JENSEN

Alan and Richard Jensen built their first sporting body on an Austin Seven chassis in 1926, then made bodies for Wolseley, Morris, Singer and Standard. In 1934 they gained control of the lorry-body maker W J Smith & Sons and renamed it Jensen Motors Limited. That year American film actor Clark Gable commissioned a car on a Ford V-8 chassis, which brought acclaim and a deal with Ford for Jensen-bodied Fords.

The first true production car, first called the White Lady, became the Jensen S-type in 1935. Jensen also built specialised car bodies for major manufacturers alongside its own designs, using Ford, Austin and Chrysler engines, and made lightweight trucks under the JNSN marque and the Jen-Tug. The company ceased trading in 1976; trading resumed in 1998 in Speke, Liverpool, and Jensen Motors Limited was dissolved in 2011.