will have to go a long way to find a 27 year old sportscar with such a solid bodyshell. Tiny bit of corrosion in the boot and the bootlid but that's it. Bumpers are a bit used but you can have the White 'un's to play with; they are the same (steel) but not quite so used. We park without contact over here.
Practical Classics latest value for a C2 JH is £3,250 which I think is reasonable, but no-one pays their prices.
So for less than that you can drive the Black 'un away. And if you want any major bits of the White 'un, like the engine, we can negotiate.
They are both for sale but I won't break the White 'un until the Black 'un has gorn.
Latest - 22nd Feb.
Things have moved on!
The Black 'un is sort of sold, "Subject to contract" as it were. The deal should be done by 1st April. Don't ask, it's complicated!
I was planning to take it to Gaydon next Sunday 25th, so I have spent the last couple of mornings working on the engine. I have cleared the way to the timing belt in readiness, removed the infamous steering bolt (1/2 ground away) and changed the engine mounts. Not much more to do but now I find that due to work commitments, I won't make it to Gaydon. Pity; I was looking forward to getting the low-down on Interceptors and meeting a few people from the mailing list. Ah well, they forecast snow anyway...
White 'un well stripped!
8th March
More work and expense! Oh don't we love our classic cars?
Put a new bolt in the steering U/J and noticed horrendous play in the steering. But Andy had stripped and overhauled the rack for the MOT and we knew the ball-joints were OK. Turns out the bloody U/J itself decided to give up the ghost on me. One of those anomalies where the corrosion builds up while standing then wears quickly away in use. So now I have a new one to fit.
I have replaced the lower cam cover gasket in an effort to stop the thing dropping oil onto the exhaust manifold and creating a pong. Just need to get over there with the new timing belt then bring it home and do the U/J. Trouble is, I'm getting fond of it again and if it don't sell, I'll put it back on the road for the summer.
18th March 2001
Did that. The new belt went on a treat but changing the alternator would mean changing the wiring so the old went back on for now. Andy drove the JH and followed my to my house, but as we came away from a junction, the car behind the JH disappeared in a cloud of smoke as it died. Oh dear.
Having literally just fitted the timing belt I feared the worst; a faulty one had wrecked the engine?
Nope. A common thing apparently, the distributor pops out of it's socket if the pinch bolt isn't really tight. Phew! A two minute job and no harm done, but only after towing it home.
24th April 2001
Well things do change rather rapidly don't they?
The chap who wanted to buy the car has let me down. In honouring my word to hold it for him, I turned someone else away, who seems to have also lost interest. So much for integrity (mine that is!).
So bollocks to it, I've taxed and insured it so that at least I'll have something to drive this summer.
The local get together happened as usual on 1st April but this time I posted a note about it on the Jensen mailing list as I had just discovered a couple more Jensen owners in the area. I had no response to my mail so I presumed no Jensenfolk would attend, and took advantage of the fine morning to concrete my new fence posts in. Andy had turned up unexpectedly and helped, but it still took until 1pm to finish the job, by which time Ray the Butcher would have packed up and gone home.
A quick bacon sandwich before we went to Ashby but the phone rang as I had my first mouthful. "Mrs Jean Smith of the Jensen Owners' Club" my wife informed me. "Huh?" I'm not a member, never been a member. Confused, I took the phone, "Well we're all here but you never turned up!" she pointed out to me in a stern but very friendly way.
Turns out that the JOC had their "Spring Weekend" near Rutland Water and one member, Wendy (?) had the excellent resourcefulness to download my post just in case they were stuck for somewhere to visit. I understand that it was Jean's idea not to tell me they were coming, to give me a pleasant surprise. Well they certainly did that! Around ten Jensens turned up and the first person to get a shock was Mick, Eddie the Eagle, Edwards the organiser. I'm sorry I wasn't there to see his face as they filtered in, one after the other. They made up around a third of the entire turnout!
Andy and I jumped into the JH and bombed over there not knowing just how many were there. Shock No.2 was mine we turned into the car park! Andy nipped in the pub to get us both a well earned pint each and I met the Jensenfolk. They all seemed to be a very friendly bunch as are most car clubs in fairness, Jean gave me another ticking off for being late and husband/Chairman Alan was very interested in my car.
The shock thing worked, but it only added to a great day and I had a brilliant introduction to the JOC. Andy and I had a good inspection of the cars present including two more JH's, one of which is owned by "Interceptor Bill" which is confusing! I expect to find an Interceptor owned by "Healey Fred".
I was suddenly called to move my car to let someone out and caused more than a little hilarity by jumping into the wrong side! I'll get a ribbing for that next time.
Alan also let us look all over his superb Interceptor, including letting me start it up and listen to the 440 burbling away, and now I want one. In red with full walnut dash please. Thanks for a great day JOC!
Of course, now I've started using the bloody thing, I can hear all sorts of noises which are undesirable, like tappets and exhaust. Andy insisted we do the tappets before we took it to Cropredy Bridge Garage for their Open Day on the 21st April so he ripped the cams off of the White 'un for a bit of practise and the shims. On the Black 'un, someone with too little knowledge had been playing around with the engine; the top cam carrier had no gasket underneath and several mounting studs and nuts were strained, making them U/S.
We managed to do the bottom cam AND make the cover seal properly at the first attempt, but the top cam needed a full set of new shims which I had to buy, five mounting studs from the spare engine, and three attempts to get the cover to seal. Andy also cured an oil leak from the pressure gauge take-off and decided on a bit of bullshit; having cleaned part of the block to check for leaks, he cleaned the cam wheels, only to find one is cracked! It got us there and back but it's the next job.
Starting it up for the first time just showed how noisy it really was before; the blasted exhaust now seems even louder! It is a good testament to this engine that even before we did the tappets, I would never have complained about it's performance.
'Twas the night before Cropredy.. and I decided to investigate why every other JH had two exhaust tail pipes sticking out from a rear silencer box and mine doesn't, it just has a single pipe splitting into two tail pipes with baffles inserted. Looking at the parts catalogue, it became obvious that I'm two boxes short of a full exhaust! The front and rear silencers are missing from my car.
The manifold is correct but some yank has made his own system with no splittable joins so I'll chop into it and put in another silencer somewhere.
June 2001
I decided to smarten up the appearance in preparation for the trip to the JOC's International Weekend event at Steeple Aston, near Banbury on 9th/10th June. We went on Sunday 10th. I painted the wheels (pics later) and touched up the paintwork so as not to ruin anyones attempts at photography. And just in case one of those foreigners should turn up, we fitted a better, more modern alternator and the proper air cleaner.
Quiter still! Fitting the air box killed the intake roar which I wasn't aware of until it had disappeared!
I also managed to adjust the right-hand door so that it closes better, and the side trim now lines up nicely as well.
I enjoyed the trip down to Banbury; the A423 is a good sportscar road as long as Farmer Giles stays at home.
July
Nothing. Still under the cover waiting for fine weather.
November 2001
I have enjoyed the use of the Jensen for a few months but due to changes in my personal
circumstances which are none of your G-D business, I am selling all my Jensen stuff (both
cars), with a view to purchasing a professionally restored car next year. It's a shame but
I have no regrets; I have had great fun with this car, now it's your turn. Mail me for
details.
January 2002
Didn't sell, I'm keeping it.
March 18th 2002
As there was an Autojumble, I loaded up
the Peugeot and trailer with all the unwanted crap from the White 'un. It turned out to be
not quite the event for selling such stuff; it was located in the foyer of the Heritage
Centre, with a carpeted floor and posh tables. I threw an old sheet over one of the tables
but I thought it best to leave the shittiest bits in the car!
October 15th 2002
Now due to a change in my personal circumstances during the summer months, I now need to get rid of the Jensen; I have had a minor health fright which prompts me to think scrambling around under cars is not such a great way to spend the rest of time on the planet. I have also realised that Clay Pigeon shooting is really a lot more fun anyway.
So for a mere £1,500 cash (strictly) you can take it away.
That includes everything Jensen that I have, including a spare set of wheels, RHD rack, dash etc, so you can do the conversion if you wish. I have dropped the price to this ridiculous level just to get rid; I really could use the garage space.
Just a few points: No, I will not break it up. The MOT ran out on 6th September but hey, it's only done the 10 miles home from the test station in 12 months although the exhaust may be iffy and the Tester keeps frowning at one of the front lower ball-joints. Could be driven away. You can have the new battery. Remember it needs an interior to smarten it up; the seats are ok but new interior panels were £250 in June 2002. I am not prepared to do any work on it, just take it.
I have been messed around before on a couple of occasions by people wishing to buy this car for £2,500 but I'm not sore, these guys can still re-apply! :-)
3rd December 2002
Hmm. Let down again, bugger. I had around 9 enquiries from the Find-it ad and being the Gentleman I am, I took them in strict order even though one bloke said he had the cash and was on his way! But being a gentleman never gets you anywhere in this World and true to form, I got messed around again.
The "main man" came to see it but not being the kind who likes to dirty his hands, went away to get a quote to bring the car up to "everyday use" standard. It came to around £1,000 which included aprox. £300 for an exhaust, £160 for electronic ignition and £140 for a rolling road session! He then reckoned that £2,500 (£1500 + £1000 which just happens to be my original asking price of around 1 year ago) was beyond his budget by £500. Of course I am not going to drop the price any further.
One of the other enquirers was courteous enough to let me know that he had bought another car before it fell through, but out of the others, some have also decided to go elsewhere but most have failed to respond. I will re-advertise it on Find-it but this time it's first come first served. Forget the MOT, just bring something to take it away. But don't think about offering me less than £1500 as you will have wasted your own time and money.
New Year's Day 2003
Sold! I am pleased to be able to report that a genuine classic car enthusiast came to see the car today, Steve McKenzie from the Wirral. He has agreed to buy it and I am pleased that it is going to a good home. I will be sorry to see it go all the same, but I am pleased to have contributed to extending the life of another classic.
I am grateful to Steve but also to a Mr Flynn (where ever you are!), the previous owner who I believe did most of the dirty work to preserve this car.
JH wallpaper anyone?