Jensen Interceptor Mk3 YYY691M
Discussion
Hello! Some of you may recognize this Jensen from pictures I posted previously in the Classics left to die thread after I came across the car in a basement car park.
Thought id give a quick update on the car for anyone's that interested..
I first noticed the car in late 2015 in the basement of a block of flats I was doing a job in and thought it looked like it hadn't moved in a while.
Often wondered if it was still there but never had a reason to go back and car park was a secured area so left it at that until I got called back there in May this year. I asked the customer I was working for if they had noticed an old car in the car park and they confirmed there was one down there but didn't know who owned it but didn't mind letting me go down and take a look. It was still there unmoved and looking a bit worse off than the last time id seen it so I took a few pictures and posted them in the other thread.
Kept thinking about the car over the next few days and wondered why it was left down there and assumed that the owner had probably died and widow had probably just left it there.
I'm always up for buying any old wreck I come across (last one was a Vauxhall Chevette!) but never came across an Interceptor before..
So, with nothing to lose I write a letter to the flat that the Jenson was parked in and didn't expect to hear anything..
Less than a fortnight later I get a phone call from the owner who was alive and well after all and he explained that he'd received my letter and was considering selling the car.
So we have a quick chat and I arrange to go and take a look.
Come the weekend we meet up and Im laid in the puddles with a torch looking underneath convincing myself that it didn't look too bad!
One thing leads to another and we've just made a deal that means I've got to spend the money we've been saving to get the kitchen replaced.
This has all happened a lot quicker than I thought but I couldn't back out as it was me that approached him after all. So I've gone and done it, bought a car that I know nothing about (I normally buy Mk3 Escorts and the like) so could potentially be well of my depth!
Collected this Friday, pulled it out at a snails pace behind a mates Ranger. Nothing was seized, it moved freely straight away.
Underside of the car genuinely looks pretty good although its had work in the past and is heavily coated in underseal.
Bodywork has started to suffer though as the carpark it was in was right on the seafront. Tailgate is the worst area with the lower edge pretty much crumbling away.
Previous owner appears to be genuine enough and assures me the car ran and drove fine when he parked it up 6 years back.
He was a little vague as to why he stopped using it but did say that he lost his wife a few years ago so I'm assuming it could be related to this.
He bought the car from Cropredy Bridge Garage in 2006 and had some major work carried out on it by them over the next couple of years, stopped using it until 2011 before putting it back on the road for a year then parking it up.
The car has a reasonable history file and the previous owner recovered copies of build sheets etc from the owners club. He also got the previous owner history from DVLA which is nice as they have recently stopped this service due to data protection.
The car was first registered in February 1974 to a Travel Agent from Slough with a personalized registration TRY24.
Looking through the copies of old logbooks from DVLA, second owner was The Hon John F Anderson of London, whos that I wondered? Quick google search and it turns out to be Lord Waverley! He has his own website so I might drop him an email!..
Third and forth owners were husband and wife who had the plate UGE7 on the car. Another more recent owner had the car registered to a boat in Southampton called Lady Beryl. Quickly googled the boat and looks like it might have belonged to George Formby once upon a time.
All tenuous stuff this and hope everyone that's read this far isn't too bored but I love reading through old car history.
Anyway, the car is now at a friends garage so I will get down there in the week and take some better pictures and post them up..
Thanks for reading!
Great story about one of my all time favourite cars.
Would love to have an experience such as this, but I wouldn’t have had enough brave pills to have bought it from a seaside town though so I would have passed on this occasion.
Hope it’s all doable and you end up with a great car. Aim to keep it or sell it on?
Would love to have an experience such as this, but I wouldn’t have had enough brave pills to have bought it from a seaside town though so I would have passed on this occasion.
Hope it’s all doable and you end up with a great car. Aim to keep it or sell it on?
Great to see another one saved, well done OP, fingers crossed it all works out fine. The car's history is interesting and is typical of many Interceptors and FFs, if you delve into various threads on the JOC forum there are tales aplenty of these cars changing reg' numbers several times when being passed from one owner to the next, many of them having famous or titles owners somewhere down the line.
Looking forward to reading the next instalment - good luck
Looking forward to reading the next instalment - good luck
Awesome and i'm so jealous, kudos to you for taking it on. Please give me a thread to bookmark as you get it up and running.
My lasting memory of an Interceptor is standing , as a young boy at the age of 8 (1978) at the bottom of London road in Ipswich while walking back from footy practice with my Dad.
Back then there was a roundabout (now lights) at the bottom of London Road (A12 termination in Ipswich) a metallic blue Interceptor came off the RB and gave it an absolute footful of b
ks up the hill, I recall looking back at where the noise was coming from, only to see the Interceptor , front elevated, snarling V-8 , coming up a 2 lane carriageway hill at full chat and passing me at the sweet spot in the revs. It went on to change up and echo among the trees as it disappeared into the distance leaving nothing but the smell of petrol in its wake.
Whomever that was, you turned an 8 year old boy into a petrolhead at that precise moment in time.
My lasting memory of an Interceptor is standing , as a young boy at the age of 8 (1978) at the bottom of London road in Ipswich while walking back from footy practice with my Dad.
Back then there was a roundabout (now lights) at the bottom of London Road (A12 termination in Ipswich) a metallic blue Interceptor came off the RB and gave it an absolute footful of b
ks up the hill, I recall looking back at where the noise was coming from, only to see the Interceptor , front elevated, snarling V-8 , coming up a 2 lane carriageway hill at full chat and passing me at the sweet spot in the revs. It went on to change up and echo among the trees as it disappeared into the distance leaving nothing but the smell of petrol in its wake.Whomever that was, you turned an 8 year old boy into a petrolhead at that precise moment in time.
Edited by texaxile on Monday 2nd July 20:55
Edited by texaxile on Monday 2nd July 20:56
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Thanks for all the positive comments, nice to know that people are interested!
A few more pictures here, nothing too exciting..
Certainly not falling apart underneath, much better than I expected! Had a bit of patching on the floors over the years as expected!
Best part though;.. It Runs!
Not trying to get ahead of myself but certainly thinking about getting it roadworthy in the next few weeks if we don't come across anything terminal..
I'll update again as soon as I get chance
Thanks for reading,
Rich
A few more pictures here, nothing too exciting..
Certainly not falling apart underneath, much better than I expected! Had a bit of patching on the floors over the years as expected!
Best part though;.. It Runs!
Not trying to get ahead of myself but certainly thinking about getting it roadworthy in the next few weeks if we don't come across anything terminal..
I'll update again as soon as I get chance
Thanks for reading,
Rich
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