The Jensen 541 is an automobile which was produced by

Jensen Motors Jensen Motors Limited was a British manufacturer of sports cars and commercial vehicles in West Bromwich, England. Brothers Alan and Richard Jensen gave the new name, Jensen Motors Limited, to the commercial body and sports car body making bu ...

from 1954 to 1959. It was first exhibited at the

London Motor Show London Motor Show, formerly the London Motorfair, is a motor show in England. It was held biannually at Earls Court Exhibition Centre, from 1977 to 1999. When the event won the support of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders and P&O ...

in October 1953, and production started in 1954. The 541 used fibreglass bodywork mounted on a steel chassis and was fitted with a

straight-six engine The straight-six engine (also referred to as an inline-six engine; abbreviated I6 or L6) is a piston engine with six cylinders arranged in a straight line along the crankshaft. A straight-six engine has perfect primary and secondary engine bala ...

, three SU

carburettor A carburetor (also spelled carburettor) is a device used by an internal combustion engine to control and mix air and fuel entering the engine. The primary method of adding fuel to the intake air is through the venturi tube in the main meterin ...

version of the 4-litre

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

engine and four speed

transmission Transmission may refer to: Medicine, science and technology * Power transmission ** Electric power transmission ** Propulsion transmission, technology allowing controlled application of power *** Automatic transmission *** Manual transmission ** ...

with optional Laycock de Normanville overdrive. The body consisted of three major mouldings and the entire front was rear hinged and could be raised for engine access. The doors were aluminium. Suspension was independent at the front using

coil spring A selection of conical coil springs The most common type of spring is the coil spring, which is made out of a long piece of metal that is wound around itself. Coil springs were in use in Roman times, evidence of this can be found in bronze Fib ...

s with a

Panhard rod A Panhard rod (also called Panhard bar, track bar, or track rod) is a suspension link that provides lateral location of the axle. Originally invented by the Panhard automobile company of France in the early twentieth century, this device has been ...

located rigid axle and

leaf spring A leaf spring is a simple form of spring commonly used for the suspension in wheeled vehicles. Originally called a ''laminated'' or ''carriage spring'', and sometimes referred to as a semi-elliptical spring, elliptical spring, or cart spring, i ...

s at the rear. A choice of wire spoked or steel disc wheels with centre lock fitting was offered. At first the car had servo assisted

drum brake A drum brake is a brake that uses friction caused by a set of shoes or pads that press outward against a rotating cylinder-shaped part called a brake drum. The term ''drum brake'' usually means a brake in which shoes press on the inner surfa ...

s but from 1956, the newly introduced 541 Deluxe version featured Dunlop

disc brake A disc brake is a type of brake that uses the calipers to squeeze pairs of pads against a disc or a "rotor" to create friction. This action slows the rotation of a shaft, such as a vehicle axle, either to reduce its rotational speed or to h ...

s both front and rear—the first British four seater thus equipped. It was also a luxurious car with the well equipped interior featuring leather seats as standard. The individual seats in front separated by a high transmission tunnel and the rear seats had a small centre armrest and could also be tilted forwards to increase luggage space. Standard colours (1955) were black, ivory, imperial crimson, moonbeam grey, Boticelli blue, deep green and Tampico beige. By employing lightweight materials, Jensen managed to make the car significantly lighter than their contemporary Interceptor model, with a dry weight of as against the older design's . Performance benefitted. In 1957 the 541 R was introduced, and in 1960 the 541 S arrived with wider bodywork and revised grill styling. Production of the Jensen 541 ended in 1959 and the 541 S early 1963 when the range was replaced by the C-V8.

Performance

The Jensen 541 was a fast car with a claimed and top speed of (both subsequently increased) at launch. A car with overdrive tested by the British magazine ''

The Motor ''The Motor'' (later, just ''Motor'') was a British weekly car magazine founded on 28 January 1903 and published by Temple Press. It was initially launched as ''Motorcycling and Motoring'' in 1902 before the title was shortened. From the 14 ...

'' in 1955 had a top speed of and could accelerate from 0- in 10.8 seconds. A fuel consumption of was recorded. The test car cost £2146 (with the optional overdrive) including taxes. In 1957 Richard Jensen had a 541 deluxe built with a

Chrysler Hemi engine The Chrysler Hemi engines, known by the trademark Hemi, are a series of American V8 gasoline engines built by Chrysler with overhead valve hemispherical combustion chambers. Three different types of Hemi engines have been built by Chrysler f ...

but no performance or fuel consumption figures are known for this vehicle. The basic car cost £1821

Drophead Coupé De Ville by Abbott Of Farnham

Two examples of the 541 were converted into

drophead coupé A convertible or cabriolet () is a passenger car that can be driven with or without a roof in place. The methods of retracting and storing the roof vary among eras and manufacturers. A convertible car's design allows an open-air driving exp ...

s by Abbott of Farnham.

Gallery

File:Jensen_541_Prototype.jpg, Jensen 541 Prototype (featuring aluminum bodywork) File:WPK 541 - 1954 55 Jensen 541 Drophead Coupe.jpg, One of the two Jensen 541s converted into

s by Abbott of Farnham

References

{{Jensen Motors timeline

541 __NOTOC__ Year 541 ( DXLI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Basilius without colleague (or, less frequently, year 1294 ''Ab urbe condita''). Basi ...

Sports cars Cars introduced in 1954

Performance

Drophead Coupé De Ville by Abbott Of Farnham

Gallery

See also

References