1959 Jensen 541R

It’s Going Green

Classic car technician Al has been giving our 1959 Jensen 541R a new coat of paint. After he prepped the freshly primed body, Al mixed

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Seat Base And Rims

Our 1959 Jensen 541R continues to make progress through its restoration journey here at Bridge Classic Cars. Recently, classic car technicians Mauro and Brian have

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Jensen Progress

Our 1959 Jensen 541R has had more work on its interior completed recently. Lydia finished the base cushions for the front seats, covered the pair

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Primed And Ready

Classic car technician Al has been applying primer to various parts of our 1959 Jensen 541R. The underside of the bonnet was the first to

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More Interior Work

Our 1959 Jensen 541R has had more interior work completed by Lydia recently. Lydia has continued her work on the seats which are now almost

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Good As New

Our friends at Wyatt Polishing recently completed some restoration work and zinc plating for a number of seat runners and bonnet struts for the Jensens

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Prep Work

Our 1959 Jensen 541R has continued to make progress through its restoration journey over the last week or so. Lydia has been hard at work

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Getting Back Together

Progress has continued on our 1959 Jensen 541R over the last week. After previously painting the chassis, classic car technician Mauro continued his work painting

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Lots Of Welding

Classic car technician Rob has continued his work on our 1959 Jensen 541R. Following the return of the doors from the sandblasters, Rob has been

Read More »

More Progress…

Since the chassis of our 1959 Jensen 541R has been back in the workshop, classic car technician Rob has been busy rebuilding the car. He

Read More »

Jensen Bonnet Strips

Our classic car technician, Clinton, has been making parts that will ultimately go on to be fitted into one of our ongoing Jensen projects. The

Read More »

Painting Jensen Parts

Various parts of our 1959 Jensen 541R have been with classic car technician Mauro in the Bridge Classic Cars paintshop.

The wheels of our rare Jensen have been primed while other components have been painted black.

Now that the chassis has been painted, with the addition of these newly painted parts, progress continues to be made on our 1959 Jensen 541R.

Highlights Of A Paint Job

Our 1959 Jensen 541R has recently been painted green. While the car looks great in its painted state, it’s always exciting to see some of the steps in more detail that led to the finished paint job.

Classic car technician Al took some photos during the process and, as you can see from the photos below, his hard work and skill have led to a job well done.

Once Al had finished painting our 541R, he went through the process of flatting using a 1500 trizact followed by a 3000. The car was then polished and cleaned ready for fitting up very soon.

It’s Going Green

Classic car technician Al has been giving our 1959 Jensen 541R a new coat of paint.

After he prepped the freshly primed body, Al mixed the paint using the paintshop scales to make sure the paint was exactly the right consistency to use on the car.

Once the paint was mixed, Al made sure the body was completely clear of dust and debris. It was at this stage that the paint began to be applied. After the first coat of paint was on and fully dried, a second full coat was added.

A drop coat was then applied to help get rid of any patchiness that may be present in the new paint. Finally, 2 coats of lacquer were applied (5 minutes apart) and the car looked great in its new green colour.

Seat Base And Rims

Our 1959 Jensen 541R continues to make progress through its restoration journey here at Bridge Classic Cars. Recently, classic car technicians Mauro and Brian have been working on this rare vehicle.

Brian’s focus was on the interior of the car. Specifically, the front seats. Brian has been making the new front seat base frame wood sections. While Brian was doing this, Mauro was focused on the wheels of our Jensen 541R. The rims were given a coat of primer ready to be painted later on.

Jensen Progress

Our 1959 Jensen 541R has had more work on its interior completed recently.

Lydia finished the base cushions for the front seats, covered the pair of rear quarters, made the headlining, covered the rear centre panel, and covered the glovebox door.

While Lydia was working on the interior of our classic Jensen, Al was conducting his final checks that the chrome surround and flap fit the repaired bodywork before putting it into primer. The sills and bonnet were also primed.

Chris was also working on our 1959 Jensen 541R. His focus was on the fibreglass roof.

Primed And Ready

Classic car technician Al has been applying primer to various parts of our 1959 Jensen 541R.

The underside of the bonnet was the first to have epoxy primer applied before the outside of the bonnet had its primer applied too.

Once the bonnet was complete, Al turned his attention to the doors, boot, wings, and body of this rare classic car. All of these had high-build primer applied.

Work continues on our classic Jensen 541R as it makes progress through its restoration journey in the Bridge Classic Cars workshop.

More Interior Work

Our 1959 Jensen 541R has had more interior work completed by Lydia recently.

Lydia has continued her work on the seats which are now almost complete. Once the front base cushions are finished and fitted, the seats of our Jensen 541R will be ready to be installed in the car.

Alongside her work on the seats, Lydia also made the cubby box as well as completing work on various panels.

Brian has also been doing some work on the seats too. He bolted the front seat base frame to the wood section before trial fitting it into the seat tub. Brian then went on to make the patterns for the top wood sections and cut these out. The top wood sections were then fitted to the base seat frames.

Brian went on to add the wood sections to the inner edge of the base frame to allow the cover to be stapled in place later on. The base seat frames were then put into the seat base tubs.

Our 1959 Jensen 541R continues to make good progress and it will be interesting to see it continue through its restoration journey with us.

Wheel Arches Primed

Our 1959 Jensen 541R has recently had new seat covers made, and lots of prep work completed ready for it to move on to the next stage of its restoration journey.

Classic car technician Al has been looking at the wheel arches of this rare classic vehicle and has applied polyester primer to them.

Now most of the car has been primed, it is almost time to paint it.

Our 1959 Jensen 541R continues to make good progress and work will continue until it is ready to drive out of the workshop and back onto the road.

Seat Covers And Panels

Our 1959 Jensen 541R has had more interior work completed by Lydia over the last week. She has now finished putting the new covers onto the two front squabs. Lydia has also finished covering the two front base tubs too.

Now that new covers have been made and fitted, Lydia has turned her attention to making the new foams for the rear squab and the rear base frames.

While Lydia was working on the interior of our Jensen 541R, Chris was continuing his filler work on the body. Several panels were removed in preparation for their final checks and so that they were ready for primer.

Classic car technician Al has also been working on our 541R. He repaired the off-side A post before masking up the body ready for its polyester primer to be applied. Primer was applied and, as you can see from the photos below, things are looking good!

Now that the primer has been applied to our classic Jensen, it can move on to the next stage of its restoration journey and be another step closer to being back out on the road.

Good As New

Our friends at Wyatt Polishing recently completed some restoration work and zinc plating for a number of seat runners and bonnet struts for the Jensens currently in the Bridge Classic Cars workshop.

When components like this look as good as they now do, you can tell that the fully restored cars they become a part of will be as beautiful as ever.

Prep Work

Our 1959 Jensen 541R has continued to make progress through its restoration journey over the last week or so. Lydia has been hard at work finishing her prep work on some metal parts of this rare classic car. Lydia’s prep work is to get these components ready to be painted at a later date in the Bridge Classic Cars paintshop.

In addition to the work she completed on some of the metal parts of the car, Lydia also spent some time shaping the new foam which will eventually be part of the door armrests, ceiling pad, and dash pad. The centre panel also got cleaned up during the process.

As well as Lydia’s prep work, Monty also did some welding work to repair some of the components Lydia went on to prepare for painting.

The backboards of our 1959 Jensen 541R had new covers fitted by Lydia too. She sewed piping around the covers as well as sewing the pockets up and onto the backboards too.

Getting Back Together

Progress has continued on our 1959 Jensen 541R over the last week. After previously painting the chassis, classic car technician Mauro continued his work painting various components that will eventually be re-attached to the newly painted chassis.

While Mauro was painting, Brian continued work on the car’s interior. Although none of the interior components are actually inside the vehicle at the moment, preparation has already begun for things to be installed later on in the restoration process.

Brian fitted the metal brackets to the front and rear door cappings as well as fitting metal brackets to the rear quarter panels too.

Classic car technician Rob was also working on our 541R by bolting the roof frame back onto the chassis. Rob also bolted the body back onto the chassis as well. This has gone a long way in bringing the frame of our 1959 Jensen 541R back together and it is now much more recognisable.

Another big milestone that was achieved this week was the fibreglass work being finished on the car. Once this was done, Chris was able to apply epoxy and inside seal the body. Chris went on to remove the old paint from the bonnet, as well as paint more components, before moving on to putting the panels back onto the chassis ready to be panel levelled.

Chris ultimately put the body of this rare classic car back together and it is now ready for final gapping and panel levelling before moving on to the next stage of its restoration journey.

Our 1959 Jensen 541R has come a long way this year and, as 2022 draws to a close, we are very excited to see progress continue in the new year. By this time in 2023, this classic car will look very different to how it does now (and extremely different to how it did when it first arrived in the workshop).

Sandblasting, Repairs, And Painting

Our team of classic car technicians continue to work on our 1959 Jensen 541R.

Lydia has been stripping the old foam, leather, and vinyl off various interior pieces and prepping some of the metal work for repainting by sandblasting and sanding to remove rust, old paint, and glue.

While Lydia was working on the interior of our 541R, Al was continuing his work on the fibreglass bonnet. After his previous repairs on the underside of the bonnet, he cleaned the underside ready for the rest of his work to be completed. Once he had done this, he continued with his repairs. Al found some previous repair work that had been completed at some point in the car’s past. These repairs did not meet Al’s high standards so, despite making his repair work more challenging, he repaired the bonnet in full, including re-doing the previous bad repairs.

Mauro has also been working on our 1959 Jensen 541R. He has been refurbishing multiple components of this rare classic car. Alongside his refurbishing work, Mauro also painted the chassis too.

As work continues on our 541R, we look forward to seeing progress continue to be made as it moves through its restoration journey here at Bridge Classic Cars.

The Restoration Continues – 1959 Jensen 541R

Our workshop team have been hard at work with the restoration of our 1959 Jensen 541R.

Lydia has been stripping various interior parts ready for them to be re-covered and fully restored to their former glory. Brian has also been working on the interior of our Jensen 541R. He repaired the rear quarter panel top wood section. He did this by first marking out the side window surround panels and rear window top panel. He then cut out the new panels and the new rear quarter panel wood.

These wood sections were screwed together to form the rear quarter top panels. Brian then cut out the rear quarter side panels from mill board before bending the panel to shape. He then glued and stapled the side panels to the top panels.

The kick panels were then marked and cut out as were the glovebox end panels. Brian then went on to cut out the footwell panel and rear boot trim panel.

While Lydia and Brian were working on the interior of this rare classic car, Al was repairing and rebuilding the underneath of the bonnet.

Classic car technician Paul prepared the front upright bearing spindle for crack testing too.

Chirs has also been working on our Jensen 541R. He has been completing fibreglass work, filler work and panel gapping. Chris also removed the panels from the chassis so that it can be sent away for sandblasting.

Some components of our 1959 Jensen 541R have been refurbished and will soon be ready to be re-installed in the car as it continues to make good progress through its restoration journey.

Interior Work – 1959 Jensen 541R

The body of our 1959 Jensen 541R has undergone lots of restoration work recently. With classic car technician Rob modifying the front chassis, welding, and rebuilding various parts of this rare classic car, it has certainly made lots of progress on its restoration journey.

As work continues on the external elements of the car, classic car technician Brian has turned his attention to the interior. In particular, Brian has been working on the seats that will eventually help make the inside of our 541R as impressive as the outside.

Brian’s work started by cleaning the old foam and glue from the front seat frames. He could then fit the new foam into the front seat base tubs. Foam was fitted to the front edges and the inner rear edges before the front squab seat side foams were cut and glued in place.

The centre foams were also cut, fitted, and glued into place before the centre pad foams and wadding were added to the side foams. New backboards and new base foams were also cut.

Brian went on to cut and glue the front edge foams and trimmed them to shape. The wood for the seat base frame was also cut to the right size.

Our 1959 Jensen 541R is a very rare car. We have restored many Jensens in our workshop and we definitely enjoy seeing cars like this one get better and better the longer they are with us.

Jensen 54R1 Modifications

Classic car technician Rob has, once again, been working hard on our 1959 Jensen 541R.

Rob modified the front chassis of this classic car to fit the chassis cross-member. Making sure everything fits together perfectly is extremely important so, sometimes, modifications need to be made in order to get cars like this back on the road again.

Once the modifications to the chassis had been complete, Rob went on to repair the skin fitted on the right-hand door. Once this had been repaired, he was able to fit the door onto the car. He then fitted the right-hand door skin and door too.

Rob needed to make some additional modifications to the bonnet hinges as well. He made some alloy spacers which helped him fit the bonnet to this rare 541R.

The modifications weren’t quite complete just yet though, as Rob had to also modify the boot lid to ensure it fit the car perfectly.

This type of work, where our classic car technicians have to handcraft and modify components in their restoration work, shows how skilled our workshop team is. Technicians like Rob are able to complete this type of work only because they have years of experience to call upon and they are well-equipped to restore a rare car like this from the ground up.

Classic car technician Rob will continue his work on our 1959 Jensen 541R and we are very excited to see it continue to make progress through its restoration journey. Seeing classic cars like this evolve from an empty chassis to the final product that drives out of the workshop is an exciting process to see.

We are looking forward to seeing the rest of the Jensen restoration journey take place and we hope to see this beautiful classic car back with its owner and on the road in the future.

Lots Of Welding

Classic car technician Rob has continued his work on our 1959 Jensen 541R. Following the return of the doors from the sandblasters, Rob has been able to make some good progress with the restoration of this rare classic car.

His attention was first placed on the rear wheel arch filler panels. These were made and welded in place. Rob went on to weld the A and B posts too before adjusting and fitting the left-hand sill and panels.

The welding continued with the battery cradle being welded in along with the left-hand inner C panel being welded in as well.

Rob’s attention then turned to the doors of our 541R. Unfortunately, there were areas of corrosion which needed to be cut out and removed. Fortunately, though, Rob has the experience and the skillset required to make new panels and weld these in.

With less than 200 of these beautiful cars being made, the restoration work that is done here at Bridge Classic Cars by our highly skilled technicians, like Rob, is extremely important. As so few of these classic cars were made in the first place, having one less in the world is never a good thing.

Work will continue on our 1959 Jensen 541R and it will continue to make progress back to its former glory before eventually driving out of our workshop and back onto the road.

1959 Jensen 541R – Rebuilding A Classic Car

Over the last week, classic car technician Rob has been spending his time putting our 1959 Jensen 541R back together. Since the chassis of this rare car arrived back at the workshop, Rob has had his work cut out fitting everything back onto the car in the right place (and in the right order!)

The rebuild began with Rob fitting the sills back on and then refitting and welding the bulkhead onto the chassis as well.

From there, Rob went on to bolt the front wheel arches and the mounting frames in place and began work on fitting the body and the roof back together again. With this done, our 1959 Jensen 541R started to become much more recognisable as the beautiful classic car that we know it is.

We recently got the doors of our 541R back from the sandblasters. Although some repair work is still needed, Rob reassembled the doors so he could fit them to the car in order to check the A and B post alignment. He also bolted the roof down before making a new C pillar inner panel ready to fit later on.

Rob has moved on with his restoration work and has now made and welded the rear arch filler panels. He has also welded the A and B posts down.

The left-hand sill and panels have been adjusted and fitted and the left-hand C panel has also been welded in too.

Despite the fact that there is still a long way to go (and a whole lot more work to do), our 1959 Jensen 541R is looking extremely different to how it did just a few days ago. It is much more recognisable now and it is much closer to its final look than it has been before.

We are very lucky to have a skilled classic car technician like Rob working on the car and we are looking forward to seeing even more progress made very soon.

More Progress…

Since the chassis of our 1959 Jensen 541R has been back in the workshop, classic car technician Rob has been busy rebuilding the car.

He has already bolted the front wheel arches and the mounting frames into place and he has also started work on fitting the body and the roof back together again.

The car already looks very different than it did when it first arrived at the Bridge Classic Cars workshop and it will continue to change as it moves along its restoration journey.

Putting Things Back Together

Now that the chassis of our 1959 Jensen 541R is back in the workshop, classic car technician Rob has started the process of putting everything back together again.

This will obviously take some time and it will require a huge amount of patience and skill. Fortunately, our classic car technicians have both of these so good progress is being made.

As you can see from the photos below, Rob has fitted the sills back onto the car and he has refitted and welded the bulkhead onto it too.

Chassis Back In The Workshop

The chassis of our 1959 Jensen 541R has arrived back at the Bridge Classic Cars workshop. It has been moved from our storage facility, The Hangar, ready to begin the next stage of the restoration process.

Now it is back with us, our classic car technicians will carry out a thorough inspection of it before more parts of the main body are put back together.

The doors of this classic car have also been stripped down and sent off for sandblasting.

Jensen Bonnet Strips

Our classic car technician, Clinton, has been making parts that will ultimately go on to be fitted into one of our ongoing Jensen projects.

The bonnet strips he made can be seen in the photos below.

A Brief History Of The Jensen 541

The Jensen 541 was a car produced by Jensen Motors. Each one of these cars has an individual story to tell, but the story of the Jensen 541, in general, is one that many car enthusiasts should be keen to hear.

If you want to know more about these truly iconic classic cars, then this brief history of the Jensen 541 can give you a good idea of how special (and rare) these cars really are.

October 1953 – The Launch Of The Jensen 541

At the Earls Court Motor Show of 1953, the Jensen 541 was shown to the public for the very first time. It would be another eight months before production properly started but, this was the date when the world was officially introduced to the 541.

Up until the 541, Jensen had mostly been using aluminium for the bodywork of their Interceptors (there were restrictions on the use of steel still in place as the world recovered from the second world war). When it came to making the boot lids of the Interceptors though, Jensen played around with a new material of the time – fibreglass.

When working on the idea for the 541, Jensen wanted to do something big, so they decided to make a lot more of the car from this new wonder material.

June 1954 – Production Begins

In June of 1954, production of the Jensen 541 began. At the time, you could buy your very own 541 for £2146.

October 1956 – Say Hello To The 541 Deluxe

A little over 2 years after production of the 541 began, the 541 Deluxe was introduced. As this was a more luxurious car that featured all disc brakes, the price of the car increased to £2626.

Only 53 Jensen 541 Deluxes were made in total.

October 1957 – Here Comes The Jensen 541R

A year later, the 541R was introduced. When first released, these were fitted with Austin Princess (DS7) twin-carb engines, and an overdrive gearbox. The price tag for a 541R, at the time, was £2866.

January 1958 – No More Original Jensen 541

At the beginning of 1958, the very last Jensen 541 was made.

October 1960 – From R To S

Two years later, the Jensen 541R was pulled from production too. At this point, less than 200 541Rs had been made. Jensen had now moved on to the Jensen 541S which had a larger interior, and automatic transmission as standard. Due to these upgrades, the 541S cost £3195.

January 1963 – The End Of The Road

At the beginning of 1963, production of the Jensen 541S ended. Less than 150 had been made before being replaced by the Jensen CV-8 which had been introduced the previous year (1962).

Bridge Classic Cars And The Jensen 541

Jensens have had a strong presence in the Bridge Classic Cars workshop for a long time. Our team of classic car technicians have restored multiple 541s and some of our current projects include a few more too.

Considering only a few hundred of these classic cars were made, we love seeing them in the workshop. We love working on them, and we love getting them back on the road for everyone to enjoy.

Brake Calipers Are Good As New

Considering they were first fitted to the car all the way back in 1959, the newly refurbished brake calipers for our Jensen 541R are looking like they could have left the factory only yesterday.

After removing them from the car, we sent the calipers off to Norfolk Brake and Clutch as they were in need of a lot of attention. What was returned to us were the shiny, perfectly cleaned and reconditioned calipers that you can see in the photos below.

These will be refitted to the car as part of the ongoing restoration work taking place.

More Parts For Our Jensens

There are quite a few Jensens being restored in our workshop at the moment (7 at the last count including 541s, 541Rs, and an Interceptor MK3).

As there is a lot of work to get done on these classic cars, it’s usually very beneficial to bulk produce some of the smaller parts so they are always available if and when our classic car technicians need them.

Clinton has been busy handcrafting several components that will eventually go on to be part of several of our Jensens. As you can see from the photos below, he has been making bonnet hinges and rear seat location pins. Even small parts like this play a big role in classic car restoration.

1959 JENSEN 541R – Back From The Blasters

After a trip to the blasters, our 1959 Jensen 541R has made its way back to the workshop.

Once the newly blasted shell has been inspected by our classic car technicians, the next stage of restoration can begin.

Fabricating a bulk load of Jensen parts

In the workshops right now, we have 6x Jensen 541’s in various states of repair or restoration. We have 3x Jensen 541’s and 3x Jensen 541R’s.

Sometimes, when fabricating parts it is much more time and cost effective for Clinton to produce more than one item. In this instance, Clinton has been working on re-producing the rear demisters and vents as well as bonnet stops and clamps.

With so many successful Jensen restorations now complete, we have the tooling for a lot of the parts that are required on the Jensen. If you are looking for Jensen parts for your own car or need assistance with fabricating certain parts for your classic car feel free to get in touch and we’d be more than happy to assist.

Various Jensen parts being prepared

Mauro spent the afternoon in the booth preparing parts for a number of our Jensen projects. Blasted parts have been prepared and painted and will now be wrapped up ready for reassembly.

Cleaning and preparing parts for Jensen

Some of the peripheral parts belonging to our 1959 Jensen 541R are currently being cleaned up and prepared for refit. Once they are ready to go back on the car they will get packaged and stored away and await refit.

Fresh Finish – Freshly Blasted Parts from the 1959 Jensen 541 ‘Hepburn’ in Gloss Black

The freshly blasted parts for the 1959 Jensen 541R ‘Hepburn’ have returned to our Suffolk HQ for the team to get into perfect condition for its restoration.

The freshly stripped parts were meticulously cleaned to get rid of any residual blasting material before they were refinished in hard-wearing gloss black.

The parts were then left to sure completely before carefully being packaged and put into storage to awaiting the cars reassembly.