Jensen
- A
Brief History
The
two brothers, Alan and Dick Jensen first established
a coachbuilding company in the 1920's, and the first bodywork
that they produced was fitted on to an Austin Seven
chassis. It was a low and sleek car that performed well.
The Standard Motor Company became interested in their
new design and an arrangement was made whereby Standard
would supply chassis units to the brothers to have the
new Jensen bodywork fitted. The resulting cars were
known as the Avon Standard. By 1936 Jensen moved into
car production and their first Jensen model was powered
by an American Ford 3.5 litre V8. A Jensen truck was
later produced using a tubular alloy chassis. During
the Second World War the company was turned over to
the production of war materials and no cars were produced
until the war ended. In 1949 Jensen launched a model
known as the interceptor which used a 4 litre Austin
engine. In 1954 the first fibre glass bodywork car -
the 541 was produced and in 1962 the CV8 arrived. The
Interceptor name was of course revived in the 1960's
for an all-new model that is now the car that Jensen
is most well known for. Jensen later went through troubled
times, but today Jensen is once again producing cutting
edge sports cars.
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