TPX 212 - The Sleeping Beauty Awakes
In February 2012, Dave Pilkington (aka Pilkie) was contemplating buying a 1971 Jensen Interceptor. While searching he had a tip off about an old car so went to investigate. What he found under a tarpaulin in the driveway of a farm was a Jensen 541, registration TPX 212.
The car had been sitting there since 1977 (evidenced by the tax disc in the window). The flapping of the tarpaulin had seriously damaged the paintwork, especially on the roof. However, the car itself was basically 100% complete.
Dave is a talented (and serial) restorer of classic cars so a complete Jensen 541 ripe for restoration must have seemed too good an opportunity to turn down. |
The deal was soon done and TPX 212 was finally out of a 35 year slumber and heading off for a new adventure that would eventually lead to us.
The pictures below are by kind permission of Dave Pilkington and show the day TPX 212 was awoken and leaving the farm for the first time in 35 years.
The pictures below are by kind permission of Dave Pilkington and show the day TPX 212 was awoken and leaving the farm for the first time in 35 years.
You can follow Dave's progress in finding, buying and selling TPX 212 in his own words by linking to the following forum topics:
However, after looking at the work needed to get TPX 212 back on the road, Pilkie decided that there was too much welding needed (it seems that he hates welding!) and that he would sell the car on for someone else to take on the restoration. He went on to do a fantastic restoration on an MG TF that was another barn find. You can read about his MG TF restoration on the TR-Register. Sadly, we have heard that Pilkie passed away in October 2016 and won't get to see his "farm find" back on the road. RIP Pilkie - without you TPX 212 could still be languishing under a tarpaulin.
At this point the car went towards the North of England and we can find no record of it again until it appeared on eBay for sale in 2014. It turns out that it had ended up with a dealer who sold the car on to a classic car collector based in Southern Europe. For the missing 2 years, TPX 212 had been dry stored in a garage near Turin waiting to be restored along with several other restoration projects. The owner decided that realistically he was not going to find the time to do all of his projects and would sell on some of his restoration projects, the Jensen being one of them. He therefore listed it for sale on eBay and carandclassic.co.uk in spring 2014.
At about this time, we had decided that the time was right for us to buy a Jensen 541, a car we had fallen in love with the previous year when we saw a fabulous example at the Classic Car Show at the NEC. We had made contact with the Jensen 541 registrars who had pointed us at a couple of cars for sale, but they were 541Rs and we had decided early on that we much preferred the early 541 model with the smaller rear "eyebrow" and square rear number plate. So it was a 541 we wanted to find, but of course, with such a small number of vehicles built, cars for sale were and are few and far between. We had often talked about one day doing a restoration project, so we decided that if we could find a car that needed restoration we would also consider taking on a project (even though that would probably be the most expensive option overall !).
We spotted TPX 212 on carandclassic.co.uk, as well as via the Jensen Owners Club "Cars For Sale" forum. It looked like a very complete vehicle and would be a great basis for a restoration. We contacted the owner who lived in Monaco, and after some email discussion, we headed off to Turin (where the car was garaged) for the day to see the car. It was love at first sight, it really was a complete car, it even had a box in the boot with the various bits which had fallen off! After crawling about on the floor, a bit of prodding and poking here and there, we very quickly we agreed to purchase the car. We then went for a very agreeable lunch in a beautiful nearby town square to celebrate !
At this point the car went towards the North of England and we can find no record of it again until it appeared on eBay for sale in 2014. It turns out that it had ended up with a dealer who sold the car on to a classic car collector based in Southern Europe. For the missing 2 years, TPX 212 had been dry stored in a garage near Turin waiting to be restored along with several other restoration projects. The owner decided that realistically he was not going to find the time to do all of his projects and would sell on some of his restoration projects, the Jensen being one of them. He therefore listed it for sale on eBay and carandclassic.co.uk in spring 2014.
At about this time, we had decided that the time was right for us to buy a Jensen 541, a car we had fallen in love with the previous year when we saw a fabulous example at the Classic Car Show at the NEC. We had made contact with the Jensen 541 registrars who had pointed us at a couple of cars for sale, but they were 541Rs and we had decided early on that we much preferred the early 541 model with the smaller rear "eyebrow" and square rear number plate. So it was a 541 we wanted to find, but of course, with such a small number of vehicles built, cars for sale were and are few and far between. We had often talked about one day doing a restoration project, so we decided that if we could find a car that needed restoration we would also consider taking on a project (even though that would probably be the most expensive option overall !).
We spotted TPX 212 on carandclassic.co.uk, as well as via the Jensen Owners Club "Cars For Sale" forum. It looked like a very complete vehicle and would be a great basis for a restoration. We contacted the owner who lived in Monaco, and after some email discussion, we headed off to Turin (where the car was garaged) for the day to see the car. It was love at first sight, it really was a complete car, it even had a box in the boot with the various bits which had fallen off! After crawling about on the floor, a bit of prodding and poking here and there, we very quickly we agreed to purchase the car. We then went for a very agreeable lunch in a beautiful nearby town square to celebrate !
The car was now ours and with kind assistance of the previous owner, it was soon on a transport heading back to England.
Let the restoration begin !
Let the restoration begin !