My Jensen-Healey

1980 was an eventful year for me. It was the start of a new decade, and a change of job had recently taken me to a new part of the country. I had replaced my girlfriend with a more reliable model (later to become the present Mrs Dunstan). My trusty old Triumph Vitesse convertible was rapidly becoming my rusty old Triumph Vitesse convertible and it also needed replacing, but with what?

It had to be a sports car (to impress the new girlfriend). It also had to be different to the MGB/Spitfire/Midget breeds that had never impressed me.

One day, someone parked an orange sports car outside my office. Not recognising the model, I summoned a knowledgeable friend. "That's a Jensen-Healey", he said, and I wanted one.

Unusually for me, I didn't buy the first one I saw. It was black and very rusty, and the owner was desperate to sell. Nor did I buy the second, which was yellow and had no hood. The owner was expecting his first baby, and was also desperate. I bought number three. It was a white MKII with tan interior. I took a friend and we crawled all over (and under) it. The owner seemed genuine enough (I know, I know) and showed me his latest acquisition, an Austin Healey 100/6. It was the day before my girlfriend's birthday - I couldn't walk away.

Chris was suitably impressed next day, when I picked her up for a date. She was soon complaining though that the transmission tunnel was too high, and she couldn't get her arms around me.

It was a few months before I discovered what I had really bought. The pristine white paint started to bubble, and one day I put my right foot through the inner sill (moral - join the club before you buy the car). I was renting a house at the time and had only limited access to a garage. I had the rusty sills patched by a local welder, then replaced the wings and boot lid with fibreglass panels (steel ones being unavailable at the time). I then had the car resprayed in Jensen Carmine.

One evening, a few weeks later, the car was parked outside the house where Chris lived. We heard a bang in the road, and a short time later there was a knock at the door. A tearful lady confessed to hitting my car, and one of my new wings had a hole in it. I was lucky that she lived nearby, and was honest enough to own up. Her husband appeared on the scene, looked at the damage and said "why couldn't you hit something cheaper?".

While fitting the replacement wing I noticed some more rust in the wheel arch. I took the car to a local garage for repairs. When I returned to pick it up they were a little apologetic, and explained that there had been a slight hitch in the form of a fire inside the car - they had done the job without removing the carpets! That's when I decided to learn how to weld, and from that point on I embarked on a restoration that was to last for the next 20 years. I bought my own house (with garage) and every winter I picked a part of the car to work on.

Chris and I were married in 1984, and the car (no, it doesn't have a name) took us away in style. It had been decorated with the usual lipstick, beer crates, exhaust pipe whistles and five kippers. Three of the kippers were quickly sniffed out and removed. The fourth was under the carpet in the boot, and made its presence known when he returned from our honeymoon. The carpet had to be destroyed. Kipper number five lay undetected in the engine bay for 12 months, gently poaching in oil beneath the distributor.

The day after our wedding found us in Maidenhead, at the JOC International Weekend - start as you mean to go on, I say. Chris soon got into the swing of being a Jensen widow - long nights on her own as I tinkered in the garage. Even after she had announced the labour pains of our second child, she was holding a door mirror onto the car while I sat in the driver's seat calling out "up a bit, down a bit".

As soon as my daughter was old enough to travel in a child seat, I took her to shows and meetings. She loved the picnics and attractions but was never too keen on the cars. Nor was my son, despite my providing him with a steady stream of toy cars and toolkits.

With the mechanics of the car now in good shape, I turned my attention to the bodywork. The exterior panels, being fibreglass, were no problem, but the underside was beginning to resemble a jigsaw puzzle. The MOT tester said "you've been doing some welding on this car, haven't you?". "Yes", I replied. "Then why didn't you finish it?" he said, as he put his hand through the floor.

So it was off to Jensen Motors to get a quote for some serious work. I had made an appointment, but still had to spend a long time in reception while they tried to remember why I was there. They had thoughtfully provided a book for visitors comments, and I could see from the entries that my experience was not uncommon. After examining the car, they said that they would replace the floorpan with a plain sheet of steel - not quite what I was expecting from the people who had made the car.

I then took it to Cropredy Bridge Garage near Banbury, and got what I wanted. They replaced the complete driver's floorpan with a pressing identical to the original. They also replaced the inner and outer sills, and repaired the inner wings, wheel arches and rear deck. As I drove the car home afterwards I could immediately sense a dramatic improvement in the handling.....

One day, I read about the overdrive conversion for the 4-speed gearbox. As it happened, a friend of mine had a Sunbeam Rapier H120 that had recently developed engine trouble. When I asked if he had thought about parting with it, he said he was waiting for the time to mend it. That time never came, and he eventually sold me the whole car for 50 pounds. I removed the overdrive gearbox, and sold the car on for 50 pounds. I then rebuilt the box and fitted it to my car. I enjoyed the improved fuel consumption, and reduced engine noise at cruising speed, but the box was very heavy and somehow it didn't seem to suit the car.

Sitting in a pub one evening at an area meeting, a man came into the bar and asked for the owner of the Jensen-Healey in the car park. I thought he was going to say he had pranged it, but no. He had a gearbox for sale, was I interested? Not really, but when he said I could have it for a fiver I jumped. I bought it, rebuilt it and fitted it to my car, selling the overdrive box to fund some more work.

And so the years went by. I started a local area meeting, and continued to attend events up and down the country. I used the car in all weathers - one year I drove over the Derbyshire Peaks in the rain with the roof down, en route to the International Weekend at Warrington. You only get wet if you stop. My favourite trip of all time was to Brittany with my daughter for the Fougeres rally - five days of glorious sunshine and wonderful hospitality.

2000 was an eventful year for me. It was the start of a new decade (not the new century, but we won't open that argument again!) and I resolved at last to finish off the car. The major outstanding task was to replace the fibreglass panels with steel, restoring the car to its original condition. That was completed by November 2001, and the car was resprayed. The final tasks were to replace the hood and refurbish the alloy wheels, and the car was then be as "finished" as it ever would be. Since buying the car, I have travelled 70,000 miles and broken down only twice - on each occasion when the petrol pump failed.

On 26th November 2001, after 21 years of ownership, I sold my Jensen. I took the car for one last drive, then parked up and took some photos. When the new owner arrived half an hour later to collect the car, I couldn't find the keys! I searched the house for several hours, before eventually finding them in the rubbish bin. Perhaps the car didn't want to be sold! The new owners, Tom and Barbara, are members of our local area meeting and live just a couple of miles away, so I should see my old friend from time to time. I also have my 1:43 scale model on my desk to remind me of the good times.

My friends and neighbours think I am mad, having seen the smile on my face every time I drove off, but there were good reasons for my decision. In recent years, I had been using the car less and less. We have two other cars, and family outings require four seats. The Jensen-Healey spent most of its time in the garage, taking up space and covering fewer and fewer miles each year. I had originally intended to keep it for my children when they grew up, but neither is interested in car maintenance and it would be expensive for them to run.

Another major factor was that, with my 50th birthday just a couple of years away, I felt it was time for a new project while I could still wield a spanner. It had to be something that the rest of the family could get actively involved in. I decided that an off-road vehicle would fit the bill. My children can learn to drive it, and I will be able to satisfy my urges to repair and improve another vehicle without worrying about dirt, scratches and rust!

I have thoroughly enjoyed my Jensen experience, and met lots of wonderful people. I hope to stay in touch with many of them in the years to come.