Jensen`s body, perfect

Staff
Car Sagas
If he looks a bit excited
that’s because he is.
Owen Springs offer
the complete service.
1000-degree
heat revives
the tensile
strength.
Flames: always
brilliant to look at when
someone is explaining
something complex.
Very well-tempered
‘as new’ rear springs.
Jensen’s body, perfect
It has to be sharp, smooth and very well sprung…
T
EDITOR
Danny
Hopkins
1970 Jensen Interceptor ii
Engine 6276cc/V8/OHV
Power 330bhp@5000rpm
Torque 425lb ft@2800rpm
Gearbox 3-speed automatic
0-60mph 7.4sec
Top speed 136mph
Fuel economy 14.4mpg
Work since last report
Rear metalwork completed, front
panelwork welded on. Body rep work
in progress, bonnet bought, rear
springs retempered.
4
1750
0
TIME
spent
miles
(WEEK)
(£)
102 May 2015 // PRACTICAL CLASSICS
o me, the prospect of a trip to
Rotherham for a nose round a dirty,
hot, dark satanic mill is about as exotic
as it gets. It’s what made the decision to
retemper the Jensen’s leaf springs (rather
than replace) that bit easier. Owen Springs do
everything from making giant leaf springs for
railway locomotives to individual retempering
jobs such as my Jensen. As soon as you walk
into the main fabrication hall the smell of
hot metal fills your nostrils and the sound of
manufacturing endeavour leaves your ears
ringing. It’s completely excellent (arrange a
visit for your car club today!).
Owen Springs will assess each spring
repair and, providing it is cost
effective, they will do it
onsite, retail. My 10 leaf
items were sagging (a
traditional Interceptor
complaint: power +
weight = sag don’t you
know?) and the bindings
were shot. Owen got cracking straight
away: bushes, clips and centre bolts were
removed and each leaf assessed. Mine didn’t
require new leaves but all other fixings needed
replacing and the leaves themselves required
rebending and tempering.
It’s a simple enough process to have the
original curve put back into a spring. Cold
bending is an option but it isn’t a long lasting
one. Heat-treating is what Owen do and
involves erasing the spring’s memory
completely by annealing and then re-shaping
it. First each leaf is cleaned thoroughly before
surface blasting and detailed inspection.
This is how it all started
– Danny weeps.
www.practicalclassics.co.uk
Luckily again, mine passed this test which
meant they were then heated to 1700
degrees Fahrenheit and rebent to the correct
shape (Owen have thousands of original
patterns) and cooled in an oil bath. My
leaves were then re-heated to 1000
degrees and cooled to set the
steel to its correct hardness.
While my leaves were
being assaulted I was given
the full tour by Martyn
Gibson and Andrew
Brightman and tried my best
to concentrate on the flow of
fascinating facts. I was mainly
interested in watching the big noisy
machines and flames though.
The fourth
skim of filler.
Home alone
The Jensen bouncers were delivered fresh to
the workshop a week later, as good as new
and ready to fit. Trouble was, the Interceptor
was absent. Several days earlier, I had loaded
it onto Clive Jefferson’s well-travelled trailer
and had it delivered to Peterborough Classic
and Custom’s premises for insertion into their
paint booth. After two years of metalwork my
Interceptor was ready for some Reef Blue – its
original colour.
It wasn’t quite ready though, obviously. The
shell itself, after the marathon Migfest that
had befallen it, had all its panels present but
there was still at least three week’s worth of
solid prep work required before paint could go
anywhere near the metal. There was an awful
lot still to do.
The newly-attached front valance needed
In Danny’s garage
1970 Volvo 164
It will live this year. At some
point. Probably.
1972 Triumph 2000
My other resto project. There’ll
be more next time.
1974 Rover 2200SC
Has just been shined up like
a good ’un by Autoglym.
1980 MGB GT LE
Final month on SORN. By next
time it will be released.
To subscribe to PC go to www.greatmagazines.co.uk/practicalclassics
holes punching in for the front indicator
binnacles just under the front bumper, there
was the dented roof and front wing tops to
beat out and then there was the bonnet.
It was missing much of the bracing
metal from its underside and so
needed either some serious rebuilding
or replacing with a new bonnet.
I checked a well-known online auction
site and pressed ‘buy it now’ on a louvred
factory bonnet that happened to be there,
dangling like a naughty trinket. £750 later it
turned up in Peterborough and the car was
almost ready for a guide coat. My Jensen didn’t
have a louvred bonnet when it left Jensen’s
Kelvin Way Factory in 1970, but I want to use
the car regularly and louvres help significantly
with cooling. Plus this was the only decent
factory old stock item I could find and I needed
it quickly, so it was a no-brainer.
Door trims, rear hatch and window frames
were summoned from the shelves where they
had lingered to help Mike and Andy from PCC
create the clean, straight lines and seamless
curves that are the keynote signature of the
Interceptor. It is always a fantastic feeling
when the tide of parts turns and you realise
the storage pile on the shelf is getting smaller
and the parts on the car more numerous. But
they have to go on correctly and in terms of
bodywork that means trial fitting, skimming
with filler to create swage line perfection and
front end precision. Why not lead? A really
tough call this one. Clive Jefferson had done
such a good job with the difficult welding
required on the wings and valances that the
prep work was not massively significant, and
PRACTICAL CLASSICS // May 2015 103
➽
Staff Car Sagas
New old stock louvred
bonnet – £750 please.
’This is a supercar, a dream
car. If it isn’t sharp then it
will just look shabby’
Peterborough Classic and Custom’s
Andy Button matches the surfaces
at the nearside rear. Fifth skim.
Seam sealed, primed and ready to receive paint.
The Interceptor is prepped and primed.
while lead has many advantages, modern
fillers are a serious alternative these days.
Jason from Rejen wasn’t completely
convinced but understood my argument. He
supplied most of the parts for the project and
was really clear with me when I last visited
him: ‘Whatever you use it’s got to look sharp
Danny. This is a supercar, a dream car. If it isn’t
sharp then it will just look shabby.‘ And he’s
right. It’s the reason why I shelled out on high
quality preparatory potions.
Paint supplier Autopaints of Brighton came
up with the complete package, from seam
sealer to the Jensen Reef Blue topcoat (which
they had on the shelf). It wasn’t cheap, but as
with every aspect of this gargantuan
restoration, good kit and materials make tough
jobs a heck of a lot easier and the final result
a heck of a lot cleaner.
As work progressed I turned my attention
to the running gear – it would need to be on its
feet for the shot. It would also need a new
screen rubber, bonnet hinges (urgent – to line
up the bonnet), spring hangers, rear bumper
and the carpet would need making. I called
Jason again. Another trip to Rejen was called
for. The carpet was particularly important
because while the rest of the car was being
painted, in a small workshop in Stoke, the
interior was being beautifully retrimmed.
For that interior to be fitted at the Practical
Classics Restoration show the carpet would
need to be ready to be fitted underneath it
104 May 2015 // PRACTICAL CLASSICS
First skim. It took three weeks of solid
surface preparation to fully iron out all
Danny’s blemishes and sharpen the edges.
Useful contacts
n Autopaints
www.autopaintsbrighton.co.uk,
01273 328698
n Dynamat, www.dynamat.co.uk
n Jensen Owners’ Club, www.joc.org
n Northgate Restorations
enquiries@northgaterestorations.co.uk
n Optimise Automotive
www.optimise-automotive.com
n Owen Springs
www.owensprings.co.uk, 01709 710700
n Peterborough Classics & Custom, www.
peterboroughclassicsandcustom.co.uk,
01733 262625
n Rejen sales@rejen.info, 01962 777400
n SuperFlex Bushes
www.superflex.co.uk, 01749 678152
and on top of the Dynalite sound and heat
deadening system.
At this point I sat down with a cup of tea and
tried to work out the logistics. If this exercise
was successful then you will have seen a shiny
Interceptor on the PC stand at the Practical
Classics Restoration Show being Dynamatted,
carpeted and trimmed by happy, shiny experts.
If not? Well, that just isn’t an option.
And the rest
Add to the above the ongoing work on the TVR
Tina, my grandad’s Triumph 2000 and the rest
of my fleet and you’ll understand why tea is
important at the moment. I’ve also had to do
some restoration work on the Austin Maestro
Vanden Plas I imported from Jersey last issue
as part of my ongoing mission to trade up to a
Fifties Riley.
Work done and car sold to Craig Cheetham
(once of this parish), I already have the next
car in the workshop. You will see it next time.
■ danny.hopkins@practicalclassics.co.uk
www.practicalclassics.co.uk