07x01 - Jensen Interceptor

[bunniefuu]

Welcome to Wheeler dealer to show where classic cars
get a second chance to shine. I buy the motors and I

do them up and then when they're back to their very
best we sell them on for a decent profit, hopefully.

Now this time I can barely contain my
excitement. We're after a proper classic

with Italian design, a great big American
engine and a famous British name.

I'm looking for the Jensen Interceptor, one of
the most respected and adored classic cars of all

time. Launched in the mid-sixties, it's mentioned
in the same breath as Aston Martin at Bentley.

A car for people going
places, a hand built, high

performance grand tourer
with world class engineering.

The iconic Interceptor is a special
British car. Its beefy V8 eats miles for

breakfast. No wonder it costs more
than a hundred grand in today's money.

Many survive and many command
high prices but our budget is just £5,000

to buy and restore a car. This is
going to be one tough challenge.

Now you might think that the
Jensen Interceptor is a hard car

to find but that's surprisingly
easy. There's plenty out there.

What you do need is a computer, you need an Internet
connection, a mobile phone and a pocket full of

cash because many of the cars on offer are over
£15,000. You have to remember, it's an iconic car.

But while show winning cars fetch big
numbers, usable cars with a few rough edges

are for the first time dropping below the
£10,000 Mark, which is great news for me.

I'm seeing a couple of Jensen's
at £6,000 and £7,000 but they

sound too far gone. However,
I've spotted a diamond in the rough.

This Jensen Interceptor Mark III is coming
in at £6,750 and that's a fair price.

It's off the road and he's after a quick
sale. I'm going to jump on the blower.

Hello, yes I'm ringing
about the Jensen Interceptor.

Jensen's big enemy is rust.
This car sounds as if the body

is strong and mechanically
it could be the ticket too.

What does it look like in the flesh?

Could be good, could be rubbish.
There's only one way to find out.

I'm excited, I'm happy. I'm on my way
to go and see a white Jensen Interceptor.

Yeah, white. In the olden
days we used to call white 90

day white. That's because
it took 90 days to sell them.

But these days it's making a
comeback and I think it suits

certain cars and certainly a
car like that Jensen Interceptor.

That's the Jensen and this must be Leo.
Leo how you doing mate?

Hi, good to meet you.

Great to meet you. Wow, what
a motor. I've always wanted one

of these you know and there
it is, the Interceptor Mark III.

Looks fabulous doesn't it?
It's like a boyhood dream. Now

I know these cars are all
about what's underneath here.

Yeah, let's have a
look. It should be a 7.2

litre Chrysler V8
hopefully and there it is.

Wow, look at the size of the thing.
It's huge isn't it?

Oh yes, that's why I want one of these.
That's why I want a Jensen.

Oh that is just fantastic.
Nice and straight as

well inside. Any trouble
since you've owned it?

No, I've never had any problems.

Right, what's missing here?

That used to be air con.

No air conditioning then?

No, it was the way it was when I bought it.

Let's have a look inside.

Ah, look at that. Wow,
it's like stepping back

in time. It's fantastic.
Does everything work?

Yep, apart from the air con.

Oh yeah, non-existent
air conditioning. So you just

stare at the button do
you and will it to get cold?

It's better than a hole.

It's really good isn't it? It's got the
leather head lining. Does it drive alright?

Yeah, we've got a lot of
travel on the brake pedal.

Right, so you put your
brake pedal down. You

said this in the advert,
but is it dangerous?

No, it works. It does bring it to a stop.

As long as it stops,
that's all I care about. It

looks really good, it
just needs a bit of TLC.

Nice one.

The one thing that does concern me
about buying a Jensen Interceptor is

what horrors there are underneath.
Have you been underneath this motor?

I've not been under myself, no.

Well I hope you don't mind,
but you're probably going to hate

me for producing this, but I
bought them my trusty torch.

Go and have a rubbish.

You don't mind? Good.

Right, let's have a look. Now
underneath here, I bet you

it's in, well it is, in
actually fairly straight Nick.

There's a little bit of an oil leak and
you know, there's little bits of rust.

Oh, what's this? That
is a patch that's once

been put in on the
floor pan for the footwell.

And as you can see, this one's
rotting through. So I bet you


a hole underneath the carpet.

Let's have a look inside. And
I'm right, look at that, a rusty Mark.

And that is so thin, I can almost
push it through with my finger.

That's not really good, is it Leo?

She's an old Jensen.

I know she's an old Jensen,
but she's got a rotten floor.

So we got problems
already, and with no MOT,

my test drive is
limited to a farm track.

I just love the sound of that
American Lazy V8. Just listen to this.

Oh, it's lovely, isn't it? Do
you know there's over 200bhp

up front? This car will get to


Now with old cars like
this, you should take them

for a good test drive and
get them up to temperature.

This, the oil pressure's good,
the water temperature's good.

Now Leo was honest enough to
say there is a problem with the brakes

on this car, so I'm just going
to get up to a little bit of speed,

and then put my foot on them
for the first time, fingers crossed.

That's a long pedal travel.
My foot hits the brake

pedal and then it goes
down a little bit further,

which for me means that there's
a problem with either a master

cylinder, sl*ve cylinder,
leakage in the system somewhere.

So, do I want this car? Well, the
brakes are sharp, the interior's tatty.

It's the rust, that's the
big thing for me, it's that

rust problem. But it's a
Jensen, and it has got presence,

and it is saying something
to me. Now Leo's asking

£6,750, which may seem fair,
but for me, a Wheeler dealer,

£5,000 seems like a fair price.

I'll tell you what, Leo, when
you said it's got some travel

on the brake pedal, I should
have taken my passport with me.

That's a long way down.
But I like it, I like the

sound of the engine, I
like the feel of the car.

As you know, it's got those problems,
and the biggest one of all being rust,

and it's an old British
car, who knows where

it's going to pop up
or rear its ugly head.

So you've advertised it
for £6,750, I'm going to

bid you, and I'm going
to bid you quite hard on it.

Five grand.

You're hitting me there.

Well, it's going to spend a long
time in the workshop this car,

there's a lot wrong with it.
Cash, and I'll drive it away today.

Cash, no troubles.

No troubles whatsoever, gone.

Go on, do it.

Lovely, I got myself a Jensen
Interceptor, Mark three. Wicked.

To bag a car like this, for cash like that,
this Wheeler dealer is very happy indeed.

But I've taken a chance, as a
big high-spec 35-year-old classic

like this could easily turn around
and throw up expensive problems.

Have I bagged the
bargain of the century, or

the motoring equivalent
of a white elephant?

I've just spent five
grand on a truly iconic

Jensen Interceptor.
It's got a V8 to die for.

Just listen to this.

Oh, it's lovely, isn't it?

But the brakes could k*ll too.

There's a hole in the floor,
and it's not legal to drive on

a public road. I hope Ed
doesn't find anything else wrong.

Better get back to the
workshop and see what he thinks.

Now, some people out there may think
I'm mad for buying that Jensen behind me.

Some people would just walk
away. Once you see those nasty

holes in the floor, you get
scared and run for the hills.

But the truth is, if I turned up
and seen that car and it had

rusty wings and a rusty
bonnet, I would run for the hills.

Because it would be much more expensive
to refit new panels and to repaint them.

Now, a little hole in
the floor is easy for

Ed, and it's a big job,
but it's a cheap job.

Just Ed with a welding
torch and bits of steel.

If we can turn that car
around quite cheaply,

it could be worth up to
seven, even eight grand.

And at the moment, it's
looking a bit sad for itself,

but if we can do it, we could
be looking at big numbers.

Come and have a look at what I bought!

Oh, look at that! What a totally cool car!

A Jensen Intercept, that's awesome!

Isn't it good?

I'm so excited, you're excited!

I can't help noticing
it's on a trailer, though.

Now, there's a point to that.
It failed its MOT.

Okay, and is the failure list really long?

It's not a big list, it's
a big-ish kind of patch

that you've got to repair
on the passenger footwell.

It's not gone all the way
through just yet, but if the hole

gets any bigger, it will be
like a Fred Flintstone car.

Okay, just that bit, the rest of it
looks really straight from here.

Yeah, no, the rest of it is
pinned straight, so you just

need to do that little bit of
welding, that'd be fantastic.

Underneath here, though,
Ed, is a 7.2 litre V8 engine.

It sounds like thunder.

I bet it does.

It does, it sounds wicked. There's
nothing holding it back at the minute.

How do you mean?

The belts that drive the air
conditioning unit aren't there.

So all the air conditioning
stuff is actually missing?

It's like the ferries have
come and removed it all.

And you're hoping we're going
to be able to find, track down

these really rare parts and put
them back in and reinstate it?

Well, it would be nice, but if we can't do
that, we can't do it if it's too expensive.

But if we can, it'd
be nice to reinstate it.

Okay, see what happens.

Come and have a look inside.

Wow, that's a sea of leather. A lot of cows
gave their lives for this car, didn't they?

Look at the English craftsmanship
though, it's beautiful, isn't it?

It's fantastic, it's a bit like a sofa
from a gentleman's club, it's very nice.

Wonderful, it just
needs sort of livening up.

Yeah, it needs a little bit
of treatment perhaps, a little

product on there, just to
bring a little bit of dubbing.

It's not worth replacing the
interior. I think just with a bit

of elbow grease, we can give
this interior a new lease of life.

And it's very original, we
should keep it that way.

Good, excellent.

It's going to look
great, this car, when

it's finished. That
shape is great, isn't it?

It's gorgeous, gorgeous
back end. I mean, it's

very much like a


It'd be nice to keep
it this shape and the

only way to do that
is to repair the brakes.

Oh no, what's wrong with that?

Well, on the test drive, it had a long
pedal travel and, you know, it just...

I might need to bleed them,
it might be something leaking.

It could be something leaking.

I'll sort that out, so is that it?

It is, for now.

Now this is a classy
sports car, but I was gutted

when Mike turned up with
it on the back of a trailer,

because I want to get behind the wheel
and try out this fantastic V8 for myself.

Now of course, unless I sort
out that rust on the underside

of the car, it's never going
to get back on the road,

so I need to get it up in the air
and have a really good route around.

Mike bought this car because
the paintwork looks good

and he only found one
patch of nastiness underneath.

But it's only when you get the car on the
ramp that you really know what you've got.

Just keep going down here.

Now this is obviously
what Mike was talking about.

I can actually get my
tool right the way through

into what feels like
probably the carpet.

On the other side here, look
at that, loads and loads of rust.

So I'm going to have
to repair all of this,

but before I can start
cutting out all the rot,

what I need to do is get the
car back down on the floor

and check out the interior
for things like the wiring,

carpet and seats and
see what else is in the way.

I'm removing the seats
and carpets as welding

will damage them and
I need space to work.

The Jensen is not a complicated car and
the seat runners unbolt without difficulty.

Here we go.

The carpets roll away too,
but the sound deadening

beneath is glued down and
that's more difficult to remove.

So I tease and prise it off with a scraper.

I need to be careful as I
want to reuse this later.

Well there's the sound deadening.

So now we can see the
full extent of all the rust and

corrosion and it's not
looking so good to be honest.

You've got this big hole
that we knew of before.

You've got another hole here, actually
it's a bit worse than I thought it was.

And then there's another big
hole at the front here as well.

So I can see really what's going
on with the rest of this bottom panel.

I think what I'm going
to do is just trim the edge

off the top there so I
can see it in a bit further

and hopefully we can work out
how we're going to do the patch.

I'll be using this plasma
cutter to cut out the rust.

It gives me a very accurate cutting
line, ideal for working in tight spaces.

I'm using a length of
angle iron as a guide to

give me a nice straight
edge as I remove the rod.

There are actually two metal
skins in the footwell and once I've

removed the top one I can see
how bad the damage is underneath.

Still a bit warm because
I'm wearing gloves.

So that's the bit of rust I can
now remove, get rid of that.

You can see underneath
there, actually, obviously the first

little area, the first edge
here is a little bit soft.

It's quite corroded
but further back it's

actually quite solid,
which is very good news.

So what I just need to do now is
probably just get rid of all this rust.

Look, there's tons and tons
more rust underneath there.

So I'm just going to
cut all of that out and

then you're going to
start putting metal back in.

Now that is a Flintstones car
but at least the rust is now gone.

With the rusty metal off the
car I can tidy the edges with a

flap disc and prep the surfaces
that will be welded to later.

Now I'm ready to start getting in the new
panel and that means making up a template.

I've got a nice big sheet
of paper here. I'm just

going to very easily
nestle that into position.

And the idea is a very simple technique.

I'm just going to pop that in
there and I'm just going to use it

to Mark out the patch of metal
that I want to cut out of my steel.

At this stage it doesn't
have to be too accurate.

Take it back out and I'm just
going to cut around that Mark.

I'm just going to position the paper
template onto my bit of metal here.

Now I'm using the same Gauge
steel that the car has made for me.

It makes it a lot easier to weld
two similar thicknesses together.

This is about 18 Gauge, give or take.

So now that's where I want it to go.

I'm actually going to use
this as a guide to go around

with a plasma cutter but it
does make my life a bit easier.

A very useful top tip this.

Just get some mounting adhesive and
just spray very rightly on the back here.

There you go, just
spray a little bit on there.

It'll take a couple of
minutes or seconds to get

a bit tacky and then I
can pop this in position.

It just holds it down.

Then it's a matter of
carefully cutting the

steel a shade wider
than the paper template.

This gives me a bit of
room to allow for any error.

The better the fit, the easier the welding.

Now that's looking pretty good.

It fits or it touches,
that's the main thing.

After a few more adjustments
with my grinder to ensure a

perfect fit, I can tack and then
seam weld the panel into place.

Having ground down any excess weld, I give
a key or rough up the remaining bare metal.

Then I spray it with
stone chip paint, which

prevents corrosion
and smartens things up.

That job is now done.
It's tough as old boots.

It's taken about a day, but it's
well worth it because now the

Interceptor is well on its way to
getting that all important MOT.

While Ed's on the steel work,
I'm putting in some leg work.

Now I've had a word with
all the Jensen parts suppliers

about reinstating the air
conditioning in our Interceptor.

And they all tell me it's going to
cost about a thousand pounds.

And unfortunately that's just too much
money, so I've decided to shelve the idea.

But there was one guy I was talking to.
He sounded fascinating.

He knew everything about Jensen's.

In fact, he even asked
for the chassis number of

our car and said he might
have something for me.

I found that whole
conversation really intriguing.

So it's not too far from where I live.
I thought I'd pop down and have a look.

Jensen, as it was, no longer exists.

It closed in 76, having made 6,400 cars.

But this clever British
engineering company bought all the

remaining spares, plus the
tooling for the Interceptor.

And they can make or supply most bits.
Fantastic stuff.

Wow, look at this place.
It's like stepping back in time.

A real proper engineering
workshop. Big machines,

pressing out stuff, loads
of hisses and bangs.

And I'm looking for the managing director.
His name's Martin Roby.

And I reckon it's the guy with
the nice suit on over here. Martin?

Hello, Martin.
How are you, mate? You all right?

Pretty good, pretty good.

That's all right, ain't it? What's that?

Yeah, that is the rear
balance of an Interceptor.

Fantastic.
Can I actually see one of these being made?

What, right here?

Yeah.

Jensen's founding breaker's yards tend
to be rusty wrecks, so a newly pressed

panel like this is the best solution for
owners wanting to restore the bodywork.

The Jensen is very much a
hand-made car of the old school, and

it's great to see today's craftsmen
continuing that fine tradition.

I've left Martin down
on the shop floor. He's

sent me up here to come
and see his son, Craig.

I'm intrigued. I think they've got
some kind of surprise lined up for me.

Craig?

Hi, mate.

Hello, mate. Your father has
sent me up to come and see you.

Yeah.

So what have we got here?

Well, basically, Mark, what we've
got up here is all the production

files that were stored at Jensen
Motors, Kelvin Way and West Bromwich.

And we brought them all over here.

So these are all the logs and the
production files for all the Jensen's?

Pretty much all of them, yeah.

This here, Mike, this is your
chassis file from the factory.

You're kidding me.

No, I'm not.

Oh, look at this! Fantastic! It's
got the date of first registration, 17th

of November, 1973, and the registration
number would have been one log.

Yeah. Is it still on the vehicle now?

I wish it was. It'd be worth a few quid.
I would have sold it.

Oh, it's brilliant. Look at it all. Oh,
look at this! It's even got, that's perfect.

This is the sheet
that tells you about the

imperfections when the
car was manufactured, is it?

That's right, Mike. Many
imperfections in the paint work

would have been picked up
and marked up on here for you.

So these would have been
taken out, but look at that one.

VR?

Vinyl roof, yeah. Optional extra.

That car's got a vinyl roof.

It's still got it on there now.

It's still got it on there, and
I thought somebody would

have put that on to cover
up a rust spot or something.

But it was original?

No, that was part of the car.

Oh, that's amazing.
Absolutely. God's sake, thank

you very much. What can I
do? Can I keep this, then?

Unfortunately, you can't keep it, because
you want to keep all the files together.

But what I have got is a photocopy of
the file there, which we can take it away.

Oh, I don't believe I got a photocopy
of the whole log and service history.

I'll tell you what, that really is
brilliant. Thank you very much, Craig.

My pleasure.

Jensen is a bespoke
company, so it's no surprise

that Jensen kept an
eye on each of their cars.

But what does amaze me all those
years later, a company like this with a

passion for the brand that still
keep their tabs on every single motor.

Now, it's all about the stories
with classic car ownership,

and files like this have given
our car a brand new chapter.

It's too early to say whether it's going
to be a happy ending for our Jensen.

It's all about making
money, but our interceptor

is a long way off
from being roadworthy.

Come back after the break to see Ed getting
all down and dirty with those dodgy brakes.

Welcome back to
Wheeler Dealers. It's our

mission to buy and
restore iconic classic cars.

We're really making good
progress with the restoration of this

stunning Jensen Interceptor
Mark III that I gave five grand for.

There's plenty of work
to do. The travel on the

brake pedal is dangerous
and an MOT failure.

That's a long pedal travel.
My foot hits the brake

pedal and then it goes
down a little bit further.

When diagnosing a braking problem,
a visual check always comes first.

I've been having a bit of
a route around to see if I

can discover why the
brakes on this car are so poor.

Mike was complaining about the
fact that there was loads of pedal

travel. That's not something you
want on a performance car like this.

Now, I've checked the brake
lines, the discs, the calipers,

and the pads, and so far
there's nothing obviously wrong.

So I reckon the culprit might
be up there in the engine bay.

Let's have a look up here. We've got big
servo, master cylinder, and the reservoirs.

I have a quick route around. I can see
some moisture at the base of the servo

and also around the back or the coupling
part of the master cylinder itself.

Now, I can't be absolutely sure, so what I'm
going to do is undo the two nuts that hold

the master cylinder to the servo and then I
can see if there's any really obvious damage.

I suspect our dodgy
brakes are being caused by

fluid leaking from our
hydraulic braking system.

Moist parts hint at a likely
culprit, but to be absolutely

sure, I need to see exactly
where the fluid is coming from.

My money is on the master cylinder.

There we go.

And as I suspected, the inside of
the master cylinder is covered in

fluid, which means of course if
fluid can get out, then air can get in,

which would probably
explain why the brakes seem a

little bit spongy or in fact
have a lot of pedal travel.

And I think really the safest
thing to do is to try and change

this, re-bleed the system, and
hopefully we'll be back in business.

Despite the Jensen
being a large car, there's

not a lot of spare
space in the engine bay.

Typically, I need to remove the
radiator expansion tank before I

can get access to all of the
master cylinder's brake pipe unions.

Well, here is our leaky master cylinder.

Now, you can think of
this rather like a syringe.

You put a bit of pressure with
your thumb on the plunger, give it a

push, and fluid comes out of the
other end under a bit of pressure.

So this is your plunger.

You've got these two ports on the top.

That's where the fluid from the
reservoir goes into the master cylinder.

And of course, when you
put your foot on the brake

pedal with a bit of
assistance from the servo,

those two pistons put pressure
onto the fluid inside the circuit,

and then high pressure
fluid effectively comes out of

these two ports here and
goes into the brake circuit.

Now, the thing is, hydraulic
fluid is actually non-compressible,

which means you can transmit
a fair amount of force, and

in fact, 1200 pounds per
square inch in a car like this.

When you've got a leak like we have
here, you can get air into the system,

and unfortunately air is compressible,
so you put your foot on the brake,

and rather than compressing the
fluid, you actually compress the air,

which means, of course, you get
that spongy feeling or excessive travel.

So we're going to need to replace this
with a brand new one to fix our problem.

Although the Jensen is 35 years old,

I managed to track down
a new master cylinder

that arrives by Curia
in under 24 hours.

This is quite an easy part to get hold of.

Okay, so it costs 120 quid, but
bear in mind, this is a bespoke car.

And if you had to get
something similar for something

like a handmade Bristol, it
would be a lot more money.

A little top tip here.

On our servo, there's
a rod that acts on

this little tube here
in the master cylinder,

and to make sure you've got
years of trouble-free service,

I'm just going to pop
a little bit of grease on

there to stop any
graunching of the metal parts.

Replacing the master cylinder
is an easy bolt-off, bolt-on job,

but only tackle it yourself if you're
confident you can bleed the system afterwards.

It looks easy, but get it wrong, and you're
likely to lose the brakes altogether.

The new master cylinder is in
place, but the system is full of air.

It needs to be bled.

For a change, I'll operate the pedals,
and I'll get Paul to do all the bleeding.

Quite simply, I'll be
forcing any air bubbles in

the fluid out of the system
via the bleed n*pples.

As I push the pedal, Paul opens
the nipple and the air is expelled.

Once the system is purged
of the air, the pedal firms up.

Doing this whole job yourself could
save around 200 pounds in garage fees.

Okay, what's the pedal like?

Just pumping it.
That feels a bit better, actually.

Fantastic.
It got a really firm brake pedal.

Now, to be fair, this is probably one of
the most important jobs to do on this car,

and once I'd found the
problem, it was a nice, easy fix.

This Jensen is an absolute joy to work on.

Ed, how you doing?
You all right, mate? Yeah, wicked.

Right, I'm sure you're
going to tell me all the

hard work on the Jensen
that's been done underneath.

Indeed it has. You know the score.

All that welding had to be sorted out.

It took a little longer than
I was hoping for because

there's a lot more
rust than I was hoping

for, but that's now
sorted, as are the brakes.

I was kind of expecting you to turn up
with other parts for the air conditioning.

Right, I've got some bad news there.

We're not going to do the air conditioning
because every spare part place I run up

about reinstating the air conditioning,
they all wanted over a thousand pounds.

I've decided to shelve the idea,
but there was some good news

because I did meet this
company that invited me

down to go and have
a look at their business.

Wow, what a place.

They make everything for the Jensen,
everything you could possibly need.

Wings, bonnets, any component
on the car as a spare part.

They bought the tool in to remake it, so
if we need anything, we found the people.

That's kind of handy actually,
because have a look at

this horrible mess at the
bottom underneath the car.

Oh, that doesn't look good.
What do you think that is then?

Well, I don't really know.
It's obviously coming from the engine,

and it means we're probably going
to have to get a replacement part,

but now you know where
to get them from, job done.

Bingo. Yeah.

I always knew we'd struggle
to reinstall the missing air con,

but many Gensons are like
this, and let's face it, Mike's right.

We wouldn't make the extra one
thousand pounds back when we sell.

This leak though does need urgent
attention, and it could cost us a buyer.

The work on our Jensen
is going pretty well,

but unfortunately I recently discovered
a leak coming from underneath the car.

Now that is pretty
frustrating, because it wasn't

on the to-do list, which
means it's extra work.

Now the pool of liquid is actually red,

and when I've been
manoeuvring the car around the

workshop, the steering's
been feeling quite notchy,

which means it's probably
a steering-related leak,

and in fact, probably it's a
fault with the steering rack itself.

Now the only real way to
find out is to get the car up

on the ramp and have a
good route around underneath.

I'm trying to find the source
of our pool of red liquid.

It's not going to take too long,

because the whole of the underside of this
car is covered in power steering fluid.

Now there you go.

You see, on the pinion housing
there, I can see this bright red fluid.

Clearly there's something terminally
wrong with our power steering rack,

and the thing is, it's a precision
part, so it's really hard to fix.

So I think the best
thing to do is probably

unbolt that one and
swap it for a replacement.

The steering rack transfers the
rotational motion of the steering wheel

to the left-right motion
of the front wheels.

This one is power-assisted,
and it's a hydraulic part.

On each end of the rack,
there is a track rod end,

and there is a simple safety
trick when getting them off.

First of all, I'm just going to crack
off the lock nuts for the track rod ends,

and then I'm actually going to
undo the track rod ends themselves.

All I need to do is undo that nut.

I'll undo it most of the
way, leaving it in place.

I want to hit this with a
hammer to break the taper, pop

the ball joint out, and then
I can start to undo them.

Leaving the nut in place limits damage
to the thread if I miss with a hammer,

and stops the track rod end flying
up and damaging you or the car.

There we go.

One, two...

When you change the track rod ends, count
the number of turns as you remove them,

and do the same as they go back on.

There we go, so that's


This way, the steering geometry will be in
the right ballpark for the wheel alignment.

I've now got to try and disconnect the
steering column from the power steering rack.

Now, the thing is, it's
actually held together

with a whole load
of universal joints,

and the one that's nearest the
rack is the one I'm going to go for.

It's got a little pinch
bolt going through it,

so if I can get to it,
which is going to be tricky,

I can then undo that,

and then to give us a
little extra access as well,

I'm also going to disconnect one
of the little bearing carriers as well.

Here it goes.

There we go.

Right, so now...

Got to go underneath.

Now, before I undo the hydraulic pipes,

I thought I'd have a go at trying to
get the rack away from the car itself.

Now, it's held onto some bracketry
with four bolts to either side,

and then that bracketry is held
onto the car with some more bolts.

I'm hoping I can save
some time by just undoing

the four bolts that
go onto the rack itself.

The bolts are coming off easily,

and it looks as though this is all I
need to do to finally free the rack.

The last thing to undo
is the hydraulic pipes,

and they are way down here
in the depths of the engine.

OK.

Now I've done the easy
part, here comes the hard part,

actually getting the rack off the car.

This car is really beginning to fight me,

despite all of the room
we have in the engine bay,

I've got no room at all to
manoeuvre that steering rack,

and unfortunately I think it seems
these aftermarket fans are in the way.

So out come the fans.

OK.

We've now got the second fan off,

just lift this out of the way,

so hopefully we should now have a bit
more joy with this power steering rack.

It's kind of heavy, but we now have our
steering rack removed from the engine bay.

What an utter hassle.

Mike's friendly engineering
company came up with the goods.

They supplied and delivered
a recondition rack for just £250.

It would be unusual
for a replacement part

to arrive with all the
ancillaries attached,

but it's just a few
minutes work to swap over

the holding bracket
and the grease nipple,

and then we're ready to go.

As you'd expect, putting one
of these things back into the car

is pretty much the opposite of
removal, so I'd better crack on.

I'm very disappointed that
we had to spend an extra

few hours and valuable
cash on a job I didn't expect,

but look on the bright side,
at least the problem was

identified in the workshop
rather than by a prospective buyer.

And mechanically, this car
is now going to be 100%,

and that will hopefully pay
dividends when Mike comes to sell.

The hydraulic pipes are all connected,

and the fans I removed
need to be bolted back on.

Now I need to top up the power
steering fluid before I can test the rack.

Now this is just normal
power steering fluid,

you can equally use
automatic transmission fluid,

it's pretty much the same stuff.

I'm just going to pop a little bit in here,

and the idea is just to pop a bit in now,

just to get the system going, but
you don't want to top it right to the brim,

because of course when you have
to then bleed the system through,

you might get a bit of a burp back and
then you're going to get fluid everywhere.

So I'm just going to put
just a little bit in there.

Okay, so there's enough for
now, so the next thing to do

is to fire the car up and
then bleed the system.

Bleeding a power steering rack is
nice and simple, I've started the engine,

what I have to do now is just go from lock
to lock, left to right, a couple of times,

and that way, by moving the
system fully left and fully right,

any air that's in the system is going
to vent itself through the reservoir.

Now, normally you can hear a bit
of a change in note from the engine,

but actually it's so loud that
it's going to be a bit of a struggle,

but what I can tell you is that
it's getting nice and smooth.

Now, there's no more noxiousness,

so I think pretty much all of
the air is now out of the system,

so it's just a case now of topping it up.

I've now bled the steering rack
and I've just topped up the reservoir

while the engine is running
so I can put the lid back on.

We're pretty much ready to go.

The MOT is practically in the bag,

that flaky floor pan is solid once more,

the brakes that wouldn't
stop are now working perfectly,

I've even replaced
that leaky steering rack.

We are making some serious
progress on our Jensen,

and I think I deserve a break.

Welcome back to Wheeler Dealers,

the show that's on a mission to
buy, restore and sell on classic cars.

I'm really excited about this one,

the brilliant Jensen Interceptor.

We'll find out later if we
can sell it on for a profit,

but there's still work to be done.

The devil is in the detail, and
our interior needs attention.

Ed, it's time to get busy.

When our Jensen first hit the road,

this sumptuous leather interior
probably looked rather special,

but now, after years of
hard use, it looks quite tired.

Now, I don't really enjoy
doing this kind of job,

but I'm going to attempt to try and
bring this faded leather back to life.

Am I going to use magic?
No, I'm going to use the right product,

and then hours and hours of hard work.

I'm using a decent cleaner
and then a lint-free cloth.

to remove any dirt, dust and grease.

Then, the leather food is
applied and buffed off carefully,

just like when you Polish
your favourite size 14s.

Rocket science it ain't,
and it only costs a tenner.

Well, I've spent a couple
of hours on this seat so far,

and I think perhaps it has
been worth all the effort

because if you look at the treated
seat compared to the untreated seat,

you can definitely see
it's been transformed.

In fact, even the colour has
been restored a little bit as well.

The downside is I've still got
that seat and the interior to do.

Leather responds to
moisture, heat and light.

If you let it dry out
completely, it's likely

to crack, and that is
so much harder to fix.

We've caught this interior just in
time, and it's coming up beautifully.

Now I can start getting
the seats back in the car

and perhaps enjoy the
overall effect of my hard work.

I feel like if the wheel's
a bit of a Polish as well.

And as that aluminium wheel nuts,

I'm not going to use a
windy g*n, just a breaker bar.

This handmade car looked decidedly
secondhand when I first saw it,

but I could see the
fundamentals were there.

Good body and strong engine and gearbox.

Our interceptor was clearly a car

that deserved a second
chance at life in the fast Lane,

and I'm really pleased
that all those hours of

my hard work are going
to give it exactly that.

We've been on a journey with this car,

and we've arrived at a new beginning
for the beautiful, iconic Jensen.

It's fit once again to cruise the A roads

and take its place in the
Motoring Hall of Fame.

Yes, it's a driver's car, but
everyone can enjoy its stunning looks.

I'm really proud.

The car was advertised for £6,750,

and the owner wanted a quick sale.

I used this to my advantage,
and we shook at just £5,000.

Ed got to work on the rotten floor
by cutting out the rust and replating it.

The brake master cylinder was leaking,

and Ed swapped it for an original part.

The steering arm was
making the system notchy,

and that was replaced and
the hydraulic system bled.

Not a fast or easy job.

The interior responded
well to a bit of spit and Polish,

the final touch for our classy Jensen.

What did we spend?

The car was £5,000.

The steel panel was only £20.

The master cylinder, £120.

Steering rack, £250.

Cleaning materials, £40.

So the Jensen owes us £5,430.

Wow! Look at the motor, Ed!

How's that gorgeous Jensen interceptor?

Well, all of the jobs are finished,

and it sailed through the
MOT, so now she's ready to go.

It looks absolutely mint.

Look at the way it's polished up, and then
saying that, the bodywork was always good.

Yeah, all the work I was doing
was hidden in the depths there,

but I think the end
result is still fantastic.

It's awesome, Ed.

So are all the oily bits done?

Absolutely.

Because the last time I've driven this car
is on an old farm track, and I'm desperate.

So get it out on the open
road and give it a good blast.

Are you up for that?

Of course I am.

Let's go.

A special car deserves to
be driven on special roads.

So we've come to the challenging
alpine circuit of Millbrook Proving Ground,

where the Jensen's poison
performance can be properly sampled.

Oh!

Feel that lovely V8.

Effortless power.

And the soundtrack of that engine,

burbling away under the bonnet.

Oh, this car is wicked!

Now, it is an old-school classic,

but it feels really
together, really confident.

You've got no soggy
Springs or ropey suspension.

It is just a fantastic
example of an interceptor.

Two of the big problems
on this car, of course,

were the brakes and
the power steering rack.

So how do they feel?

Well, at the moment, Ed, I've got to tell
you, the steering is absolutely spot on,

and it's a pleasure to Chuck
this car into these corners.

That's for the brakes,
where they feel first class.

In fact, why don't we
give it a proper test?

There's a nice, straight bit of road here.

All right, let's level it up
and slam on the anchors.

That is impressive.

You've worked the miracle, my son.

Well done.

So what kind of price are you in

you can conjure up for this little trouble?

Are we going to make
some money on our Jensen?

Are we going to make some money at all?
What?

The Jensen owes us less
than five and a half grand,

and being this good, we've got a
good chance of selling it on for seven.

Are you liking those numbers?

I'm liking them very much, Michael.

Very much indeed.

I've advertised our
Jensen on a few websites,

and it must be time
to buy an appreciating

classic because the
phone fell off the hook.

First on the phone was this guy.

He's called David.

He's come down, driven
the car, already loves it,

and I think it's just a case
of first come, first serve.

All I need to do is seal the deal.

So what do you think of it then?

She is a beauty, isn't she?

No, she's nice.

She is absolutely gorgeous.

You like the way she drives?

Yeah, yeah, very smooth, very pokey.

Very pokey.

And would you bother putting
a radio on in a car like this

or would you just listen to
the soundtrack of the engine?

No, that engine's hypnotic.

It's a lovely burble.

Right, I mean, if you're buying this,

it will be a very solid
investment for you, but I need

to know whether you are
in a position to buy it, really.

I think so, yeah.

Yeah?

Yeah, definitely.

Very good.

Yeah, why not?

Well, I've advertised it for seven grand,

and I think it's worth every penny
of that, and if you look after it,

you should get that back for it
whenever you come to sell it.

What do you think?

It's a bit steep.

Quite a lot of money.

Six.

What?

You only want to buy a bit of it?

Six grand?

Are you nuts?

I can't sell it for that.

I'll take a little bit less
because I need to move it on.

I'll take six, 750, or
six and three quarters.

Cash, if you are keen on the motor now?

Six and a half.

Six and a half.

Cash?

Cash.

Now?

Now.

You're going to look after it?

Yeah.

Promise?

Yeah, definitely.

Hold out your hand.

You bought yourself a motor.

Well done, son.

Thank you very much.

Okay, I hope for seven,

but at six and a half,

we've still bagged over a grand profit.

It's a sweet deal for me
and Ed, but David's the real

winner here because he
gets to drive away in this car.

I love this job.

Sometimes you can find a right
corker, like this gorgeous Jensen.

Turn it around and earn some good
cash to put in the old Sky Rocket.

Sadly, it's time to say
goodbye to the old girl.

But if you want to see more cars
getting a Mike and Ed treatment,

then join us again soon
on Wheel of Dealers.

Salah!