In June this year I drove my Jensen Interceptor to Turin and back, with the Jensen Owner’s Club. The reason was to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the model, which had the prototype built at the Vignale factory in Turin.
This is the story of the history behind the model, and next month I will write about the actual trip.
In the early sixties Jensen motors were looking for a replacement for the CV8, although this model had proved itself with outstanding performance and road manners, its main weakness was the contentious shape. Jensen looked to the Italian styling houses for a new GT design, specifically, Ghia, Touring and Vignale. Ghia’s fee was unacceptable, Vignale’s design was considered too conservative, but they were impressed by the Touring design. Unfortunately Touring were unable to take the project any further, so Jensen bought the plans outright, removed all traces of the Touring authorship, and then took them to Vignale, for them to produce. This gave them the formidable task of getting the new car produced in time for the Earl’s Court Motor Show, just 10 months away.
This is the story of the history behind the model, and next month I will write about the actual trip.
In the early sixties Jensen motors were looking for a replacement for the CV8, although this model had proved itself with outstanding performance and road manners, its main weakness was the contentious shape. Jensen looked to the Italian styling houses for a new GT design, specifically, Ghia, Touring and Vignale. Ghia’s fee was unacceptable, Vignale’s design was considered too conservative, but they were impressed by the Touring design. Unfortunately Touring were unable to take the project any further, so Jensen bought the plans outright, removed all traces of the Touring authorship, and then took them to Vignale, for them to produce. This gave them the formidable task of getting the new car produced in time for the Earl’s Court Motor Show, just 10 months away.
A Jensen CV8 was duly shipped out to the Vignale factory in Turin, where they would remove the fibreglass body, and replace it with a steel monocoque body was attached the CV8 chassis. The new car was ready in 3 months, and 1 month after that, Jensen went to Turin to test drive it, and bring it back to West Bromwich. Two employees, Kevin Beattie and Mike Jones were tasked to bring the new GT back, but were delayed by teething problems at the Vignale factory. This resulted in a mad dash across France, as they had already booked the car onto the air ferry across the channel, and needed to meet this deadline. So in 1966, they actually drove the car non-stop,(apart from fuel and channel crossing) to West Bromwich in just 22 hours.
The car was unveiled at the Motor Show with outstanding success, and was immediately put into production, with the body shells being produced by Vignale and then being shipped to the Jensen factory for fitting up. This proved to be uneconomical, so they transferred the body tooling to West Bromwich for the bodies to be built there, after some 50 Vignale Interceptors being built. Very few of these early cars have survived, and they command a high price when they come on the market.
The car was unveiled at the Motor Show with outstanding success, and was immediately put into production, with the body shells being produced by Vignale and then being shipped to the Jensen factory for fitting up. This proved to be uneconomical, so they transferred the body tooling to West Bromwich for the bodies to be built there, after some 50 Vignale Interceptors being built. Very few of these early cars have survived, and they command a high price when they come on the market.
The trip I, and my 19year old son, embarked on with the club, was to celebrate this drive back, trying to use the route they took 50 years previously, and avoiding motorways as much as possible. It was deemed the official end of the trip would be at Le Touquet airport, where the Interceptor was flown over to Lydd airport, as there would be many continental Interceptors on the trip which would not be going back to the UK.
Wednesday 1st June was D-day, a gentle tootle to Dover, to catch the train the next morning. Originally I had booked the ferry, but had to swap to the tunnel due to the French fuel crisis. We were carrying 30L of petrol just in case, which was the maximum allowed on the train, and no fuel is allowed on the ferry. Anyway the journey proved quite eventful, with the car misbehaving as soon as we got on the motorway. The rev counter stopped working, then my son, Dan pointed out more importantly the fuel gauge was showing empty, I then found out the indicators weren’t working either. After a few more miles, all the electrics came back again and all was good. We were driving through quite a bit of rain, and when it stopped, I switched the wipers off, only for them to carry on going, then stop of their own accord and for the next hour or so, start and stop when they wanted! The next issue was on the M25, the throttle wouldn’t fully return, causing a heart-stopping situation, the first time but then I was aware of it, so compensated for it. The final issue was after filling with fuel at Dover, the fuel flap wouldn’t shut, this car just didn’t want to leave the country. The flap was eventually persuaded to shut, the throttle pedal lubricated, the wipers working properly now, we were ready for the continent.
Thursday 2nd Up early to catch the train, joining up with others doing the trip at the terminal, and then we were on our way. With quite a number of these big engined GTs going onto the train, the fumes inside were a bit heavy, and one of the loading ladies commented that she had never known it so bad. The first stop in France was scheduled for St Omer town centre; this was not only for lunch, but also a place for various groups, on different trains, and from other countries to assemble. Coming into St Omer the electric gremlin raised its head again, so I thought I was the first casualty of the trip. That accolade went to the trip organiser, whose thermostat housing had sprung a leak. Mine turned out to be a faulty fuse, and a new gasket cured Chris’ water leak, all before lunch. After a good lunch, some 13 Interceptors, the Range Rover support car, and a Fiesta (his Interceptor wasn’t ready in time) headed off to Reims for the first night of the trip. At Reims we visited the Grand Prix circuit, with all the cars lined up alongside the pits. Several of the hooligan element amongst us, managed to do 100MPH+ along the finishing straight, and they will remain nameless!!
A few beers were consumed during and after the evening meal, then off to bed as we had a long drive the next day.
A few beers were consumed during and after the evening meal, then off to bed as we had a long drive the next day.
Friday 3rd Next stop Lausanne, Switzerland. A stop off for lunch at a little village, Flavigny-sur-Ozerain, the Chocolat film location, was planned, but I decided that it wasn’t really our cup of tea, so we kept up with the group until Dijon, then went our separate way, to meet up at Lausanne later. We left the AutoRoute just south of Dijon, to take a more leisurely route into Switzerland, via Salins-les-Bains and Pontarlier. Some great A-roads and scenery here, before we hopped over the border, finally stopping for a light snack. It was an uneventful journey to the hotel, just marred by the constant rain we had had since entering France the previous morning. When arriving at the hotel, we were met by the Swiss contingent of the Jensen Owners Club, who wished us to park up alongside theirs and the German cars. The Germans had also joined the tour at this point. They were very welcoming, with free beer being provided by that arm of the club, for much of the night.
Saturday 4th. We are now some 25 cars, including 2 Jensen CV8s, 1 with a massive 8.2l fuel injected engine, which kept up with the local traffic with ease. First stop is the Chateau de Chillon, built in Lake Geneva, at Montreux, made famous by Lord Byron’s poem The Prisoner of Chillon. A few hours were spent having a guided tour of this fantastic structure, with beautiful views across the lake, but alas we had to depart, as we had a demanding drive over the Alps to Turin. It wasn’t long before we started climbing, and climbing, and climbing. We were heading up the St Bernard Pass, and as we got higher, the temperature gauge also rose, until about a couple of miles before the tunnel, we all pulled over to let the cars cool down a bit. After about half an hour, we were off again, and when you get to the tunnel, there is the choice to go over the pass, or through the tunnel. Some chose to go over the top, and were met with 15ft snow walls each side of the road, as the road had only opened that morning. We chose to go through the tunnel, as I was concerned the drive over the top may be a bit much for the car, and I didn’t want to cause any damage. The tunnel is 2000m above sea level, and 3.5 miles long, but we soon exited on the Italian side, and had a steady descent to the Aosta Valley, through smaller tunnels, where the famous opening scene from The Italian Job was filmed and the Lamborghini Muira was crashed. We duly player On Days Like This by Matt Monroe, and had a quite uneventful, but beautiful drive to Turin, although there was plenty of rain and thunder storms. We followed in convoy through Turin, to cars passing on both sides and plenty of horn blowing for no apparent reason, and finally reaching our destination at the old Fiat factory at Lingotto. We were filmed arriving, Chaos soon ensued as the hotel complex didn’t have sufficient parking, so we basically ended up blocking each other in. For 11 of the cars, it was just a quick check in, a wash, and then off to the Italian National Motor Museum, where they would be put on display in the
foyer. Apparently this was the first time any car club had had this privilege, and they attracted a lot of attention the next day when the museum opened. We all attended a celebratory meal on the evening at the museum, where we had the special guest of Alfredo Vignale’s daughter attending, with the beer and wine flowing freely all night.
foyer. Apparently this was the first time any car club had had this privilege, and they attracted a lot of attention the next day when the museum opened. We all attended a celebratory meal on the evening at the museum, where we had the special guest of Alfredo Vignale’s daughter attending, with the beer and wine flowing freely all night.
Sunday 5th This was a free day and a rest from driving. We attended the museum, and wandered around the beautiful city. Monday 6th We all were excited as from 09:30 we were allowed to access the famous Fiat rooftop test track. The noise of some 30, 6-7 litre V8s, spiralling up the internal road way was intoxicating, and then as if by request the sunshine broke as we got onto the roof. The banked corners are now off limits, only allowing us to drive on the straight sections in between, but it was still a privilege to be up there. There is a 15 KPH speed limit on the roof, needless to say this was exceeded at times, and one owner managed to get all six carb chokes open on his fabled SP version, and reached 80 MPH, in the short distance. After spending a couple of hours up there, I then did a photo shoot with Classic & Sportscar magazine in the afternoon, which was interesting, having to drive 2-3 ft behind a moving vehicle, with the photographer hanging out the back. This is in the November issue, out on 6th October. Next month the return journey, following in the footsteps of the prototype.
The Journey home. Following on from last month’s instalment.
Tuesday 7th June This is what we had all gathered in Turin for, to travel in the footsteps of the 2 Jensen employees, who drove the prototype Interceptor back to the UK in less than 24hrs in June 1966. The idea was to keep to what would have been the actual route trying not to use the Autoroutes, as they weren’t built then. Today’s agenda was to visit the original Vignale factory, have lunch in the Alps, and then make our way to Grenoble for our overnight stop. 19 Interceptors set off from the Lingotto Hotel heading to the northern suburbs of Turin for the Vignale factory, which today is a document storage facility. The original factory gates were opened for us, the first time they had been opened in over 20 years, and we were made very welcome. All the cars were lined up, but one early Interceptor was made up to look like the prototype, with correct number plate, and strategically placed in the exact spot, according to an old photo, where the car was handed over those 50 years ago. We had heard the owner of the factory had his own vehicle collection, but thought we wouldn’t be interested as there wasn’t anything in there as exotic as our cars. We managed to persuade him to let us be the judge, and we were glad he did. He collected mainly utility vehicles and fire engines etc. and we spent 2 hours looking around his stuff, it was an Aladdin’s cave. Amongst some early fire engines, from 1920’s -1970s, including a very strange Fiat amphibious fire engine, there were 3 Fiat 4wheel drive SUVs with Ferrari Dino engines, one of which had actually competed in the Paris –Dakar rally. There was much more but far too much to list here. We had to curtail our impromptu collection viewing as we had lunch booked in the Alps, so we all set off, filling up on the way, so we got split into a number of groups. Just on leaving Turin our group got lost, the 4 of us pulled over just past a junction as we had made a wrong turn. As I was bringing up the rear, this meant I was straddling a Zebra crossing, much to the annoyance of a shopping laden lady who promptly stuck her head through the open driver window and started ranting as only an Italian could. This was of course to the huge amusement of the other drivers. After getting our bearings we headed off for the rendezvous at the top of Col du Mont Cenis, 2083m above sea level. We passed through a beautiful village where there were street entertainers entertaining a group of school children in front of the church, that was until they were rudely interrupted by 4 of us gas guzzlers stealing the limelight. See youtube link https://youtu.be/xVp2zqk4N1U. Eventually we started the climb, and it wasn’t long before some of the cars got hot and bothered and pulled over, to let things cool down, but I soldiered on, actually increasing my speed to try to increase the airflow through the radiator. See youtube link https://youtu.be/fskLAkZ6bsM although my gauge was in the red it was running well and reached the top in one go. The stragglers eventually caught up and a great lunch was had, with fantastic views. The drive down to Grenoble was uneventful, with beautiful views, but we did get stuck in an hour long traffic jam, entering Grenoble. Whilst we were stuck, my son Dan and I were having a great laugh looking at the typically old French cars with a dent in every panel, and bits either taped on or just hanging off. A good meal and a few beers were consumed before a good night sleep.
Wednesday 8th June The cars were garaged securely in the underground garage below the hotel, and this is where we had our first real casualty of the journey. An FF owner struggled to get up the exit ramp, and then found the car’s auto box wouldn’t change out of 1st. After fluid checks, it was deemed terminal and we left Derek and Sue to organise its recovery to the UK. We all set off via the A roads to Chaumont, a good 250miles away. As usual, we all got split into smaller groups, although 3 of us got split from our bigger group on hitting Lyon, where we promptly missed a turn and then got lost. It was when we finally took a wrong turn over a set of traffic lights and onto a Lidl supermarket car park, when we decided to work out a plan, as we had been messing around in Lyon for over an hour. We decided to retrace our route and get on the AutoRoute to
Dijon, then the A roads to Chaumont. This way we may be able to catch up with the others who were way ahead of us at this point. The 3 of us managed to join the AutoRoute, where upon Nigel at the front put his foot down, and we quickly hit 100MPH and kept it there for about 75 minutes, whereupon we filled up and headed off on the A roads again. See youtube link https://youtu.be/yYVPwad8PUo some beautiful scenery and great driving on these roads, and finally arrived at our hotel, which turned out to be very interesting. The hotel would have made Fawlty Towers look like the Ritz, with dated décor, and customer service non-existent, there was even a stuffed moose head in reception! On arrival we checked in and met some earlier arrivals in the bar, only within half an hour the first argument occurred between us and the manager. The bar maid had tried to charge us twice for the same drinks, and had obviously pocketed the money and openly lied to us, but we caught her out. Seeing as there were approximately 40 of us staying, he still refused to open the restaurant, argument number 2, so we had to seek food elsewhere. After eating out we all gathered in the bar, as you do, to be told at 23:00 the bar was shutting, and they started pouring our drinks down the sink, so argument number 3 occurred. It was good to see Derek and Sue there; they had made arrangements for their Jensen to be recovered, and had hired a car to complete the rest of the journey. They turned up late, and the hotel refused to even serve them a sandwich, argument number 4!! Next morning was no better, breakfast tables not being cleared, a lack of plates and cutlery, and I kid you not, loud arguing from the kitchen. We were glad to leave, but the group look back on this place as one of the highlights!!
Tuesday 7th June This is what we had all gathered in Turin for, to travel in the footsteps of the 2 Jensen employees, who drove the prototype Interceptor back to the UK in less than 24hrs in June 1966. The idea was to keep to what would have been the actual route trying not to use the Autoroutes, as they weren’t built then. Today’s agenda was to visit the original Vignale factory, have lunch in the Alps, and then make our way to Grenoble for our overnight stop. 19 Interceptors set off from the Lingotto Hotel heading to the northern suburbs of Turin for the Vignale factory, which today is a document storage facility. The original factory gates were opened for us, the first time they had been opened in over 20 years, and we were made very welcome. All the cars were lined up, but one early Interceptor was made up to look like the prototype, with correct number plate, and strategically placed in the exact spot, according to an old photo, where the car was handed over those 50 years ago. We had heard the owner of the factory had his own vehicle collection, but thought we wouldn’t be interested as there wasn’t anything in there as exotic as our cars. We managed to persuade him to let us be the judge, and we were glad he did. He collected mainly utility vehicles and fire engines etc. and we spent 2 hours looking around his stuff, it was an Aladdin’s cave. Amongst some early fire engines, from 1920’s -1970s, including a very strange Fiat amphibious fire engine, there were 3 Fiat 4wheel drive SUVs with Ferrari Dino engines, one of which had actually competed in the Paris –Dakar rally. There was much more but far too much to list here. We had to curtail our impromptu collection viewing as we had lunch booked in the Alps, so we all set off, filling up on the way, so we got split into a number of groups. Just on leaving Turin our group got lost, the 4 of us pulled over just past a junction as we had made a wrong turn. As I was bringing up the rear, this meant I was straddling a Zebra crossing, much to the annoyance of a shopping laden lady who promptly stuck her head through the open driver window and started ranting as only an Italian could. This was of course to the huge amusement of the other drivers. After getting our bearings we headed off for the rendezvous at the top of Col du Mont Cenis, 2083m above sea level. We passed through a beautiful village where there were street entertainers entertaining a group of school children in front of the church, that was until they were rudely interrupted by 4 of us gas guzzlers stealing the limelight. See youtube link https://youtu.be/xVp2zqk4N1U. Eventually we started the climb, and it wasn’t long before some of the cars got hot and bothered and pulled over, to let things cool down, but I soldiered on, actually increasing my speed to try to increase the airflow through the radiator. See youtube link https://youtu.be/fskLAkZ6bsM although my gauge was in the red it was running well and reached the top in one go. The stragglers eventually caught up and a great lunch was had, with fantastic views. The drive down to Grenoble was uneventful, with beautiful views, but we did get stuck in an hour long traffic jam, entering Grenoble. Whilst we were stuck, my son Dan and I were having a great laugh looking at the typically old French cars with a dent in every panel, and bits either taped on or just hanging off. A good meal and a few beers were consumed before a good night sleep.
Wednesday 8th June The cars were garaged securely in the underground garage below the hotel, and this is where we had our first real casualty of the journey. An FF owner struggled to get up the exit ramp, and then found the car’s auto box wouldn’t change out of 1st. After fluid checks, it was deemed terminal and we left Derek and Sue to organise its recovery to the UK. We all set off via the A roads to Chaumont, a good 250miles away. As usual, we all got split into smaller groups, although 3 of us got split from our bigger group on hitting Lyon, where we promptly missed a turn and then got lost. It was when we finally took a wrong turn over a set of traffic lights and onto a Lidl supermarket car park, when we decided to work out a plan, as we had been messing around in Lyon for over an hour. We decided to retrace our route and get on the AutoRoute to
Dijon, then the A roads to Chaumont. This way we may be able to catch up with the others who were way ahead of us at this point. The 3 of us managed to join the AutoRoute, where upon Nigel at the front put his foot down, and we quickly hit 100MPH and kept it there for about 75 minutes, whereupon we filled up and headed off on the A roads again. See youtube link https://youtu.be/yYVPwad8PUo some beautiful scenery and great driving on these roads, and finally arrived at our hotel, which turned out to be very interesting. The hotel would have made Fawlty Towers look like the Ritz, with dated décor, and customer service non-existent, there was even a stuffed moose head in reception! On arrival we checked in and met some earlier arrivals in the bar, only within half an hour the first argument occurred between us and the manager. The bar maid had tried to charge us twice for the same drinks, and had obviously pocketed the money and openly lied to us, but we caught her out. Seeing as there were approximately 40 of us staying, he still refused to open the restaurant, argument number 2, so we had to seek food elsewhere. After eating out we all gathered in the bar, as you do, to be told at 23:00 the bar was shutting, and they started pouring our drinks down the sink, so argument number 3 occurred. It was good to see Derek and Sue there; they had made arrangements for their Jensen to be recovered, and had hired a car to complete the rest of the journey. They turned up late, and the hotel refused to even serve them a sandwich, argument number 4!! Next morning was no better, breakfast tables not being cleared, a lack of plates and cutlery, and I kid you not, loud arguing from the kitchen. We were glad to leave, but the group look back on this place as one of the highlights!!
Thursday 9th June Off to Abbeville, for the official last night of the tour, another 250mile journey, and about 6 hours drive, plus a trip to a Champagne vineyard for those interested. This wasn’t our cup of tea, so we split up from the group, and made our own leisurely drive to Abbeville, passing through some historic WW1 landscape. We followed the river Somme past Reims and Amiens, before arriving in Abbeville, which is a beautiful town. On the journey we stopped in a layby and had some lunch. Dan and I reflected on the journey, with me asking him whether he had enjoyed himself. He honestly replied at times he had been bored, but on those occasions he had retired to the hotel room, and spent time on the internet socialising, as only a 19 year old can understand. He also said that £1500 it had cost him would have paid for a good holiday somewhere exotic, but overall he was glad he did it, as it was an unrepeatable experience. I was glad and surprised that we had not had any arguments, considering we had spent 10 days together, without a break, and had really got on very well. The hotel in Abbeville could not have been more different from the previous evening. The staff was very helpful, to the point of guiding us to the public carpark, and the specific spaces we could use for free. On the evening was a celebratory dinner, where the last Jensen joined the group. He was from Paris and could only make that one night of the whole tour, due to work and family commitments, but he made it and had only owned his car for 3 months. Much alcohol and food was consumed that evening, and many recounts of each other’s experiences of the trip were given.
Friday 10th June The morning was bright and sunny for our last visit to a point of interest, before catching the 14:20 Chunnel train. We all set off in drips and drabs, depending on your hangover, to Le Touquet, and more specifically the airport. This was where the prototype was driven aboard a Bristol Superfreighter, 50 years to the day, and flown to Lydd airport on the south coast of Kent. We all arrived for a photo shoot in the carpark, 2 latecomers being delayed after being done for speeding, when something unexpected occurred. The airport
authorities were aware that we would be arriving, and they then opened the gates to allow us apron side, in front of the terminal. Bear in mind this is an international airport with customs, and light aircraft taxiing around us, the French can come up trumps occasionally. We were duly all lined up correctly with a man with his ping pong bats, and champagne was drunk to officially end the tour. This was where we all split up, some going back to their home countries, Germany Switzerland, etc., whilst some Brits were staying on in France for a few days, most of us were heading back home or to the Jensen International weekend at Windsor .
We made our final farewells to newly made friends and it was quite an emotional few minutes for many, as we had driven thousands of miles, with hardly any issues, in cars that were 40+ years old and at time driven hard. We then exited the apron in single file to much horn blowing and waving, to all go our separate ways.
All done, we covered 2000 miles, 4 litres of oil, 4 litres of auto fluid, (although most leaked out as I was over filling it) and 115 gallons of super unleaded fuel, and 2 bottles of octane booster. I was really pleased the car returned 17mpg which is really good!! And only cost me £660 in fuel. Oh, don’t forget the fuse!!
I’ve now got the bug, and am looking at driving to Dresden and back next September, no special reason, just a suggestion from one of our German friends, as there are good driving roads out there, with little traffic. 40 hotel rooms already booked, so watch this space.
Friday 10th June The morning was bright and sunny for our last visit to a point of interest, before catching the 14:20 Chunnel train. We all set off in drips and drabs, depending on your hangover, to Le Touquet, and more specifically the airport. This was where the prototype was driven aboard a Bristol Superfreighter, 50 years to the day, and flown to Lydd airport on the south coast of Kent. We all arrived for a photo shoot in the carpark, 2 latecomers being delayed after being done for speeding, when something unexpected occurred. The airport
authorities were aware that we would be arriving, and they then opened the gates to allow us apron side, in front of the terminal. Bear in mind this is an international airport with customs, and light aircraft taxiing around us, the French can come up trumps occasionally. We were duly all lined up correctly with a man with his ping pong bats, and champagne was drunk to officially end the tour. This was where we all split up, some going back to their home countries, Germany Switzerland, etc., whilst some Brits were staying on in France for a few days, most of us were heading back home or to the Jensen International weekend at Windsor .
We made our final farewells to newly made friends and it was quite an emotional few minutes for many, as we had driven thousands of miles, with hardly any issues, in cars that were 40+ years old and at time driven hard. We then exited the apron in single file to much horn blowing and waving, to all go our separate ways.
All done, we covered 2000 miles, 4 litres of oil, 4 litres of auto fluid, (although most leaked out as I was over filling it) and 115 gallons of super unleaded fuel, and 2 bottles of octane booster. I was really pleased the car returned 17mpg which is really good!! And only cost me £660 in fuel. Oh, don’t forget the fuse!!
I’ve now got the bug, and am looking at driving to Dresden and back next September, no special reason, just a suggestion from one of our German friends, as there are good driving roads out there, with little traffic. 40 hotel rooms already booked, so watch this space.