Lot details
Registration No: RVC834M
Chassis No: 14070
Mot Expiry: July 2013

Jensen's Managing Director, Kjell Qvale, discovered that the Healey family had been working on the prototype of an all new two-seater sports car, and felt Jensen (who had built the bodies for the Healey 3000) was the obvious company to build it. Aston Martin DBS designer Bill Towns was commissioned to develop the styling and the Jensen Healey was born in 1972.

Power came from the 4-cylinder, 2-litre, twin-cam, Vauxhall-based Lotus 907 engine which drove through the four-speed Chrysler gearbox of the Sunbeam Rapier. The independent front suspension and live rear axle came courtesy of the Vauxhall Firenza, as did the rack-and-pinion steering and the disc/drum braking system. The MK2 version of 1973 brought an upgraded interior with wood-trimmed facia, padded centre console and revisions to the headlamp surrounds and federal-style bumpers. The performance of the Jensen Healey was brisk by the standards of the time, the 140bhp engine endowing the car with a 0-60mph time of some 7.5 seconds and a top speed of over 120mph. The open two-seater was produced from March 1972 until early 1976, during which time some 10,500 were manufactured.

This tidy-looking Jensen Healey is an early MKII example from 1974 and features Maroon paintwork teamed with Black upholstery. It comes with a huge history file which shows some chassis work and a full repsray were carried out around 1996, and that there have been fairly regular repairs and renewals since 2006. The vendor describes the car as "unrestored but very useable" and notes the gearbox occasionally "crunches into third gear" and there is a "tear in the driver's seat", but feels that "an interior retrim and a fresh coat of paint are all that is required to create a stunning car". A relatively rare right-hand survivor of an entertaining '70s British classic.