Jensen Interceptors

[billspohn]

I see some fun has been had at the expense of the poor Interceptor on this site.

In fact the Interceptor is an excellent car with very good handling and excellent power. I should know, I've owned 3 and still have one:

I also own a CV-8 - 3300 pounds of fibreglass car with 370 BHP of big block Chrysler:

with sixpack:

Don't let anyone tell you these aren't great British cars - more reliable than a Jag, and better finished, and in the case of the CV-8, truly high performance, sort of an English Corvette.

 

[DrEntropy]

'k Bill, we'll humor ya. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I've great respect for the Interceptor's driveline. Bullet-proof and power out the ears... it's the way the English went about the electronics for the top on the convertibles I have an "issue" with. I've had to sort out a real nightmare one in past, so I'm a bit underwhelmed by it.

If it'll help, ya can rag on my li'l twink cars... "Ya need one for each foot!"... "How do you wear that thing, anyhoo?" ... "It's sooo KEWT! I gotta get one for my daughter!"... "rolling road-kill"... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jester.gif

 

[Sherlock]

Hey Bill,

Nice cars!

I'm quite familiar with Jensen's.

A friend in Ontario was finishing up a restoration of a Jensen 541 when I moved back to Alberta (he brought it over with him from England when he moved here in 1976).

Another guy I knew in Barrie, had an Interceptor he was just finishing off (to the mid-1980's appearance), and next had a C-V8 to restore (with a few of his own modifications).

Then... Just an hour north of Barrie there is another C-V8 that a guy is restoring, a car that was formerly from Fenelon Falls in Ontario, and at one point in Alberta.

I've had the privilege to see two C-V8's fairly close up, and they aren't a common sight here in North America.

 

[kennypinkerton]

That's the first Cv8 I've ever seen... I'd like to see more. Good looking car!

 

[billspohn]

[ QUOTE ]

I've had the privilege to see two C-V8's fairly close up, and they aren't a common sight here in North America.

[/ QUOTE ]

No, and they are great on the highway. You sit behind someone in the left lane, not crowding them, and you watch them. They see you and then they can't help looking in the mirror frequently. Finally, not sure what it is, they usually pull over and let you by.

I've had fun with guys in American cars - Camaros and such, on the highway. They just have to give it the boot to get by. I just accelerate enough to stay ahead of them. They run out of RPM at 110 MPH or so, at which point I wave and boot it up to 130-140 for a minute before settling back to normal cruising speed and wave again when they come by again, usually much more slowly when they overtake this time. Life doesn't end at 100 MPH. Sadly, it just isn't safe to speed anywhere near a city these days - too crowded.

The (non-stock) carbs on the CV8 are way more than the engines could ever use - up around 1300 CFM wide open, so they use vacuum secondaries. Only quirk is that if you are cruising at 100 MPH, say, and hit a slight grade, the added little bit you have to put your foot down to maintain speed can result in the secondaries coming open, which feels like a downshift - very unsettling the first time it happens!

Having said that, I've had into the low 20s (Imperial) mpg, on the highway when you just run on the primaries, so it really isn't that bad on gas.

 

[Guest]

cv8 - droooooool
always wanted one.

 

[TXCoyote]

I want a CV8 too

 

[SteveL]

Heh, same drivetrain as my buddies '62 Chrysler 300,
but I don't expect that a Jensen could hang with it.
I built him an engine that made 475HP, 525#ft of torque,
at the rear wheels, without blowing up, amazing but true...
His car weighs about 4100#'s, and ran a mid 13 second 1/4 mile
at Portland last year...

SteveL

 

[kennypinkerton]

Chrysler made some darned near idestructable iron in the 60's!

 

[billspohn]

[ QUOTE ]
Heh, same drivetrain as my buddies '62 Chrysler 300,
but I don't expect that a Jensen could hang with it.
I built him an engine that made 475HP, 525#ft of torque,
at the rear wheels, without blowing up, amazing but true...
His car weighs about 4100#'s, and ran a mid 13 second 1/4 mile
at Portland last year...

[/ QUOTE ]

The stock CV-8 with 2.88 axle does a quarter in something like mid 14s, but then drag racing isn't axactly what they were built to do. Mind you, that sort of time and a mid 6 sec. 0-60 on a stock car ain't all that bad. As I recall they had around 475 - 500 ft.lbs - real torquey beasts.

Who knows - with a 7-800 lb. weight advantage and the right diff, your buddy might be in trouble, but not, I expect, with a 2.88. But then he probably can't cruise at 140 mph either.. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devilgrin.gif

If you got 475 bhp out of a Chrysler, are you sure it was a B block, not an RB 440? That is pushing it for streetable power in a 383 (I don't call 12.5:1 streetable.... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/nonono.gif

 

[kennypinkerton]

Nothin wrong with some nitro and a mist here or there...hehehehe.

 

[billspohn]

[ QUOTE ]

If it'll help, ya can rag on my li'l twink cars... "Ya need one for each foot!"... "How do you wear that thing, anyhoo?" ... "It's sooo KEWT! I gotta get one for my daughter!

[/ QUOTE ]

No, I would never make fun of a poor Lotus - after all, they made 3 BHP less than my MGA Twincam did from the same displacement 5 years earlier (and it didn't arrange things so you could snap camshafts when you went to heavier valve springs). /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devilgrin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jester.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devilgrin.gif

(just kidding - I really like Elans. A friend with one had someone come up to him at a show and ask if it was a new Miata kit car - that was fun to watch....)

 

[DrEntropy]

"Fun to watch..." as your bud went off on 'im, or "fun" watchin' th' Fire-Rescue guys tryin' to untangle the poor fella's arms 'n legs when your friend was DONE? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/lol.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devilgrin.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/lol.gif