JENSEN-FORD SHOOTING BRAKE
Year of manufacture 1935 Recorded mileage 50,451
Asking price $119,500 Vendor Hyman Ltd, 2310 Chaffee Drive, St Louis, MO 63146, USA; 001 314 524 6000; hymanltd.com WHENITWASNEW Price n/a Max power 85bhp Max torque 144lb ft 0-50mph 11.6 secs Top speed 81mph Mpg 22
Woodie wagons appear to be a bit of a theme this month, so I thought I’d add my own choice for consideration. This intriguing Anglo-american hybrid blends trusty mechanicals from the long-running and faithful-serving Ford V8 with a touch of British flair courtesy of Jensen siblings Richard and Alan.
In the sturdy Ford the West Bromwich brothers found a perfect partner that mixed reliability with lots of lazy grunt from the 221cu in (3.6-litre) flathead V8 – from which Jensen liberated up to 120bhp in later twin-carb form. It set the template for the future of the firm’s production, mating offthe-shelf V8s from the States to increasingly elegant bodies, culminating in the gorgeous Touring-styled, Chrysler-powered Interceptor and FF.
It would take a serious rose tint to your specs to suggest that this woodie matches that iconic shape for style, but Jensen did more than simply slap a new body on to the Canadian-built Ford Model 48 chassis. The engine was moved and the radiator and bonnet line lowered to give a look rakish enough to tempt Clark Gable and even Edsel Ford, who both owned Jensen-ford dropheads. But a convertible is a bit run-of-the-mill, to stand out you need one of the two (or three, depending on who you ask) timber-bodied station wagons, of which this is the sole survivor. A two-door in the classic shootingbrake tradition, it features a split tailgate – to sit on for a Thermos of tea after bagging a few grouse – and a rear-mounted spare. Inside it’s comfortable rather than ostentatious, with rich red leather and a well-stocked dash.
Originally believed to have been built for a doctor, this Jensen spent most of its life in the UK. Much of its early history remains unclear, but it is thought to have been taken off the road in the late 1950s and didn’t reappear until the early ’80s, when the Jensen Owners’ Club learned of it living in Dorking, Surrey. It was saved from the scrapyard by a club member who, rather serendipitously, turned out to be a piano restorer – just the man to save the unique ash rear body frame. After passing through the hands of another club member it was acquired by its current Jensen-enthusiast owner in 2010 and crossed the Atlantic to become a star of the Stateside show scene.
The rebuild is taking on a nice patina and the car is ready to be enjoyed, says vendor Mark Hyman: “The Canadian-built ‘eight’ runs well, delivering a respectable amount of grunt to move the Jensen along with ease.”