Since returning from the sandblasters, the chassis of our 1956 Jensen 541 has spent some time in our paint shop being painted.
It’s not very often that you see the chassis of a car in this state so it’s always interesting to see this stage of restoration work.
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.
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.
Classic car technicians Monty and Christian have taken the front wings off of our 1975 Jensen Interceptor MK3 to make way for the new ones to be fitted at a later date.
They made sure everything was done accurately and safely so, when the new wings are ready, they will fit perfectly into place.
Classic car technician Alan has been doing more work on our 1956 Jensen 541.
After repairing the roof and bonnet of this classic car, Alan turned his attention to the doors. He removed the door skins from the frames so he could apply epoxy primer to both sides.
Epoxy primer was also applied to the front wings and sill covers too.
This is part of the preparation for the body to be repainted.
The body of our 1956 Jensen 541 has been carefully removed ready to be sent for sandblasting.
While the body of this rare vehicle is out of the workshop, classic car technician Alan has been doing some work on the bonnet, boot lid, and bonnet flap. These have all had a coating of epoxy primer ready for the final coats to be added later on.
Classic car technician Alan has once again been repairing and replacing parts of the fibreglass body of our 1956 Jensen 541.
He ground back the cracks in the bonnet before covering it in a new sheet of fibreglass.
In addition to this, Alan also reinforced all the bonnet supports as they were weak and loose. Once this had been done, the bonnet went on to be prepped on both sides ready for its coat of epoxy primer.
Classic car technician Brian has continued his work on the interior floor of our 1958 Jensen 541R. After attaching the transmission tunnel cover, he then refitted the tunnel into the car before fitting the carpet.
He then went on to fit the side panels, and refit the rear seat, before giving the new carpet a good clean.
While Brian was working on the carpet, Lydia was re-covering one of the panels that had to be adapted following an adjustment made to the fibreglass frame underneath it. She covered this with carpet before binding the edges with vinyl.
To get our 1975 Jensen Interceptor MK3 back on the road, some new body panels were needed. We now have these and they will soon be fitted to the car as it continues to move through its restoration journey.
We found it very exciting to see the new panels sitting on the shell of the Interceptor and we can’t wait for work to continue on this iconic classic car.
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.
For the last few weeks, the interior of our 1958 Jensen 541R has been getting lots of attention from Lydia and Brian. Recently, Lydia turned her attention to the boot of the car – specifically, the boot carpet.
After lots of measuring, cutting, making patterns, and double-checking everything, Lydia was able to get the boot carpet fitted and looking good.
Restoring a classic car isn’t just about getting it running and making the bodywork look good. At Bridge Classic Cars, every part of the car gets the same levels of attention, including areas that most people won’t see – like the boot.
While Lydia was busy working in the boot, Brian was busy completing more work on the interior of the car. He fitted carpet to the front and rear footwells, the bulkhead, and trial fitted the handbrake carpet.
Brian also fitted the sliding covers to the kick panels and cut the sound deadening for the transmission tunnel before glueing it to the tunnel and cutting out the required access holes.
Brian continues to work on the interior of our 1958 Jensen 541R. He finished cutting the centre section foam to fit around the centre pad before glueing the cover and calico backing down and fitting the brackets.
Brian then installed the rear seat into the car and it looks great!
The interior continues to look better and better with each task being completed. The rear seat looks comfortable and we’re sure any passengers who eventually sit on it will agree too.
Not only has classic car technician Alan been busy repairing the fibreglass roof of our 1956 Jensen 541, but he has also been repairing a hole in the bonnet too.
He repaired the inside first by attaching some meshing which would provide more support for the repair. Once the inside of the hole was sealed, he then repaired the outside.
Repairs like this may seem small but they require high levels of skill and form an important part of the overall restoration project.
The history of the Jensen 541 is an interesting story that goes all the way back to 1953. Before the release of the 541, Jensen Motors predominantly used aluminium to make the bodywork of their Interceptors. Interestingly, the boot lid of the Jensen Interceptor though was made from fibreglass.
Fibreglass was not commonly used in car manufacturing at the time, so when Jensen released the 541 with a fibreglass body, it was actually the first European production car to be made in this way.
At Bridge Classic Cars, we have a wealth of experience in restoring classic Jensens. Considering only a few hundred 541s were made, we have had several come through our workshop and undergone restoration work with us.
Our classic car technicians work hard to make sure the restored cars are as close to the original specifications as possible. That’s why Alan has been doing some very special work to repair the fibreglass roof of our 1956 Jensen 541.
This type of work may not be seen in many other workshops so we had to take some photos of Alan at work as the restoration of this classic Jensen continues.
Classic car technician Paul has been making several different parts that will eventually be used on one of our Jensen restoration projects.
These include parts such as seat runners, bonnet supports, gutter trim, and door frames. All of these will go on to be further prepped before being installed in one of the cars.
Paul also tested Jensen heater box fans as well as cleaning them, painting them, and reassembling them.
Brian and Lydia continue to work on the interior of our 1958 Jensen 541R.
Lydia has been busy covering the remaining door card as well as covering the back of the rear squab with black vinyl to give it a neater and more appealing look. She also covered the metal frame that Clinton made, which is the frame that will go in the middle of the rear seats.
Lydia then cut out the carpets for the footwell of the car before moving on to covering the metal for the air vent sliders.
The task Lydia is currently working on is spray painting the metal rails that the air vent sliders will go on.
Meanwhile, Brian has been making new rear cappings, and glueing foam to the cappings before covering them in vinyl.
He also cut the strip of wood that went on to be screwed to the body of the car so the cappings could be attached. Brian then installed the door panels as well as making the patterns for the footwell sound deadening and carpets.
Brian also fitted the door panels before fitting the carpet and sound deadening he made the patterns for earlier.
One extra job that Brian did was to add wood ends to the ceiling pad to make it fit perfectly.
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.
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.
In June of 1954, production of the Jensen 541 began. At the time, you could buy your very own 541 for £2146.
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.
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.
At the beginning of 1958, the very last Jensen 541 was made.
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.
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).
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.
October 4, 2022 9:43 am
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.
Our 1956 Jensen 541 has been the target of our classic car technician’s attention as of late.
Over the past few days, the bonnet has been repaired so that it now lines up beautifully with the doors, some body panels have been gapped and aligned, and a new layer of fibreglass has been added to the roof to fix the cracks that were present.
A little while ago, we shared some images of some of the previous classic Jensens we had restored that went on to be featured in The Jensen Journaal – a magazine published in Holland for people who love all things Jensen.
We have recently found even more photos of one of our previous cars from our feature in the Jensen Journaal and, we think you’ll agree, our 1960 Jensen 541S (The Prototype) has never looked better!
Our 1958 Jensen 541R has been seeing lots of progress recently. This has continued with Clinton making new air vent shutters and runners for the car.
In addition to Clinton’s hard work, Brian has been making the dash pad metal rail and covering this in foam and vinyl.
Brian has also made the metal brackets for the rear seat and painted these too. He didn’t stop there though as he went on to make the metal brackets for the headliner front pad, fitted brackets to the front squab, fitted the rear window top trim panels, fitted the side window top trim panels, installed the rear quarter panels, and fitted the rear squab.
As you can see from this long list of completed tasks, our 541R is coming along nicely and our classic car technicians will continue to work hard until it is fully restored and back on the road where it belongs.
Lydia has completed more interior work on our 1958 Jensen 541R by getting the door cards and rear quarter panels finished.
She used original Jensen pieces as patterns to make new leather and vinyl versions. Lydia sewed these together before they were glued and stapled to the frame.
The interior of our 1958 Jensen 541R is beginning to make some good progress. In addition to the interior carpets and the interior leather that has already been installed, work has started on the kick panels, door panels, and rear quarter panels.
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.
More repair work was needed on the subframe of our 1955 Jensen 541.
This work has been undertaken and completed. The finished subframe will now be able to offer the support it needs to, in order to keep the classic car running smoothly and safely when it is fully restored.
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.
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.
The 1958 Jensen 541R has worked on getting all the panels onto the car to double-check fitment after paint.
The team have put the one-piece clamshell bonnet and both doors and boot lid onto the classic GT cars to begin adjusting and checking over everything to make sure there’s no interference and damage any of the paintwork.
It’s incredible to see the car together as a whole and see all of the various lines and curves which blend into one another on the body of the car.
September 9, 2022 11:33 am
The 1960 Jensen 541S ‘Peony’ which was restored by the Bridge Classic Cars in-house team has won Best Restored Car at Classic at Glemham 2022.
It’s amazing to see the reception and accolades that this particular Jensen has been chalking up since being completed by the workshop here at our Suffolk HQ. We can’t wait to see what it does next!
September 9, 2022 9:57 am
The trim shop at the Bridge Classic Cars HQ have been working on more parts of the 1958 Jensen 541R.
The team have been working on finishing up the amazing fluted rear seat bases. Each line of the fluting has been carefully stitched by hand by Lydia closely following the original as a reference. The covers are now finished and stretched around the bases.
After that, Lydia could work on getting the handmade seat pockets attached onto the back of the front seats before trimming the hoop base and fitted it to the underside of the seat back.
September 9, 2022 9:34 am
