Jensen began as a small coachbuilding firm run by brothers Richard and Alan Jensen; they bought out the body works of W.J. Smiths & Sons where they worked after the owner's death and renamed it Jensen Motors in 1934. They built exclusive customised bodies for standard cars produced by several manufacturers of the day including Morris, Singer, Standard, and Wolseley. In 1934 they were commissioned by American film actor Clark Gable to design and build a car for him based on a Ford V-8 chassis. The resultant car won them much acclaim and stimulated huge interest in their work including a deal with Ford to produce a run of Jensen-Fords with Jensen bodywork on a Ford chassis. In 1934 they also started to design their first true production car under the name White Lady. This evolved into the Jensen S-type which went into production in 1935.
Production of cars ceased over the war years, but by 1946 a new vehicle was offered, the Jensen PW (a luxury saloon). Few were produced since raw materials were still in short supply. Also in 1946 body designer Eric Neale joined the company from Wolseley and his first project was the more modern coupe which followed in 1950, named the Interceptor, which was built until 1957. In 1955, Jensen started production of Neale's masterpiece, the 541, which used the then-revolutionary material of fiberglass for its bodywork. The 541 was replaced by another Neale design, the CV8 in 1962, which replaced the Austin-sourced straight-6 of the previous cars with a 6 litre American Chrysler V8. This large engine in such a lightweight car made the Jensen one of the fastest four-seaters of the time.
For its replacement (the Interceptor, launched in 1966) Jensen turned to the Italian coachbuilder, Touring, for the body design, and to steel for the material. The bodyshells themselves were built by Vignale of Italy and later by Jensen. The same 383 cu in (6.3 L) Chrysler wedge-head powerplant was used in the earlier cars with the later cars moving to the 440 cu in (7.2 L) in engine. The Interceptor was offered in saloon, convertible and coupe versions. The saloon was by far the most popular with its large, curving wrap-around rear window that doubled as a tailgate.
Related to the Interceptor was another car, the Jensen FF, the letters standing for Ferguson Formula, Ferguson Research being the inventor of the full-time all wheel drive system adopted, the first on a production sports car. Also featured was the Dunlop Maxaret anti-lock braking system in one of the first uses of ABS in a production car. Outwardly, the only differences from the Interceptor were four extra inches of length (all ahead of the windscreen) and a second row of air vents behind the front wheels. The small number of 320 FFs were constructed, and production ceased in 1971.
Jensen Motors ceased trading in May 1976. Two new companies: Jensen Special Products (JSP) and Jensen Parts & Service Limited (JP&S) were created to pick up the pieces of Jensen Motors. JSP was created as a specialist engineering and design company from Jensen's development department. JP&S was created to provide parts and service to the existing Jensen customer base. Both JSP and JP&S were bought by a holding company, Britcar Holdings. In 1982 JP&S, with the rights to use the Jensen brand names, was sold to Ian Orford.
Reviving old names is common practice in the automotive industry. More than 20 years after its disapearance, it was time for Jensen to be reintroduced. The Jensen SV-8 was launched at the 1998 Earl's Court Motorshow in London and reminded both in name and design of past Jensens. At the launch, a production run of 300 cars in the first year and 600 in following cars was predicted.
Like many low-volume producers of the past and present, Jensen picked Ford as the engine supplier. A popular unit for sportscars is the Cobra V8 engine, also found in the comtemporary Mustangs. The quad-cam unit was installed in a steel monocoque type chassis. Double wishbones suspended the SV-8 all around. The striking body was constructed completely from aluminum alloy.
At the end of the Motorshow, 300 solid orders were in, Jensen Motors ltd.'s future look bright. Unfortunately it all went down the hill from then onwards. Teething problems dogged the first cars, making them a reliability nightmare. The economy collapsed and in 2002 the company went bankrupt again, leaving 35 people jobless. In all 20 cars were completed, with spare parts for another 18 cars left in the factory.
The parts were bought by SV Automotive, who assembled another 12 cars, retaining the rest of the parts as spares.
