First 4 WD Super Cars Gather at Yorkshire Spectacular

The very first FF off the production line took pride of place on the Jensen Club Stand at the '99 Festival where no less than 6 other FF's gathered. Only 320 were built and fewer than 30 are believed to road worthy.

The first production car with four-wheel drive and anti-lock brakes the Interceptor-based FF was launched at the 1966 Earls Court motor show to  International acclaim, so much that "Car" magazine voted it Car of the Year in 1967.

It has the incredibly advanced specification (for 1966) of four-wheel drive and anti-lock brakes. The flagship of the Jensen range was designed to be the safest high performance car in the world and it achieved this nearly 20 years before anyone else.

There were many reasons for its demise firstly its expense - In 1967 a Jaguar E Type 2 + 2 cost a mere £2,458, an Aston Martin DB6 was £4,229. A standard Jensen Interceptor was £4,460 but the Jensen FF was a whopping £6,018. Secondly it looked too much re the standard Interceptor for the status- conscious senior executives, and the earlier models were very unreliable.

However the main reason for the low sales was that the car could only be made in RHD format because of the forward transfer shaft running down the left-hand side of the engine and the off-set front differential, so losing Jensen potential export sales in its major US market.

The performance figures are 330 BHP @ 5000 revs giving 0-60 mph in 8.1 secs and 0-100 mph in 21.5 secs. Impressive as the figures are even by modern luxury car standards, there is a drawback - 13-mpg at best!