A West Midland man is hoping to be reunited with a rare 1950 West Bromwich-built Jensen once owned by his father.
David Pond, aged 68, of Solihull, has tracked down the drop-head, four-litre PW covertible, FEA 334, to Germany more than 50 years after he last travelled in it. The car, one of only two of its kind ever built by Jensen, was later owned by the Hollywood star Gregory Peck and by blockbuster author Clive Cussler.
“Apparently the car is being offered for sale by its German owner, who is asking for a price equivalent to about £70,000,” Mr Pond said. “It seems not to have been restored, as I believed it had been, and this would mean whoever bought it would have to spend about another £40,000.”
Mr Pond is making plans to travel to Germany to view the car.
It was bought by his father, Walter Frederick Pond, who owned a tool merchant’s shop in Steelhouse Lane, Birmingham, in 1950 after striking an extraordinary deal with Jensen.
He took the car, which had originally been built for a South American head of state who subsequently refused to accept it, in settlement of a debt. Up to Walter’s death in 1957 the distinctive Jensen was used as an everyday car and towed a caravan on family holidays.
It was offered for sale through Newbury Motors in Manor Lane, Halesowen, and passed through the hands of several owners in the north of England and London before going to the US in the 1980s where it was acquired by Clive Cussler and Gregory Peck.
By 1989 it was owned by a Robert Hogdahl, of Gothenberg, Sweden, and he sold it to its present owner in Germany early last year. Mr Pond pieced the car’s history together after talking to enthusiasts on the Jensen Owners’ Club stand at the Classic Car Show at the NEC.
He is eager to learn more and anyone with information can contact him via the Jensen Owners’ Club at earlycars@joc.org.uk
