1974 JENSEN-HEALY CONVERTABLE

NMNA. I found this up for auction. Maybe someone on here needs one. I have never seen one driving around or at a car show. Maybe it is a Unicorn??

https://www.iaai.com/VehicleDetail/32216762~US

Start Code: Stationary

I've never seen one of these cars moving under its own power. 

That is just a K-swap away from glory...

In reply to Woody (Forum Supportum) :

I checked out one that was for sale when I was in college. It was running, driving, and rust free in Springfield, MA.

I'm sure the memory is dulled by time, since it was the mid 1990s, but it sounded nice with the straight through exhaust and scooted along nicely. I'm sure it would have been fun if I had been able to scrape together the funds. 

Here is one guaranteed Challenge friendly 

https://sacramento.craigslist.org/cto/d/sacramento-1975-jensen-healey/7507499592.html

In reply to Woody (Forum Supportum) :

Whoever filled out that listing has a sense of humor, for sure.

I attend a fair number of British car shows and I'll say the number of these I've seen in this condition static in various driveways over the years far exceeds the number of cars I've seen at shows. 

In reply to Ian F (Forum Supporter) :

That is a Lotus engine ( I think a 4 valve engine ) in a car made for Geoff Healey.  Think of it as an Austin Healey 3000 without the heavy underpowered cast Iron 6 cylinder motor. 
    It ran in SCCA  D production and was extremely fast.   Back in the day when I raced my Jaguar XK 150 in D Production. Also in D production back then was Lotus Super 7,  Yenko Stinger, Datsun 2000, Austin Healey 3000,  etc.   It gave me a real challenge.  Far faster through most of the track and only by drifting my long car in the corners was I able to keep him behind me.  Once on the long straights above about 125 mph was I able to get away from him.   Then the first tight series of corners he'd catch back up to me and I'd go back into my drifting mode .   I usually chased Hap Richardson.  I had a few more horsepower but the XK120 he raced  had an engine sett back 6 inches. , aluminum hood doors and trunk lid.  So he didn't have my under steering  issues.   But on long straights I could catch him.  
      The Jensen Healey s were right behind , typically chased  by Datsun 2000  Lotus super 7  

There's a running and driving Jensen GT (the shooting brake version of this, in brown, no less) in the back of GRM and Classic Motorsports mag right now available for $4k ask. I think its a one of 511 total cars made. It has been there a few months so probably can negotiate. 

Brown, wagon, manual, rare, lotus engine, cheap. 

Someone please buy it before I do!!

Robbie (Forum Supporter) said:

There's a running and driving Jensen GT (the shooting brake version of this, in brown, no less) in the back of GRM and Classic Motorsports mag right now available for $4k ask. I think its a one of 511 total cars made. It has been there a few months so probably can negotiate. 

Brown, wagon, manual, rare, lotus engine, cheap. 

Someone please buy it before I do!!

If I had room, I totally would.  

also, why do I have this one bookmarked, you ask?

seller asking $2,850

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/785813825753877/

How much of these cars being left to rot in driveways is due to the engine and its relative state of development at the time these were sold, and how much of it is the rest of the car?

I saw the "It's just a K swap away from glory" reply above and my mental response was "a K-something in a Jensen Healey is still a Jensen Healey".

That lotus motor is an absolute gem and the best part of these cars. I have seen several with over 200hp at the wheels which will shatter the stock differential easily. I have modified Alfa 115 rear ends to fit Jensen Healeys a few times for SCCA vintage race cars.

Anyone suggesting engine swaps should take a peek at the extreme angle the motor sits in the bay to clear the super low hood line. It lays down like a vanagon diesel.

They were really cool cars back in the day. I remember seeing them on the track and at autocrosses. The only problem I can see with them now is that they are all almost 50 years old and that they never made that many of them to begin with so parts and information on them may be a problem. That and the fact that even a perfect low mileage one won't be worth a whole lot so it would probably be a money pit.

In reply to Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) :

That low value can also be a blessing. You can modify as much as you want without any financial concerns. 

First it's a Healey. Then it has a Lotus engine. Also, they didn't make that many of them.

Why is it that these cars aren't worth so much, but cars like the Austin Healey 3000 and the early Porsche 911s from the same era are worth stupid money? Who makes these rules? You can get a 69 911S that is rusted out and rolled down a hill, spend $150,000 making in a restormodding it into an outlaw car and then resell the thing for $200,000. What is a modified Jensen Healey worth?

Come to think of it, Lotus Europas aren't worth that much either, yet there are all kinds of other Lotuses from the same era that are also worth stupid money.

Trent said:

That lotus motor is an absolute gem and the best part of these cars. I have seen several with over 200hp at the wheels which will shatter the stock differential easily. I have modified Alfa 115 rear ends to fit Jensen Healeys a few times for SCCA vintage race cars.

 

Anyone suggesting engine swaps should take a peek at the extreme angle the motor sits in the bay to clear the super low hood line. It lays down like a vanagon diesel.

 

 

I forget who is doing the K-swap GT86/FRZ but I believe they laid it down at a 30° angle

Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) said:

They were really cool cars back in the day. I remember seeing them on the track and at autocrosses. The only problem I can see with them now is that they are all almost 50 years old and that they never made that many of them to begin with so parts and information on them may be a problem. That and the fact that even a perfect low mileage one won't be worth a whole lot so it would probably be a money pit.

Honestly, it sounds like you're describing the perfect GRM car

I don't think Healey had a lot to do with these.  I think they're a Jensen powered by Lotus.  And they helped kill Jensen in the process.  I don't think a repower makes sense here either.

A GT would be pretty cool.  Especially with a sunroof though I know that would introduce more challenges in a car that doesn't need any more of them.

Mr_Asa said:

Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) said:

They were really cool cars back in the day. I remember seeing them on the track and at autocrosses. The only problem I can see with them now is that they are all almost 50 years old and that they never made that many of them to begin with so parts and information on them may be a problem. That and the fact that even a perfect low mileage one won't be worth a whole lot so it would probably be a money pit.

Honestly, it sounds like you're describing the perfect GRM car

Yes. It is.

Mr_Asa said:

Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) said:

They were really cool cars back in the day. I remember seeing them on the track and at autocrosses. The only problem I can see with them now is that they are all almost 50 years old and that they never made that many of them to begin with so parts and information on them may be a problem. That and the fact that even a perfect low mileage one won't be worth a whole lot so it would probably be a money pit.

Honestly, it sounds like you're describing the perfect GRM car

Hence my "why do I have this one bookmarked" comment. Haha.

Trent said:

That lotus motor is an absolute gem and the best part of these cars. I have seen several with over 200hp at the wheels which will shatter the stock differential easily. I have modified Alfa 115 rear ends to fit Jensen Healeys a few times for SCCA vintage race cars.

 

Anyone suggesting engine swaps should take a peek at the extreme angle the motor sits in the bay to clear the super low hood line. It lays down like a vanagon diesel.

 

 

This is why finding an engine for the Elite has been such an ordeal. Absolutely No hood scoop. Don't want to cut into the frame. Not much fits.

In reply to chandler :

The cheese wedge Elite?  You're going to a non-Lotus engine and you don't want to add a hood scoop?  

What's wrong with Lotus engines?

Snowdoggie (Forum Supporter) said:

What's wrong with Lotus engines?

Right?

I mean. I deal with old British cars every day, and every day I think about what engine swaps would make them better.

Whenever I deal with a Jensen Healey I think about what cars I could swap that motor into.

It is a great motor in a mediocre car. A car that unfortunately, looks like a catfish with a bar of soap stuck in its mouth..

Drop the motor into a Chevette and make a clone of the Sunbeam Lotus.