Jensen P66 was a model range planned by
Jensen Motors in the 1960s, which was aborted after two examples were made and one was exhibited at the 1965
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 ...
.
It was planned as a replacement for the
Austin-Healey 3000
The Austin-Healey 3000 is a British sports car built from 1959 until 1967. It is the best known of the "big Healey" models. The car's bodywork was made by Jensen Motors and the vehicles were assembled at BMC's MG Works in Abingdon, alongsid ...
, which at that time Jensen were assembling at their factory in
West Bromwich
West Bromwich ( ) is a market town in the borough of Sandwell, West Midlands, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is north-west of Birmingham. West Bromwich is part of the area known as the Black Country, in terms of geography, c ...
.
BMC were planning to drop the Healey and Jensen asked
Eric Neale, their house stylist, to design a replacement for the US market. In a break from their recent tradition of using glassfibre, he used an aluminium body on a steel platform and tube chassis. The optional engine continued to be a 6.2 litre Chrysler V8 similar to that used in the contemporary
CV8, or a 4.5 litre in stock form. The car was priced at £2,200 in the UK against £3,500 for the CV8, and would possibly have been renamed as Interceptor if put into production.
Reception to the convertible car was generally favourable, although the strakes over the wheel arch were criticised in the press as outdated. A hardtop version was also produced with plain wheel arches. The company founders, Richard and Alan Jensen, favoured putting the model into production. The Norcros group had been controlling the company for some years and preferred to adopt an Italian styled body, a view shared by Managing Director Brian Owen and Deputy Chief Engineer Kevin Beattie. They approached
Touring of Milan who produced a rival design that was put into production by
Vignale
Vignale is the luxury car sub-brand of Ford Motor Company used in automobiles sold in Europe.[Interceptor
Interceptor may refer to:
Vehicles
* Interceptor aircraft (or simply "interceptor"), a type of point defense fighter aircraft designed specifically to intercept and destroy enemy aircraft
* Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, a police car
* ...]
.
After making some changes to the Touring design to make it suitable for tooling, Eric Neale felt that he had no role left in the company and resigned. He was followed by the Jensen brothers.
The convertible P66 was soon broken up, the parts and the other hardtop model being sold on. The second, hardtop, model has survived in original condition and has been used regularly; following a thorough rebuild it won Car of the Show in the 'Classic & Sports Car' Club Awards at the 2015 Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show.
File:P66 original UK Motor Show publicity picture 1965.jpg, P66 Jensen Original Brochure, 1965
References
;Notes
;Bibliography
* "Jensen" by Keith Anderson ISBN number 0-85429-682-4 Foulis Motoring / Haynes book 1989
* "Jensen & Jensen-Healey" by Keith Anderson ISBN number 0-7509-1808-X Sutton
External links
Jensen Owners' Club
{{Jensen Motors timeline
P66