Jensen CV8: the fibreglass Chrysler-V8 bruiser (1962–1966)

Some classics charm at first sight. The Jensen CV8 (C-V8 in the company’s own hyphenated badging, and in most auction catalogues) picks a fight. Its slanted, four-headlamp face split opinion the day it appeared and splits it still, but behind that nose is a serious car: a fibreglass-bodied four-seater with a big Chrysler V8, one of the fastest of its kind in the early 1960s, and the direct ancestor of the Interceptor.

That face

There is no easing into the CV8’s looks. The front slopes sharply forward and carries four headlamps set at an angle, a treatment that looked startling in 1962 and still draws a reaction now. It was made possible by fibreglass, which let Jensen shape the nose without the constraints of pressed steel, and it is the single thing everyone remembers about the car. Owners tend to wear the divisiveness as a badge: the CV8 is not trying to be pretty, it is trying to be fast and different, and it succeeds.

Fibreglass and a big American V8

Like the 541 before it, the CV8 used a glassfibre body, a sensible choice for a small firm building cars in tiny numbers without the cost of steel tooling. Fibreglass does not rust, which is a genuine plus, though it can craze and crack and the steel chassis beneath still needs watching.

The performance came from across the Atlantic. The CV8 used a Chrysler V8, 5.9 litres at first and 6.3 from the Mk II, driving through an automatic gearbox, and the combination of that torque and a relatively light fibreglass body made the CV8 genuinely quick, good for comfortably over 120 mph at a time when that was rare in a four-seater.

Mk I, Mk II and Mk III

The CV8 ran through three versions in four years. The Mk I of 1962 set the template; the Mk II of 1963 brought the larger 6.3-litre engine and detail improvements; and the Mk III of 1965 added equal-height headlamps within the slanted panel, a four-wheel disc-brake set-up and trim changes. All are rare, and the differences are worth knowing when comparing cars, but the essential character, fast, fibreglass and unmistakable, runs through all three.

West Bromwich ways: how a CV8 was built

The way the CV8 was made explains a lot of its character. Jensen was a small West Bromwich concern that also built bodies for other companies, the big Austin-Healeys among them, and the CV8 came together largely by hand: fibreglass panels laid up and finished on site, bonded and bolted over a stout steel chassis, with leather and walnut trimmed in-house. Around 500 cars were built in four years, a pace of roughly two a week, so no two are quite identical and originality questions are settled car by car through the club’s records rather than any factory catalogue. That hand-built scale is also why survivors reward patient restoration: the structure is simple and honest, and everything on the car was made to be worked on by people, not production lines.

From CV8 to Interceptor

The CV8’s importance is partly in what came next. When Jensen wanted a more universally appealing car it kept the Chrysler V8 and the grand-touring brief but swapped the controversial fibreglass body for a steel one styled in Italy, and the Interceptor was the result. The CV8 also served as the test bed for the four-wheel-drive system that became the FF. So the CV8 is the hinge of the whole story: the last of the old fibreglass Jensens and the seed of the cars that made the marque famous.

What it is like to own

The CV8 drives much as it looks: muscular, quick and a little raw, with the lazy shove of a big V8 and the lightness that fibreglass brings. It is a usable classic for those who like its character, and the Chrysler running gear is tough and well supported, with cheap engine parts from the United States.

Ownership care centres on the body and chassis rather than the engine. The fibreglass needs proper repair when it cracks, the steel chassis beneath must be checked for rust, and trim and detail parts are the scarce items on so rare a car. The broader running costs are modest for so fast a machine: the V8’s thirst is the main line in the budget, and the storage and insurance are the same as for any classic of the era.

Current value and where it sits

A usable CV8 starts around £30,000, a good one sits roughly £45,000 to £70,000, and the best climb beyond, with rarity and performance, not the styling, setting the price. It is the rare and characterful elder of the Jensen range. For the era, see British classic cars of the 1960s.

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