Similar to the Jaguar MKX, I bought this car in a terrible mess. But after one abortive attempt, really got down to it and 6 months later this was the outcome. The colour I finally chose was Jaguar's Sable.

The '541' had not been designed as a sports car, but rather as a high speed touring saloon. Its 4 litre (Austin Princess) engine enabled it to cruise in excess of 90 mph (around 3000 rpm!) with petrol consumption a healthy 20-24 mpg.

Do you notice the difference in the two pictures. Well, there's an airfoil, which, when the engine reaches temperature is opened from inside the cockpit to whatever position is required to maintain a stable running temperature - is that neat or is that neat!

There were essentially 3 main variations in the '541' range (if you ignore particular types of model eg. '541' versus '541 Deluxe'). These were the '541', '541R' and '541S'. All were powered by one of two different Austin Princess 4 litre lumps. Jensen managed to keep their prices very competitive by using other manufactured parts from a diversity of companies. In fact I have copies of the complete Jensen '541' specification sheets and a large quantity of the sales literature and road tests for the '541's, 'CV8'and 'Interceptor'. To give an idea of what my car consisted of, the following is a short list of where some of the bits came from:

Engine and Gearbox - Austin Princess

Front Suspension - Austin A45,A55 etc.

Steering Box - L.H. Drive Standard Vanguard

Rear Axle - Jaguar

Door Handles - 3 wheeler Reliant.

and so on.