Practically Classics Forum

This is intended to be the story of my Jensen Interceptor III restoration. She has a verified 49,900 miles on the clock, and although in the photos she does appear to be rotten she is surprisingly quite solid. She is rotten in all of the usual places, the sills and valances mainly, however, all of the inner arches, rear quarters, floor pans etc are completely solid. Unfortunately, the gentlemen who owned her before me had a garage fire and the front end, as you can see in some of the photos, was near it which has led to the near side front wing, lower valance and front end panel needing replacement.

The plan is to restore her back to how she was when she left the factory, from the original colour all the way down to the tyres she would have had on when she was new. The engine was rebuilt back in the late 80s early 90s apparently and has only done 3,000 miles since the rebuild, however, the engine along with gearbox and all the ancillaries will be coming out during the winter months for inspection and any remedial work required will be done.



Even though she has been off the road for some years she still sits perfectly, and the panel gaps are spot on.



As you can see both inner and outer valances will need replacing, as well as a little bit of work which needs to be done to the tailgate







The interior is like new with no rips or marks, although there are a few cigarette burns in the centre console but that can easily be replaced. I am debating to recondition the interior myself, or to send it away for an upholsterer to do - how easy it is?

Note the original steering wheel which will be staying.







The engine bay, believe it or not, isn't as bad as it looks. Just some surface rust and grease.

mmmmmmmmm............. Interceptor.
Good luck with your project, they are amazing cars which deserve to be saved

looks a great project, I have always fancied one but been put off by the thirst (used to have v12 xjs which cost me fortune very time I took it out).

unless you need to stitch in any new leather tidying up the seats with a restoration kit like the one woolies do is pretty straight forward.

kevin.

Wishing you every success with this. I can see why some may have fitted aftermarket steering wheels though, because that one looks exactly like the type you'd see as standard fit in a late '70s mini though I suspect the Jensen one is probably more expensive and softer to the touch.

There is nothing that beats the rumble of a good V8 ! - Your interior is very good so only requires light work - I would stick to doing it yourself - time and a little patience is what you need most - I have just done the interior on my Jag with one of the kits that Kevin mentioned above (although it came from a company called 'The furniture clinic') and achieved fantastic results - I will post a pic up later when I find it - Good luck with the resto

Chris

Will enjoy following this. I have two interceptor projects in the waiting. A 73 and a 74. Hopefully the body is in better shape, but your interior looks beautiful. Best of luck.

I'll be following this

Glad you're all looking forward to another restoration thread, I have enjoyed looking at other peoples threads so I thought it was about time to start one of my own. I'm not giving myself any deadline to get her done, so when she's one she's done, but I'm hoping all the welding will be done at least by the end of next year.

I took the radiator out Saturday, along with the cooling fans and shroud so I can strip and paint them. Thought I'd do this as it shouldn't take too long, plus I just want to get a few bits painted before the major work begins so it looks as though it's kind of getting somewhere.

Just to get the ball rolling I decided to strip and paint the shroud as I figured it wouldn't take that long to do, I also cleaned up the original fans which come with the car. The fans haven't come out too bad, but they'll definitely need a bit more work done to them.

I sent the starter motor away last week to be rebuilt and my plan is that when I get it back to put everything back in the engine bay to get it running to see what it sounds etc.

Well, work has begun on the girl. All of the ancillaries from the engine have been stripped and the engine will be coming out in a few days for inspection and any remedial work required will be done. I'm still waiting for the stater motor to come back, it should be here by Wenesday, hopefully! I am working from the middle first, so the inner/outer sills. Upon closer inspection the floor is totally original and the are only three small patches which require repair. One on the drivers footwell and two on the offside floor pan.

The front panel, nearside wing, front valance and inner/outer valances require replacement, as you can probably see. Both doors need a little bit work, I'm going to keep the original doors as they fit perfectly and the gaps and lines are spot on. The roof is excellent, tailgate needs some work and I'll need a new bonnet.

I am very happy with the car and consider myself lucky to have bagged one which is more or less original and hasn't been messed about with. I've also begun to clean up and restore the interior, it's starting to look lovely. No connollising or dying, it's all original which I love