Jensen Interceptor

Vehicle Overview

For the Jensen Interceptor with Carrozzeria Ghia heavily involved with Chrysler at this time, and demanded a fee to divert their efforts to Jensen. Carrozzeria Vignale produced a rather conventional-looking design – similar to the Maserati Mexico which he had introduced at the 1965 Turin motor show, and Jensen were looking for a more dramatic treatment. This came from Touring with its designer Federico Formenti, and Jensen liked it, but the Milan coachbuilder firm was in such a financial pickle that Jensen had no confidence in its ability to produce the car. Jensen bought the design outright, removed Touring Superleggera’s marks from the drawings, put Jensen’s name on them, and took them along to Carrozzeria Vignale as representing the sort of thing they had in mind. Even if Alfredo Vignale knew or guessed that Touring was the originator he said nothing, being anxious to secure the order for final styling and building. With the deal signed and the tooling arranged it took Carrozzeria Vignale only four months to produce a prototype car combining the proven C-V8 chassis and running gear and the new body. Within a further six months the first Italian-bodied, American-engined, British-built Jensen Interceptor was assembled at West Bromwich – one of the fastest international model operations then on record. Carrozzeria Vignale’s part in it did not last long, however. By October 1966, when two or three trimmed and painted Jensen Interceptor bodies were already arriving from Turin each week, Jensen had already decided that the finish was not what they wanted, and that the Carrozzeria Vignale arrangement was financially unsound and too long-range for comfort and logic. Vignale was bought off, and the jigs and press tools transferred to Britain. Jensen later admitted, however, that it took their own craftsmen a long time to match the flexibility and quality of work of the Italians. Photo courtesy of Hexagon Classics.