There’s something about a car left behind by a pair of snowbirds in a fair weather state. Places like Hilton Head or South Florida paint a picture (in my mind, at least) of a long-married couple jetting to-and-fro in a vintage classic like this 1974 Jensen Interceptor. Said to have belonged to a retiree couple from Canada that spent their golden years in sunny Arizona, this Interceptor here on craigslist looks like a solid basis for a driver-quality restoration (go here if the ad disappears.)
Thanks to Barn Finds reader Pat L. for this find. The seller points out that this Interceptor didn’t return to Canada each summer; it has been in Scottsdale the entire time the retirees were visiting, and long after their ownership ended. The Jensen has faded paint but rust-free bodywork; the Chrysler-derived 440 is said to fire up but the old gas will need to be dumped before doing so, as the seller notes he parked it 16 years ago with under 100K miles.
Interceptors had fairly high-end interiors when new, but the Arizona sun has not been kind to this example. The seller says to budget for an interior overhaul, as the full leather seats are shot (however, everything’s still there, including the headliner – so you’ll have templates to work with if spares don’t exist.) The good news about the interior is it appears relatively clean and stain-free, not easy to do with these light-beige colors.
The only modifications the seller has spotted include an upgraded Holley carb; dual stainless steel exhaust; and a replacement fuel tank. The body shut lines look great, as does the glass. The deviations from stock configuration indicate to me at least one previous owner wanted to keep this car as practical as possible as it began to get more needy, and while this owner’s lack of progress is frustrating, at least this snowbird-owned Interceptor has been preserved in the meantime.
The upside:
– A British friend of mine assured me that in the UK these were the best “crumpet catcher” since the E Type. Note: the words in “quotes” were his, not mine. I’m just the messenger.
– Arizona car, said to be unrusty
– Ran when parked 17 years ago
– Price is $13,500
The downside:
– Not run for 17 years, when it was parked, so might not be able to catch crumpet at the present time
– Arizona car with a shot interior and shot brown paint that the seller says is red
– LOTS of dust underhood, with no guarantee there isn’t a lot more inside the ‘works’
– Price is $13,500, firm, for a car that needs everything, when excellent examples have recently sold at auction for a median price of $20,500 according to the new SCM Guide
I’m not sure if this guy is flexible on the price, or not. He states $13,500 is the asking price, then he says, the price is the price.
I’m not overly familiar with these; heard of but never actually seen one up close, but not a bad looking car. The fact that it is powered by a 440 has me very curious as to how well these ran. Anyone out there have any experience with these?
Very comfortable, well the back seat was when I was a teenager. Smooth riding, high speed GT, stable on the road.
Large cars, not production line quality. Remember my dad’s friend, who’s car I rode in and helped work on commenting on having to modify parts to get them to fit.
As with most low volume hand built cars many of the teething problems never got worked out.
It killed him during the gas crunch of the late ‘70’s to ignore his. The car was very thirsty and he didn’t take it out like he used to for fear of not finding gas.
Surprised at $20k being the price for a good example. These are stunning cars.
if correct and maintained these are great GT Touring cars,plenty of power great engine,trans. a true executive type ride.Very expensive if there’s rot.Interior is fantastic.
I can remember seeing my first one of these when I was about 8 years old. If you can believe this, it was parked in the car park at our local dirt-track speedway! It was love at first sight, and I have wanted one ever since. However, beware if you hear a loud sucking sound. That is the sound of the black hole that will likely consume all of your worldly wealth should you be considering this for a restoration project! That’s why I still don’t have one.
If the seller work at all flexible on price, this would be a great opportunity. The good news about the Jensen Interceptor, is that it’s a phenomenal grand tourer. The downside is that it has essentially kit car quality. One down on its luck a little bit, like this one, would be a great starting point for a taste for modernization.
I agree with you Mallthus, there is potential there for sure. If this were located in the UK it would be a no-brainer. There’s a company in the UK that specialises in restoring and modernising the Interceptor. They upgrade the suspension, brakes, wiring and a few other odds and ends to make them comfortable and reliable. They are able to do the whole lot at a reasonable price because they buy their replacement components (like decent wiring looms and relays) in large numbers. I don’t know if they just sell the parts, but if they did they would be worth contacting from the US. Their components are tried and proven.
I closely studied the details of an Interceptor at a car show recently. It was definitely nicer than a kit car and way nicer than the BF TVR fwiw.
All the crumpet in my day would not have been impressed with this getter
Good restoration candidate at half the ask. But with a driver cosmetic redo plus sorting you’ll be upside down for a driver quality.
’73 Interceptor currently on BAT, no reserve.
Interior is 10K at least,and if you believe there’s no rot,Please, value may be 6-8K at best
I have always liked these. I was able to drive a customer’s 383 (earlier model) equipped car about a year ago. It was a VERY NICE road car. Very solid feeling, comfortable and loads of torque! (It does not have the same personality of a Jaguar. It is more like a 454 Monte Carlo with soft springs, Bilstein shocks and sway bars as big around as your arm.) I am sure that a little re-curve of the distributor and an inital timing bump. (helps to take some of the doggy/emissions out of the equation) and replacing the Holley with one of the aftermarket throttle body conversions would help the fuel economy by about 30%. Still not wonderful, but makes for more throttle response, smoother running and will get you a little further down the road. At lease that is what I would do with mine if I was lucky enough to have one.
It is on my bucket list of cars.
Watch one of the more recent Fast & Furious movies and you will see one of these being raced around for a lot of the movie. Vin Diesel drives the American muscle car and his girlfriend drives the British muscle car. Don’t forget that there was also an FF model (Ferguson Formula – of farm tractor fame) which was one of the first powerful four-wheel-drive cars available.
The FF Interceptors are recognizable by the extra vent on each front fender, due to the longer wheelbase required by the inline transfer case. When I was living in the Sierra foothills I always thought what a hoot it would be to drive an FF up into the hills on a “chains required” day, as 4WD vehicles were exempt, and wait for a CHP guy to pull me over …
“Not production line quality” is a well-known fact. The first Volvo P1800 coupe bodies were sourced out to Jensen because Volvo didn’t have a line available. After it became clear that Jensen’s work was nowhere up to Volvo standards, the factory scrambled to find room for body assembly and did. The “S” in P1800S does not stand for Sports, as is generally assumed, but Sweden.
Interceptors are interesting cars, I”ve probably driven as many as anyone else in America, but that was nearly 45 years ago and the cars were new. A fabulous car to drive for anyone who grew up accustomed to the direct steering, braking and at times dubious handling of the typical British sports car of the time – think MGB, TR3 or Bugeye Sprite but with American muscle-car power and acceleration! So really, at the time, the best of all worlds when American muscle-cars handled and stopped abysmally.
So I’ve never understood why an exclusive handbuilt classic like this isn’t worth as much as a common and mass-produced Road Runner or Cuda with the same drivetrain. The Jensen is in nearly all aspects the superior car. I guess it was because most guys grew up without ever seeing or wanting one as a young person but Plymouths and Dodges were something they aspired too.
But EVERY SINGLE INTERCEPTOR sold by the large southern California dealership I worked at eventually caught fire – at least once! Don’t blame it on Lucas, Lucas only make many of the components, it was Jensen who wired them and it was the wiring that set them ablaze!
One more observation – as a handmade car, sometimes they weren’t even symetrical from side to side – front fender lengths particularly varied from car to car, and sometimes from side to side!
I learned this after delivering a new front fender to a body shop repairing a crash damaged Jensen. I got back to the dealership and picked the phone up to be screamed and cussed at by the bodyshop owner. The fender “didn’t fit” – it was two inches too long! My boss explained that all the replacement fenders were made a bit too long so that they could be trimmed to fit! Not believing him, I went out to the showroom with a tape measure and son of a gun, he was right! No two cars had fenders the same length, and sometimes they differed from side-to-side! I’ve never owned one, inspite of the pleasure of driving one – the terrific gasoline consumption is something I won’t tolerate!
I had three of these, when they were relative new and some what desire-able, and they did make an impression, because they were expensive and exotic, at the time. When I say I had, that is to say they were customer cars, I was basically a broker and bought them for the buyers in Alaska. I drove them to Seattle, Washington, and shipped them to Anchorage Alaska. They were what you might call factory Resto-Mod’s, Chrysler running gear and Lucas Electrical, and Lear Jet Stereo’s. I didn’t have any major problems, but I always had the feeling there was lot of potential for problems. I carried a supply of fuses for The Prince of Darkness, and it did save the day on several occasions.
Yep, owned a ‘71 with a 383. Like other British creations of the time, it was extacy an amazing car when the gods were aligned. But I won’t mention the times that the Lucas Electrinics failed. Okay, I will mention the time the electric engine fan decided to fail when it was 107 degrees in So Cal. ‘Nuf said!