Jensen

Back in June, I was moved to take a look at the history of buses, in particular their bodies, their coachwork, as noticed at reference 1. Subsequently, I acquired a copy of reference 2, once the property of the Historic Commercial Vehicle Society of Staplehurst. I have been peering at buses and coaches from time to time, both there and on the road, since then.

Then, the other day, I was intrigued to discover that Jensen, which I knew of as the brand of a flashy sports car, also made buses - with the unusual construction of same being illustrated in the middle of the snap above. Chassis, very much that of a flat bed lorry. Seats lined up on the flat bed. All-in-one body shell popped on top.

Bing turned up reference 4 which contained plenty of information about same, while Google turned up reference 5, which probably contained the original of the picture which started me off.

Also this snap of the famous Jensen Interceptor, aka the FF. I believe the late Henry Cooper had one for travelling between fights, adapted to have one large seat in the back and driven by a lady chauffeur, no doubt in uniform (with hat). I was rather surprised to find that only just over 300 of them were ever made. Which does not seem very many for a car which I have heard of.

Any there any still on the roads? Have I ever - or will I ever - see one?

PS 1: I have still to make it to the London Transport museum at Covent Garden. I almost made it, but then the visit seemed to have got onto the back burner.

PS 2: I associate to the Reliant motor company, best known for the Reliant Robin fibreglass three wheeler, attractive to people who might otherwise have been riding a motorbike, but who also made respectable sporty cars, the Sabre then the Scimitar - and I learn today from reference 6 that they were a big company for a while, second only to British Leyland in terms of units sold. 

We saw a Reliant Robin on the road, near Sandown on the Isle of Wight, as recently at 2023, as perfunctorily noticed at reference 7.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2025/06/investigating-buses.html.

Reference 2: Ian Allen Transport Library: British Buses since 1900 - John Aldridge, Stephen Morris - 2000.

Reference 3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jensen_Motors.

Reference 4: https://lthlibrary.org.uk/library/PDF-197-1.pdf.

Reference 5: https://www.jensenmuseum.org/jensen-commercial-vehicles/jensen-bus-skeleton/. Lots of other interesting pictures here, as well as the skeleton.

Reference 6: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliant_Motors.

Reference 7: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2023/07/the-chine.html.