Jensen FF

This lot will be auctioned via Iconic Auctioneers, The Iconic Sale at Race Retro 2026 Collectors' Cars on Saturday the 21st of February, Stoneleigh Park, Stoneleigh Rd, Coventry, CV8 2LG. , The Jensen Interceptor is one of most striking and capable British GTs ever built. Unveiled in 1966 at the London Motor Show, it catapulted Jensen into the upper echelons of the sportscar manufacturers. The Interceptor was styled by Touring of Milan and, initially, the bodies were built by Vignale in Italy before Jensen switched production to the UK.However, undoubtedly, the technical star of the newly disclosed range was the Jensen FF. With the same stunning new styling as the Interceptor, its specification incorporated a fourwheel drive system and antilock fourwheel disc brakes, the worlds first performance car to do so, ensuring Jensen was the absolute sensation of the show.The FF is closely related to the Interceptor, and is often mistaken visually as one, however, the FF is quite a different car, as it needed to accommodate the front axle and transfer box for the fourwheel drive system, requiring a different chassis design with a longer wheelbase. More obviously, the FF is also distinguished by having slimmer twin vents in the front wings (as opposed to the single vent of the Interceptor) and a bonnet bulge/scoop. Closer examination to the front and sides of the FF reveals differences in the front panel, headlamps, grille, wing shape and bumper. From the A pillar to the rear the car is the same as the Interceptor except for a larger transmission tunnel to accommodate the transfer box and centre differential.FF stood for Ferguson Formula, the fourwheel drive system developed by Harry Ferguson for racing cars, that split the torque unequally between the front and rear wheels, a protoAudi Quattro, if you like, with the FF predating the Quattro by nearly 15 years, making it a remarkable technological achievement and resulting in surefooted handling, especially for such a big GT car.This combined with Dunlop Maxaret antilock braking system, unnervingly good compared to other cars of the era, which is incorporated into the master differential and senses differences between the speeds of the front and rear wheels, altering brake servo vacuum electrically to release braking assistance. When the speeds equal, servo assistance is reapplied and the cycle starts again, pulsing being felt by the driver through the brake pedal.Unsurprisingly, road tests of the time heaped praise on the handling and safety of the FF, proclaiming it to be the worlds safest car and in 1967 Car magazine bestowed the FF with the Car of the Year award, based on its outstanding technical ability.The FF utilises a 330bhp Chrysler 383ci (6,276cc) V8 engine and a Torqueflite 3speed automatic gearbox, the latter having a master differential and chain driven transfer box mounted in place of the original output shaft. The torque output is split 37% to the front differential via a drive shaft down the lefthand side of the engine and 63% to the rear axle. The independent front suspension is unique to the FF with double wishbones, each side having twin coil springs and shock absorbers situated either side of the drive shaft. Constant velocity joints are used on the front driveshafts, the differential housing being fixed to the chassis.A total of just 320 FF models were produced keeping in line with Interceptor development mainly in MkI and MkII bodystyles, including a small number of MkIII cars, up until December 1971 when the FF was replaced by the twowheel drive SP as the company flagship. Despite its advanced technology, the FF cost 50% more than the standard Interceptor, limiting sales. Today though, theyre exceptionally rare and much soughtafter, especially to the British sportscar cognoscenti.The car presented here is a 1966 Jensen FF MkI (Chassis 119/103) and is one of only 195 such examples produced. That is special enough, but the ownership story and preservation of this particular car make it even more so. Today, 119/103 remains in its wholly original state, having never been restored, seemingly lost to the world, in hibernation, for almost 35 years in an outbuilding of a country house. It remains the property of our vendor, after she inherited it following the death of her father, the cars original owner. Effectively then, this FF is of singleownership (i.e. by the time it was passed down, it was already laidup and wasnt ever driven again).It was ordered new by Mr S.T. Pickard Esq. on the 30th January 1969, specified in Mist Grey paintwork with black upholstery, via West Central Garage Ltd of Wolverhampton, a local Jensen distributor. Mr Pickard specified air horns and a fog lamp, whilst also partexchanging his 1962 MercedesBenz 220SE as part of the deal, paying £5,600 (the equivalent of £113,400 today) for his new FF. Originally registered as VUK 242G on the 7th March 1969, we are told