RE: Jensen Interceptor | The Brave Pill

[Watcher of the skies]

hiccy18 said:

CoolHands said:

So ugly

Should've gone to Specsavers....

Was that a parrot just flew past?

[coppice]

GTRene said:

rather like a AC 428 Frua coupe, very rare and at some point 'cheap' I still think of those days you saw them for sale for not that much in the UK, almost unloved so it seemed, well, look at their prices now...

although those seem not so small either, can not remember ever seeing one, yeah maybe at a big classic dealer in the Netherlands, but rare they are.

Those have also a bit of Aston Martin in them

Aston Martin ? A vaguest hint , But near identical to the Maserati Mistrale

[MCBrowncoat]

Mr Tidy said:

For some reason I seem to be drawn to these European body/US engine brands, and the AC 428 is certainly a stunner!

There just seems to be something special about Gordon Keebles, Facels, De Tomasos, Monteverdis etc.

Yep, The Hairpin Company have a Gordon Keeble IP for sale at the moment, for about the same price as one of these. I've been kind of hoping Harry would get over there and give it a drive!

https://www.thehairpincompany.co.uk/for-sale/cars/...

[Martin 480 Turbo]

Thanks for the pills on weekend. Where are you headed?

[vixen1700]

MCBrowncoat said:

Yep, The Hairpin Company have a Gordon Keeble IP for sale at the moment, for about the same price as one of these. I've been kind of hoping Harry would get over there and give it a drive!

https://www.thehairpincompany.co.uk/for-sale/cars/...

That particular Gordon Keeble has been my no.1 lottery win car for the last month or so.

[VR6 Eug]

Turbobanana said:

VR6 Eug said:

The greatest named car in history, Shame the car its self wasn't very good.

I'm sure we'd all like to know, in what way do you think it "wasn't very good"?

The Garage I worked at in the late 80s restored one, and I can remember many of the workshop guy's, moaning about how badly built they were, bad panel fittings, not a lot square in the car, I helped with the interior, and I remember many bits being fabricated, to replace factory bits.

Retro power are doing a CV8, which is the same chassis, poor build quality, bad fit panels and they have said exactly the same things, as I've mentioned, and those guys know more about cars, than you or I.

[Johnny G Pipe]

I have had a few of your pills myself, enjoyed them thoroughly and survived financially. Came close to an interceptor too which was up at 8 or 9 from memory. I bought the damaged-repaired Mister 2 they had up for sale instead, thank goodness.

But thanks for the series, a real shame its ending..sage advice to close. Indeed we usually regret the things we didn't do, rather than the things we did.

[chunder]

"So while it may seem as if the world is full of enticingly priced AMG Mercs and V10-powered BMW M cars, it really won’t be for long."

So plenty of material out there to continue the brave pill ?

Otherwise shame, been required weekly reading no matter what the vehicle.

[GTRene]

coppice said:

GTRene said:

rather like a AC 428 Frua coupe, very rare and at some point 'cheap' I still think of those days you saw them for sale for not that much in the UK, almost unloved so it seemed, well, look at their prices now...

although those seem not so small either, can not remember ever seeing one, yeah maybe at a big classic dealer in the Netherlands, but rare they are.

Those have also a bit of Aston Martin in them

Aston Martin ? A vaguest hint , But near identical to the Maserati Mistrale

ah indeed, forgot for a moment about those, even when my 2 younger sisters (twins) have such Mistral 4000 for occasional driving, although I think they want to sell it because lack of use... no time (busy sisters) here pictures when they used it from a few years ago, otherwise its in a well maintained storage (also expensive lol)

[Sevenman]

Brave Pill will be missed, thanks for the years of entertaining articles. I'll go buy a cheap Continental GT now, what could go wrong?

[Turbobanana]

VR6 Eug said:

Turbobanana said:

VR6 Eug said:

The greatest named car in history, Shame the car its self wasn't very good.

I'm sure we'd all like to know, in what way do you think it "wasn't very good"?

The Garage I worked at in the late 80s restored one, and I can remember many of the workshop guy's, moaning about how badly built they were, bad panel fittings, not a lot square in the car, I helped with the interior, and I remember many bits being fabricated, to replace factory bits.

Appreciate the response, VR6, thanks

[Black S2K]

GTRene said:

coppice said:

GTRene said:

rather like a AC 428 Frua coupe, very rare and at some point 'cheap' I still think of those days you saw them for sale for not that much in the UK, almost unloved so it seemed, well, look at their prices now...

although those seem not so small either, can not remember ever seeing one, yeah maybe at a big classic dealer in the Netherlands, but rare they are.

Those have also a bit of Aston Martin in them

Aston Martin ? A vaguest hint , But near identical to the Maserati Mistrale

ah indeed, forgot for a moment about those, even when my 2 younger sisters (twins) have such Mistral 4000 for occasional driving, although I think they want to sell it because lack of use... no time (busy sisters) here pictures when they used it from a few years ago, otherwise its in a well maintained storage (also expensive lol)

I suspect Pietro Frua only ever designed one set of doors and used them on every coupe he designed!

They all turned out stunning though.

I remember an old Interceptor in the early-eighties in a front garden in Enfield Town. I was sure that the owner was replacing the sills with oak beams, which was as baffling then as it is now. I presume it was scrapped...

Thanks for all the pills, man...I too shall lament their passing.

[Art Keller]

I used to work on these back in the early 70s in Brentwood.........allegedly they were good for 140mph on the Brentwood bypass

[P5BNij]

Great choice of Pill, what a way to bow out. An Interceptor is still high on my mental shopping list, I absolutely adore them. A friend of my nan used to own one, she bought it new in '72 as a second car (her daily driver was an Austin 110) but she ended up using as often as possible. On visits there with my nan I used to sit in it and imagine it was mine. Around the same time 'The Protectors' arrived on TV, with Robert Vaughan driving a metallic brown MkII, it still exists and last I heard was being restored.

Tony Curtis bought one when he was over here filming 'The Persuaders', after trying out the factory demonstrator 'BEA 426J'...



I still wince whenever I drive through Walcot village near Lutterworth where for years an early Vignale built Mk1 sat rotting away, until it was scooped up and taken away on a low loader.

[rickk]

Thank you Mike, I will miss this series - well written and engaging.

On the Jensen - this was my dream car too and while it's hard to be unbiased it does seem to have stood the test of time. Of course design and styling moves on but for me this still holds its own as a classic well proportioned design and won't be mistaken for anything else.

On running one as a daily, the very definition of brave if only for the fuel bills. We followed one to Silverstone a few year back. Looked and sounded awesome, went great - and you could literally smell the unburnt petrol trail behind it!

EFI update sounds like a great idea.

Thank you again Mike - what a swansong.

[Grantstown]

I remember spotting this one in the 1st lockdown. What a beauty.

[Mr Tidy]

MCBrowncoat said:

Mr Tidy said:

For some reason I seem to be drawn to these European body/US engine brands, and the AC 428 is certainly a stunner!

There just seems to be something special about Gordon Keebles, Facels, De Tomasos, Monteverdis etc.

Yep, The Hairpin Company have a Gordon Keeble IP for sale at the moment, for about the same price as one of these. I've been kind of hoping Harry would get over there and give it a drive!

https://www.thehairpincompany.co.uk/for-sale/cars/...

It turns out a mate of mine went to school with Mr Gordon's son!

Anyway I've seen Number 48 (of 99 - allegedly) a few times and it is stunning.

[coppice]

vixen1700 said:

That particular Gordon Keeble has been my no.1 lottery win car for the last month or so.

Apologies if I jump the queue , but I adore the GK1 .I read a road test of one in Motor in about 1967 when I was a kid, saw one blasting away from the traffic lights on a school trip to London and have been besotted ever since .

[Superdavros]

Thank you for all your Pills, they have been great entertainment and provided creative thoughts for those of us who rely heavily on "man maths".

I was going to send you my car as a possible Pill, 2006 manual 997 2S........ owned sine 50,000 miles, now with 179,000 miles.... £17,500, what's the worst that could happen?

[Harald1974]

Anorak fact :

The 7.2 litre engine is the lesser hp wise . It is a low compression version , mainly built for the USA export with strangling emission equipment fitted reaching 285 Bhp . All MKIII were fitted with these , aside from the SP versions , which were fitted with six pack carburettors which upped the power to 385 bhp !
Earlier Interceptors ( MKI and MKII ) had the better revving 6.3 litre high compression engine , pushing 335 bhp , which was capable of 6.7 sec to 60 mph and 140 mph topspeed . Not bad for an 1800 kg car at that time , and perfectly adequate by todays standards .

Only downside : it could pass anything at any time in period , except for a petrol station
Some of this phrase remains today LOL

Wonderful Gran Turismo car in the true sense though , and getting quite rare tbh .
Eg. of the approx. 1200 Interceptor MKII's produced , there are just over 200 left in the world .

Slightly biased as a MKII owner myself , I can attest for their comfortable high speed cruising ability and good roadholding characteristics .
Just came back from a 1500 km trip to Le Mans Classic and back . Just the thing they were built for .

Must have been quite the car in their time .

Regs Harald