Fancy a Jensen Interceptor?

There was only one answer to that in the 1960s. Yes Please! The Jensen Interceptor was so far ahead of its time when it was launched in 1966 it was an instant hit. But it was pricey. Very pricey. It cost twice as much as the ‘car of the moment’, the E-type Jaguar, and more expensive even than the top of the range Aston Martin or Ferrari. That gives you ‘youngsters’ out there some perspective!

The Interceptor was driven by the trendiest of businessman and the most successful of celebs. Carla’s Uncle Alec had one of these way back when (he was a purveyor of fine (and expensive!) handbags and other accessories for the new trendies of ‘Swinging London’ - ‘Ingerland swings like a pendulum do, Interceptors on the Kings Road 2 by 2′!) and his wife drove a metallic pink Mini with a Union Jack on the roof! Does that sound like a 60s cliché or what! But it sums up what the Interceptor was. The car to have. Well now you can have a ‘New’ one once again.

V Eight Ltd, based in Banbury in Oxford, are rebuilding 50 of these stunning classic cars to ‘as new’ specification. But the specification will be much better than new. The latest brakes and suspension, and a modern 6.0 litre GM LS2 engine producing 414bhp. The original Interceptor did a very respectable 0-60 of mid 7 seconds. Expect this to be a tad better! And far more reliable.

There have been a few of these projects over the last few years - a chance to have a real classic but with much less hassle than trying to live with an original. The Eagle E-Type is probably the most successful of these. They give you a ‘modern’ E-type (at a price!) that has all the beauty and class of the original, but much, much less of the hassle. This is hugely appealing. I’d love a classic E-Type or Interceptor (and innumerable others!) but I really couldn’t live with the problems, however much of a petrol-head I am. So this is a very good way of getting the best of both worlds.

It looks like V Eight will have a winner on their hands. But they are only going to produce 50 of these cars, which is a shame. And it looks as though they’re only concentrating on the standard car. They’re not going to rebuild the beautiful convertible or play with the FF (the FF (Ferguson Formula) was the world’s first permanent 4 wheel drive Supercar). To be honest you can’t really blame them. There is a limited supply of original donor cars, and the rebuild is going to be difficult enough to get right without playing with the more specialist models. But maybe if this 50 is a winner they’ll play with some of the other versions. Here’s hoping.