Jensen Interceptor
Danny has a moment, as the Interceptor fires up... a lot
‘I watched Theo age visibly as he tried to light up my rear end successfully’
The fact was I knew it was going to be close, but I didn’t think we would still be fettling at midnight before the trailer turned up to take it to the NEC. Once again the one step forward, ¾ step back rule had applied right up to the moment we threw everything into the back of the Jensen and winched it onto one of Ivor Searle’s finest. Then we set off to the NEC. It was a surreal moment. This car was about to happen. Every job had fought us… myself, Matt, Big John and the guys who had turned up to apply the specialist touches – Andy from Appleyards, Jason from Rejen, Jon and Graeme from Culverland and Lewi from PALE Classics… all had left the workshop and gone for a sweary walk at various points. It’s that kind of car.
Fitting the spare wheel cradle had been a pain, getting the doors to close and lock properly a total nightmare, and then there was the trim. The door cards didn’t fit – being a couple of inches shy of what they should have been. Then after old man scratching head noises and some mild panic, I realised I was missing a load of trim for them. A mercy dash to Rejen saw the trim bought (along with some other bits and essential bobs) and with two days to go to the show we moved on to the next ‘issue’. All the securing inserts for thechrome trim around the rear hatch were corroded. In the end we resorted to buying new 4BA threaded rod and dome nuts and TIG welding them to the stainless steel inserts. 16 of them… it took two of us an entire morning – grinding the old rods
off, cutting the new to length, welding and then trimming; and of course we hadn’t budgeted for the time. Bleeding the bleeding brakes took an eon as well – I grew a new beard. The twin-circuit MKIII system let go of its airlocks eventually, the new lines and calipers primed up giving me a pedal after about an hour and a half. I was ready to kill someone by then though.
We then had the task of making sure the wiring was correct. It had taken us weeks to get it to a point where we were confident that if we turned the ignition on it wouldn’t melt the loom, now we had to get the rest of it connected up correctly. This was the task I gave to Theo Gillam at the show and I watched him visibly age as he tried to light up my rear end successfully.
John from Culverland Classics checked through the loom on the Friday as Theo’s beard lengthened and by Saturday Paul and Lisa Lewis joined the party for a start up. Yes, once Pat from Fen-air had successfully finished installing the air conditioning system (21st century kit, futureproof and doesn’t sap anything like the power of the original kit) it was time to have a go.
Or not. The problem with installing new driven kit is that it needs new drive belts. With the upgraded Mitsubishi alternator I’d stolen from Paul’s workshop and Fenair’s 21st century air-con the belts we had were wrong. I made the announcement from the stage as we scoured the autojumble for the correct length V belts. Several members of the audience came up with belts from their own cars, the response was amazing. By the end of Saturday we were ready to go. I didn’t sleep much that night.
Contact!
The day dawned and the sun shone. Myself, Matt Tomkins, Theo Gillam, Paul and Lisa from PALE Classics, Clive Jefferson Pat from Fen-air and Guy Loveridge gathered around the Jensen as we worked on the last jobs required before start up. Live on stage we cranked the big V8 for the first time. It turned freely and with plugs out oil pressure came up a treat
30psi. There was a round of applause and the curtains closed. Time to push the Jensen outside.
On the apron next to door 9.2 at the NEC the Jensen fired for the first time in 30... (40..?) years. A huge backfire signifying the distributor was out by 180 degrees. It also signified the arrival of the NEC’S entire emergency response team armed with clipboards and attitude. ‘Why are you holding a fire extinguisher?’ The scariest one barked at Theo. ‘It’s a precaution.’ Theo responded. ‘You must be expecting a fire then. You can’t do this here!’
At this point, given my state of mind I would have probably got into a bit of trouble. But Theo is an extraordinary human being. Within ten minutes he and clipboard-man were ‘besties’, and the officious chap was wishing us all the good luck. Mr Gillam – I salute you.
Contact again!
I had to go and interview Mike Brewer and Ant Anstead on the NEC Live Stage at this point. Good thing probably given that the process that followed was brutal. To break in a rebuilt Mopar V8 you need to fire it up, take it to 2000rpm and leave it there for 20 minutes. I reappeared half way through the process (and after it had indeed, caught fire) and as I stood and wept my dad turned up. We had a father and son moment. It was great. Me next to the man who had inspired my interest in cars when I was only just old enough to walk. It was emotional.
danny.hopkins@practicalclassics.co.uk