Today’s Nice Price or No Dice Jensen Healey offers the British roadster experience with a side order of quirkiness not available in mainstream MGs and Triumphs. Let’s see if this one, which has lost its original Lotus motor for a V6 out of a Ford, isn’t too oddly priced.
Should a V-twin motorcycle be in the cards but not a big thumper like a Harley, one can always turn to Italy as the bikes from Ducati and Moto Guzzi offer solid options. We looked at one of those yesterday, a 2009 Moto Guzzi V7 Classic, which, at $3,900, offered not only the thrill of a pair of pounding pistons between the knees but also, according to the 75 percent of you who awarded it a Nice Price win, good value as well.
Lately, there’s been a lot of talk about nepotism in the entertainment industry and whether the kids of industry stalwarts have an unfair advantage over those who metaphorically just fell off the turnip truck. This seems ridiculous, as anyone raised with a family craft will most likely be inclined to join that craft and have an inside edge. It’s the same for entertainers as for electricians.
That was just the case with Geoffrey Healey, who, after serving as a mechanical engineer for the British Army during WWII, joined his father, Donald Healey, in the family business, spending the next 30 years designing and building some of the most legendary sports cars of all time. Oh yeah, and the Jensen Healey.
The story of Jensen goes back over a century and is also a family affair. Founded in 1922 by two brothers, Alan and Richard Jensen, the company’s first order of business was to coach craft bodies for sports cars and commercial vehicles. Following WWII, that evolved into building Jensen sports cars and consignment work for other manufacturers. By the late 1960s, neither of those efforts was paying the bills, and Jensen needed a higher volume model to generate much-needed cash.
At the same time, Donald Healey was looking for a new project after leaving the recently restructured British Leyland. As a result, Jensen and The Donald Healey Motor Company collaborated on a new small sports car called the Jensen Healey, while Donald Healey took on the roll of Jensen’s director.
Introduced in 1972, the Jensen Healey used a steel monocoque structure and leveraged mechanical bits from the Vauxhall Viva. For an engine, Jensen employed the then-new Lotus 2.0-liter twin-cam four. Canted at 45°, that afforded the car a low bonnet line that works well with the rest of the car’s William Towne styling. Initially, a four-speed manual sourced from Sunbeam was the transmission of choice. The final year of production saw that replaced by a Getrag five-speed and a name change for the car to JH5 after Donald Healey left Jensen due to disagreements over how the company was being run.
When it debuted in the Jensen Healey, Lotus’ 907 motor was untested and underdeveloped. Lotus hadn’t even started using the engine in its own cars. That led to teething issues that hurt Jensen’s finances further.
This 1975 Jensen Healey doesn’t suffer from issues with the Lotus engine as it has apparently been given the heave-ho and replaced by what the seller says is a Ford “Cologne V6.”
What’s the displacement of that V6? The ad doesn’t say, but the most common size from this Jensen’s era would have been the 2.8 here in the States. That has had a ton of work done, including new head gaskets, carburetor and alternator replacements, and a bunch of fiddly maintenance work. According to the ad, it now “Runs and drives great!” and is “perfect for fair weather drives with the top down!”
Aesthetically, it seems solid but far from perfect. The bodywork is straight, the trim appears intact (important on a hodgepodge car), and the top goes up and down as it should. It also has a clean title and is old enough not to worry about passing its smog test.
On the downside, we don’t get any shots of the interior, so anybody’s guess as to what’s going on there. We also don’t know the car’s actual mileage as the speedo has not been connected, much less calibrated for the new drivetrain. Are those big deals? Probably not. Something that might be is the $7,900 asking price. Only about 10,000 of these cars were ever built, and while a club supports the marque, this isn’t the most likely car someone in the market for an old British roadster might choose, considering the options from MG and Triumph in this price range. Add to that the lack of originality in the Ford engine, and we have quite a quandary in this car.
What’s your take on this Jensen Healey with a Ford V6 and that $7,900 asking? Does that seem like a fair deal, considering the car’s probable better reliability and overall condition? Or is that too dang much for such a mutt of a car?
You decide!
Los Angeles, California, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
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