RE: Jensen Interceptor | The Brave Pill
Discussion
Always been a dream car. Back in the early 70s my best friend, who was only 26 bought a second hand mk3 from G S Twigg in Luton. He used to live in a 3 story town house with built in garage. He'd park it in the garage and leave the connecting door to the stairwell open over night. He swore that the residual heat from the engine would help warm whole house. I remember staying there one night and we had to leave early that morning, you could tell that the engine still had a bit of warmth left. See, 7 litres eco can be friendly. 
Edited by grade2 on Tuesday 1st August 19:38
Strider said:
Thanks for a terrific series, Mike. I've enjoyed them all.
Have you covered the Ferrari 365/400/412? Surely the ultimate Pill with excellent examples cheaper than this Jensen and the potential for bills many times greater. You only live once.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=23&t=1978928&i=0Have you covered the Ferrari 365/400/412? Surely the ultimate Pill with excellent examples cheaper than this Jensen and the potential for bills many times greater. You only live once.
I bought one a few months later....
Directed my mate to this thread and got the following....
His Anorak facts are slightly wrong. The 6.3 litre engine WAS fitted to a small number of Mk 3's from October 71 when the Mk 3 was introduced alongside the SP (I should know as my first one was an early MK 3 fitted with one) These were the G series engines with reduced compression and producing 300bhp instead of the 330 ish of the earlier E series engines. In 72 the 7.2 litre engines were introduced, starting with the H series engine. These are the 7.2's to have as they produced 305 bhp net (it's worth noting that the figures for the E and G series engines are Gross figures stripped of ancillaries) after the H series in about 73 or 74 Chrysler started quoting net rather than gross power figures hence the apparent sudden drop in HP. From the J series cars fitted with the J series engine net power was 284-5 hp and progressively strangled until by 75 they were down to about 250bhp net. Sorry that's my anorak moment over! 😁
His Anorak facts are slightly wrong. The 6.3 litre engine WAS fitted to a small number of Mk 3's from October 71 when the Mk 3 was introduced alongside the SP (I should know as my first one was an early MK 3 fitted with one) These were the G series engines with reduced compression and producing 300bhp instead of the 330 ish of the earlier E series engines. In 72 the 7.2 litre engines were introduced, starting with the H series engine. These are the 7.2's to have as they produced 305 bhp net (it's worth noting that the figures for the E and G series engines are Gross figures stripped of ancillaries) after the H series in about 73 or 74 Chrysler started quoting net rather than gross power figures hence the apparent sudden drop in HP. From the J series cars fitted with the J series engine net power was 284-5 hp and progressively strangled until by 75 they were down to about 250bhp net. Sorry that's my anorak moment over! 😁
I had one KKP707L – known as Peanut.
It succumbed to the dreaded tin worm, and I couldn’t afford the time or the money to have it sorted. There was a definite way to drive it, and I suppose you could hustle it along down a country road, but it wasn’t made for that.
The bad stuff
The fuel economy- as standard it was a regular 14 mpg, town work - 10 mpg. The power train was crying out for fuel injection and a decent overdrive. It was only 25.8/1000
The electrics were poor, and chasing faults took ages.
Slower speed cooling was marginal, and town work had your eyes glued to the temperature gauge. I fitted an extra fan in with a full manual override.
As noted above, not built that well and most areas rotted merrily away.
A bity tricky in the wet
The good stuff
To my eyes, one of the best-looking cars ever made.
Straight line performance was excellent. However, if the car was starting from standstill, the rear tyres went up in smoke. Sorry Southport ’89-’93 – it was me….
On the motorway and if the traffic ahead saw it they immediately moved over. I also had an Orion at the time, so it was noticeable
Very comfortable
Incredibly powerful air conditioning
Once it was known where all the parts had come from, all the mechanical stuff was easy, and relatively cheap to fix.
As a good mate put it - It was never just a journey – it was an experience.
The sound – oh boy the sound. To my ears, there’s nothing quite like a big block…
It succumbed to the dreaded tin worm, and I couldn’t afford the time or the money to have it sorted. There was a definite way to drive it, and I suppose you could hustle it along down a country road, but it wasn’t made for that.
The bad stuff
The fuel economy- as standard it was a regular 14 mpg, town work - 10 mpg. The power train was crying out for fuel injection and a decent overdrive. It was only 25.8/1000
The electrics were poor, and chasing faults took ages.
Slower speed cooling was marginal, and town work had your eyes glued to the temperature gauge. I fitted an extra fan in with a full manual override.
As noted above, not built that well and most areas rotted merrily away.
A bity tricky in the wet
The good stuff
To my eyes, one of the best-looking cars ever made.
Straight line performance was excellent. However, if the car was starting from standstill, the rear tyres went up in smoke. Sorry Southport ’89-’93 – it was me….
On the motorway and if the traffic ahead saw it they immediately moved over. I also had an Orion at the time, so it was noticeable
Very comfortable
Incredibly powerful air conditioning
Once it was known where all the parts had come from, all the mechanical stuff was easy, and relatively cheap to fix.
As a good mate put it - It was never just a journey – it was an experience.
The sound – oh boy the sound. To my ears, there’s nothing quite like a big block…
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff