Jensen Interceptor Six Pack | Spotted

As motor vehicle names go, there cannot be many better than Interceptor. As Interceptors go, there are not able to be several greater than the SP Six Pack with its triple-carb 7.2-litre 440 V8 underneath that big cheesegrater bonnet. And as Interceptor colors go, there can’t be numerous far better than Reef Blue with black leather and a matching vinyl roof. So, Interceptor supporters, today is your blessed day, mainly because here is a three-proprietor, thoroughly-historied Reef Blue Interceptor SP with 54,000 documented miles and a price tag tag that may possibly seem to be high but really is not.

Brief story. Back in the 1980s sometime I exam-drove one of the Sequence 4 relaunch autos from Jensen after they’d been reborn in the Midlands. As per the original automobiles, it experienced a major Chrysler V8, a 5.9 I imagine. I reckoned it would be fun to impress the dad and mom with it, so I made the decision to drive it up the M6 to Lancashire for the day.

That was a salutary working experience. It was a splendidly calming travel right up until you made the mistake of searching at the fuel gauge, when you would in fact see the needle dropping as you went together. I was paying for my own juice on that gig, so in an endeavor to stave off personal bankruptcy I had to utilize the throttle sensitivity of a ballerina with bunions. It felt like a significant squandered chance but what could I do, I was a younger guy of exceptionally constrained signifies. There was no way I could keep refilling the 20 gallon tank at single-figure mpg charges, even at late 1980s charges.

It was an oddly psychological second as the mothers and fathers waved me off the upcoming early morning. They have been crying at my departure. This was out of character. Confident ample, a later on phone contact unveiled that their eyes had been streaming from standing also close to the Jensen when it fired up on entire choke.

I burbled diligently back to the Midlands with a Sinatra cartridge on the eight-track and hefty products autos flashing me impatiently from behind. Handing the keys around to the chap at the factory felt like undoing my trouser belt immediately after a Mr Creosote design and style slap-up food. There was a bodily feeling of economical aid. ‘Nice automobile,’ I stated to the Jensen guy. ‘Shame I experienced to mollicoddle it in all places, what with the fuel consumption and every thing, ha ha.’ ‘Oh,’ he laughed. ‘You needn’t have bothered, it would have employed the similar amount of money of petrol even if you’d thrashed it.’

Hmm. There is certainly a lesson in there somewhere, like why failed to you convey to me that before. In any case, the SP which is for sale below appears to be like somewhat lovely. Pinning down an actual electric power determine for the twin-choke triple-carbed 7.2-litre 440ci – or any Chrysler-driven Jensen for that make any difference – is about as straightforward as pinning down a politician, but we are likely to go for 385hp and 488lb ft. That compares to the 325hp claimed for the 6.2 and the 330hp claimed for the standard 7.2 – ‘claimed’ currently being really considerably the operative term for American V8s from this era.

Who appreciates what type of gasoline consumption you’d get from an SP. Let us put it this way, with a shipping likely of 1,350 cubic ft for each minute (two 500cfm carbs on both aspect of a 350cfm startup/cruising carb) my dad and mom would have demanded industry-quality filtration masks ahead of agreeing to stand behind it. As an apart, this six-pack engine was banned on emissions grounds from US-industry Chryslers just right after Jensen had acquired the units it needed.

Finally the quantities and the poisoning don’t definitely matter. What does make a difference is the sound and the really feel of a stupidly significant V8 chugging via a Torqueflite 3-velocity vehicle, and that is a experience this automobile will give you, very pretty much, in bucketfuls. The completely wonderful Touring entire body hand-constructed by Vignale and the sumptuous instrument-abundant cabin are thrown in for absolutely free.

If you might be desperate to get some Interception in your lifetime, and if this motor vehicle is even fifty percent as fantastic underneath as it looks on top, then the asking price tag of below seventy grand for one of these unusual Six Packs, particularly an RHD 1 like this, is definitely not that mad. They rotted horribly from the base up. Bringing a scabby specimen up to par would value you a fantastic deal far more than £70k as these cars are not effortless or low cost to restore. Our automobile has just breezed via its MOT. There had been no advisories, but we would include one of our possess: do not hassle seeking be thorough with your right foot.

Engine: 7,210cc V8
Transmission: 3-velocity car, rear-wheel push
Electric power (hp): 385@5,000rpm
Torque (lb ft): 488@3,200rpm
MPG: imagine of a modest variety and halve it
CO2: N/A
1st registered: 1972
Recorded mileage: 54,600
Rate new: £80,000
Yours for: £69,950