When Donald Met Colin

Steve McManus has a new project. You'll probably recognize its rather plain face as that of a Jensen-Healey, the final (and probably least happy) automotive venture of Donald Healey.

Healey's greatest fame came from the very successful Austin-Healey that made his name a household word, much more so than the Nash-Healey and predecessors we featured some months ago. The Austin-Healey and its junior edition, the Austin-Healey Sprite, sold nearly 200,000 units.

Fearing, accurately but somewhat prematurely, the demise of the British sports car in the United States, Austin's parent British Motor Corporation had discontinued the "Big Healeys" after 1967. The Sprite continued on until 1971, the final year as simply "Austin Sprite" since Healey's contract had expired. (Its badge-engineered companion, the MG Midget, lasted until 1979, latterly with a Triumph engine.)

Donald Healey, however, was not finished with automobiles, nor was Kjell Qvale, the San Francisco BMC dealer. Qvale's store had sold more Austin-Healeys than any other in the US. The two men hit it off, and Qvale enabled the deal by buying Jensen Motors, a foundering British manufacturer.

Jensen had grown up building special bodies for Fords, then modifying Ford chassis into their own Jensen S-Type cars and Nash 8-powered H-Types. After the war, they gravitated to GT coupes with Chrysler V8 power, like the CV8 and latterly Interceptor. A big part of Jensen's business, though, consisted of body shells for larger manufacturers, like the Austin A40 Sports, Volvo P1800, and aforementioned Austin-Healey. It seemed a natural partnership.

Alas, the best-laid plans soon began to unravel. The Jensen-Healey had intended to use a Vauxhall Viva drive train. Vauxhall's engine proved anemic, but a new Lotus powerplant looked promising. Thus Colin Chapman's Lotus 907 engine, a 16-valve, two-liter four, made its debut in the Jensen-Healey, even before its first appearance in a Lotus car, the Esprit of 1976. A transmission from Chrysler UK, from the Sunbeam Rapier H120, and Viva suspension completed the concept, packaged in a unitary shell designed, in turn, by Hugo Poole and William Towns. It went on sale in the summer of 1972.

One can charitably say the car was "underdeveloped." Engines, in particular, had teething problems, and I can recall seeing Jensen-Healeys outside repair shops, their front ends sitting high in the air, indicating that the engine was undergoing surgery inside the shop. A Mark 2 version with minor changes came in mid '73, and a five-speed Getrag box was introduced in November 1974. A nifty GT version, reminiscent of Volvo's 1800ES, came in July 1975, but by this time Donald Healey had acrimoniously severed ties with Qvale. That car was sold simply as the "Jensen GT." Total production of Jensen-Healeys and Jensen GTs totalled just under 11,000.

By September 1975, the whole Jensen enterprise was ailing; the last car was built early in 1976. But hope springs eternal, and in the 1980s Ian Orford, a long-time Jensen employee, attempted an Interceptor revival, unsuccessfully. Later, the Jensen name was acquired by investors who attempted a Mustang-powered Jensen S-V8. Only about 30 were built.

Sic transit gloria Jensen, but the cars have a devoted following. Ed Moore of Bellingham Auto Sales in Massachusetts, who supplied the Interceptor pic, has two of them for sale, and the Jensen Healey Preservation Society carries the torch for Donald Healey's last car. Steve McManus might sell his Jensen-Healey when he's had a chance to bring it up to snuff. Contact the CarPort if you lust for it.

Delivery Confirmation

Back in February when we explored the world of sedan delivery automobiles, we made mention of a rumored 1950 Oldsmobile delivery, and found a picture of one on the web. Fred Summers, our resourceful St. Louis bureau chief, remembered he had once seen another, and he's just sent some photos.

One day he was driving a blue highway through Utah, and came across a building that advertised vehicle storage. Fred being the inquisitive type, he stopped to take a look. Hiding amongst a gaggle of Opels was this 1950 Olds sedan delivery, in process of restoration. Its owner repeated the same story, that it was a prototype built as a feasibility study and was the only one produced, echoing the information we found in the Standard Catalog of American Light Duty Trucks.

Apparently it had been stored by a gentleman from "up east," who fell behind in his rent. The landlord eventually took title, in exchange for the back rent plus some cash, and commenced to restore it. Fred notices that its taillight orifices are of the sort used on the Model 76 Olds, rather than the 88 type, and indeed its front fender is devoid of trim, so it's undoubtedly a six-cylinder car. Interestingly, the steering column seems to have the quadrant for a Hydra-Matic transmission. We can't say for sure whether this is the 1950 Olds sedan delivery, but it's more likely that a utilitarian vehicle would have been built in the entry-level 76 series. Or did they actually build an 88 version, too, as a test of speedy delivery?

Those taillights, by the way, are a marked contrast from Pontiac's stalk-mounted lamps. The Chevrolet sedan delivery, on the other hand, had only a single taillight, of the rectangular design used on the pickup.

It's an uncanny coincidence that we learn GM is reinventing the sedan delivery - after a fashion. The 2007 Chevy HHR Panel, introduced at the South Florida International Auto Show in Miami Beach the week before last, is a throwback to the panel truck and sedan delivery of half a century ago. Basically an HHR with blind rear quarters and no rear seat, it retains the rear side doors for ease of loading (and simplification of manufacture). In that respect it's not a real sedan delivery and is more like the Dodge Caravan Cargo Van, a cargo modification of a vehicle designed for people moving. Still, it seems like a promising market segment. The Europeans have been using small vans, like the Citroën Berlingo and Ford Transit Connect, for decades.

The End of Hershey as We Know It?

Perhaps. The size and shape of the Antique Automobile Club of America's Eastern Division National Fall Meet have been changing for nearly all the event's 50-year history. Originally a field event, the swap meet and car show has increasingly been held in paved parking lots. This year vendors from the former grassy White Field were relocated, most of them to the parking lot outside the Giant Center. A few, however, were assigned to a new Orange Field, once the site of a golf course.

Asphalt paving has several virtues, among them the elimination of mud, but also some drawbacks, including runoff, sore feet and the radiation of heat on a hot day.

As always, variety abounded at this year's "Hershey," held October 3rd to 7th. One could buy a 1961 Plymouth with cross ram air, bodies old and new, the latter available in wood or steel. Mrs. Brewster, doyenne of Hershey 2005, was back with a heart-front sedan and buyers had a bumper crop of nerf protection devices from which to choose. In the southern section of the Red Field were Joel Horne and Randy Poole (right), tempting shoppers with a 1970 Imperial and a nose clip composed of various Chrysler Corporation parts.

In the car corral, now on the location of the old Blue and White Fields, were such diverse cars as a 1927 Jordan Tomboy and a 1962 Chrysler hearse. In the Green Field, the mating instinct of automobiles was demonstrated as a Renault mounted a Dort. The car show on Saturday morning took on an idyllic dimension, as autumn foliage contrasted with the green of the former golf course.

The show is one of the largest found anywhere, and always has unusual vehicles, this time a 1912 Tudhope and a 1960 Meteor, both Canadian-built. Unrestored cars have their own class, drawing the likes of a 1929 Nash and a 1926 Minerva sedan. There's even a class for mini-bikes.

The weather was kinder this year than last, with rain falling only at night. By Saturday afternoon, though, vendors were holding close-out sales and buyers were loading up their newly-bought treasures. As night fell, this Nash eight-cylinder engine was waiting for its new owner to return. While the moon set at dawn on Sunday, I hitched up my classic Shasta trailer and headed home to Connecticut.

Meet sponsor Hershey Region of AACA is at the mercy of Hershey Entertainment and Resorts, owner of the land. Present plans call for paving all areas by next year. If the scheme reaches fruition, it really will be the end of Hershey as we have known it.

The Model T of Tractors

Henry Ford's interest in self-propelled vehicles was partially born of his dislike for farm work. It's no surprise, then, that after putting America on wheels with an inexpensive passenger car, the Model T Ford, he started to build tractors. In 1917, with his son Edsel he founded a new company, Henry Ford & Son, which produced its first gasoline-powered tractor toward the end of the year. The name "Fordson" was chosen for the new machine because another party was already building Ford tractors in Minnesota. Ford knew there would be a ready market for his tractor as several aftermarket entrepreneurs were already selling conversion kits for Model Ts.

The Fordson Model F followed Model T practice in having an L-head four-cylinder engine, at 251 cubic inches about 40 percent larger than the T powerplant. It used thermosyphon cooling, a gravity feed fuel tank located over the engine, a low-tension flywheel-mounted magneto with trembler coils, the latter mounted in a box on the left side of the engine. It was the first tractor to use engine and transmission castings as the vehicle's chassis. The Fordson departed from Model T practice, though, in having a sliding gear transmission with a multiplate clutch rather than a planetary drive train. Initially there were no brakes, but in 1923 a transmission-mounted multiplate brake was added. A high-tension magneto was a popular aftermarket accessory, as was a water pump. Fordsons were manufactured at Dearborn and later at the River Rouge plant until 1928.

Ironically, the Fordson had a longer life abroad. Manufacture was initiated at Cork, Ireland, in 1919, and continued until 1932, at which time Ford's new English plant at Dagenham, Essex, took over. A new model, the N, was introduced in 1928, with a larger bore engine, high-tension magneto, water pump and axle brakes. This continued in production until the end of World War II.

Whereas in America Ford tractors had experienced a hiatus from for more than ten years until the all-new 9N Ford tractor was introduced in 1939, in Britain there was no letup. At war's end, further updates were introduced on the E27N Fordson Major, still very much a Fordson but with a higher stance, single-plate oil-filled clutch, optional electric starting and lighting, and hydraulic drawbar. A six-cylinder Perkins diesel engine became available in 1948. The E27N remained in production until replaced by the E1A New Fordson Major in 1952. Thus the Model T of tractors, which had lasted barely a decade in the United States, managed a 33-year run abroad.