A Mk1 FF and Mk1 Vignale FF; and the engine of the SP, above
have also been working with Porsche.
“In the Seventies it had a little bump. The front top panel was damaged, and is still damaged. It’s in pretty much barn-find condition, and we’re debating whether to remove and preserve that panel, because once you repair it, it’s gone forever.”
Originality is a perennial talking point in classic car circles, and nowhere is it more important than when dealing with individual machines like this one which carry so much historical significance. How can an organisation like Cropredy Bridge, which exists fundamentally to modify old vehicles, balance the need to preserve their integrity with the need to improve them and make them usable in the modern world?
“It’s always a tough one. We try to keep all the leather. Most of the cars are kept original; we restore everything. It’s only certain components, like an alternator or a starter motor that you’d put in new, otherwise the cars aren’t going to run.”
“In the FF you have all the four-wheel-drive system and anti-lock braking system, which are part of what that car is, and obviously [as a four-wheel-drive car] it has a completely different transmission with an extra prop. It’s a thing to behold. We fully recondition it and it comes back all sparkling and new.
“We’ve done 006, we’ve been working on that for four years on and off, to get everything as original as possible. Even stickers, on the fans and the brake servo.”
The adage “never meet your heroes” doesn’t apply to cars. You should definitely meet them, and drive them if you can, if only to better understand their idiosyncrasies and flaws. But what Cropredy Bridge is doing is profoundly special; by taking those automotive heroes and applying modern technology, processes and understanding, they’re making the Jensen Interceptor everything it was meant to be in the first place.