Hollywood owner of 1938 Jensen

[Guest imported_MikeWilliamsUK]

I own a 1938 Jensen drophead coupe. The car was built to special order and was a one-off, being the only Jensen to have the Lincoln Zephyr V12 engine. According to the British 'Autocar' magazine of December 1938 which illustrated and described the car in some detail, it was built to the special order of 'A Hollywood film personality who wishes to remain anonymous'. Well, unfortunately, his identity still remains a mystery to this day. Hollywood names associated with Jensen at that time include Clark Gable and Robert Montgomery, but neither of those seem to me likely to have wanted to remain anonymous. Perhaps it was for a producer or director.

The car was imported to the USA by Percy T. Morgan, the agent for the whole of the west coast at that time, but I have no more history until September 1951 when it was advertised for sale by International Motors Ltd. After that I know most of its history as the man who bought it in 1952 and took it off the road for overhaul in 1953, sold it to me in a still dismantled state forty nine years later!

Please can you suggest lines of enquiry as to who the original owner may have been?

Mike Williams (in the UK)

[Dave Mitchell]

I have seen a photo of Gable with a dark colered Jensen drophead. I think there was an article in Automobile Quarterly about Jensen that talked about Gable and other Hollywood people owning Jensens. I think Gable saw one while filming in England and ordered one which was delivered when he was back in California. Gable typically didn't keep cars very long and often modified them and changed things like interiors frequently. I'll see if I can find more for you. A friend of mine owns a Jensen dual cowl with a big Nash engine - nice car! Dave Mitchell packard12s@hotmail.com

[Guest imported_MikeWilliamsUK]

Thanks Dave. You are quite correct, Gable posed for a Jensen-bodied Ford in about 1934 and it was a dark (blue, I think) drophead. You are also correct that it featured in AQ. My car is much bigger. Interested to hear about your friend with a Nash-powered Jensen. Although Jensen records were destroyed during the war by bombing, extensive research by Richard Calver suggests that only thirteen of these larger Nash-engined cars were made and mine is very similar to these except for the engine. I know of three in the USA: two are saloons, which means your friend's should be the dual cowl tourer, car No.H7, but I'd be very interested if it isn't that car! From photos it looks to be white or cream?

Mike Williams

[HL1 fan 1]

Mike Williams. Am interested in current info re HL 1 my uncle sold you that car and is a personal fav since I first saw pics and the car itself as a young child. There's a backstory would love to share with you about his 1st day driving it in '51. He did have paperwork re it's history and the attempts by a well known Reno collector to buy it in the early 60s.

mac.mclaren55 at hotmail.com

[Su8overdrive]

Mike, three Jensens had the 267-ci Lincoln Zephyr V-12, and since they were produced in '39, also the coil springs at the rear the Model H began that year a la Buick and Olds ('38 for them).  Three Allards also used your Zephyr V-12, as did several of the 20 1937-39 Atalantas built in Staines, Middlesex,  and a lone Brough Superior, the latter usually powered by a stock Hudson six, tho' a few were stock Hudson eights, like most of the nearly 1,500 Railtons.  The Zephyr engine may've put out less torque per cubic inch than any other domestic engine then in production, Crosley included, and had/has reputation for cooling and other pecadillos, but owners who kept their oil clean and drove on the open road reported good service.  The 260-ci ohv nine-mained Nash inline eight-propelled Jensens Model Hs, 131" wb (Ford V-8-engined Model S 126") had an overal 2.9:1 final drive in Columbia high range, so the short stroke Zephyr Jensens like yours would, like the 3.5 x 3.75 288-ci 1936-37 Cords,  fly;  among the very few cars of the era that could safely cruise close to their absolute top speed.  Autocar after their usual stringent testing, reported 91 mph for a Nash Model H, so yours should readily manage the same.

 

 Forgive the ramble, but I knew Reid Railton's son, who had a well fettled '37 namesake tourer, now back in England, and my late mechanics' mechanic, who ran motor pools in the War II Pacific, then worked at Packard, Hudson, GM dealerships before starting his own shop in 1959, was a Hudson maven, so knowing about the other "sports bastards" as such Anglo-American meldings affectionately known inevitable.  Two Californians bought Zephyr Jensens, Clark Gable being one of them.  Louis D. Lighton, producer of the Gable/Spencer Tracy/Myrna Loy/Lionel Barrymore Test Pilot (1938) bought both a Ford Model S tourer and Nash H conv. coupe.   (You never know where some cars'll show up.  I know a fellow Down Under with ten pre- and postwar junior and senior Packards, among them a '39 Twelve formal sedan first owned by Lionel Barrymore, in addition to 35 or so ancient Sceptered isle motorbikes, which he and his wife exercise two at a time on the lightly traveled roads outside Canberry, keeping an eye out for the errant 'roo.)

 

  If Bill McNight, owner of Willco Auto Restoration, Carson, CA still around, he might know more, having a masterfully rebuilt '38 Nash Model H sports tourer.  Bill said it was the best driving of his cars, smoother than his '35 3.5-liter Bentley, as fast and more refined than his ohv 4.3-liter six-cylinder '37 Alvis, so  yours should be both fast and downright silky.

Edited October 28, 2023 by Su8overdrive (see edit history)

[8E45E]

Not sure if this Jensen is the same car or not:  Vol. 2. No. 8 – Theme: THE FIRSTS – Rare & Unique Vehicles Magazine (rareandunique.media)

 

Craig