The prototype Jensen 541 was exhibited at the London Motor Show in October 1953 and production of the 541 series started in 1954. The 541 used the ‘50s wonder material - fibreglass – for its body, which was mounted on a steel chassis built of 5-inch tubes and steel pressings with cross-member bracing. Jensen’s designer, Eric Neale, drew up the streamlined Grand Tourer bodywork, which had a particularly low drag factor for its time. As a result, this relatively lightweight build (in comparison to an all-steel car) and aerodynamic shape coupled with the low-revving six cylinder, 4 litre Austin DS engine fitted (as used in Austin’s Princess and Sheerline limousines, but with some tuning work by Jensen), gave the car very good performance and it quickly received many positive reviews from the motoring press.

As a hand-built car, the 541 was only ever made in small numbers, but this gave Jensen the opportunity to quickly improve the model, first with the Deluxe of 1956 and then in 1957, the 541R – as offered here. This later variant looks very similar to the original 541 but had in fact received a number of small bodywork ‘nips and tucks’ to improve the appearance and a few significant mechanical upgrades over the original model. These included disc brakes on all four wheels (with servo) and rack and pinion steering. Performance was in the 110+ mph category. Just 193 541R models were built before being superseded by the 541S in 1960.

This car was supplied by Charles Follett Ltd. of London and first registered in June 1960. We have relatively little of its early history until it was acquired by the current owners in October 1996, who immediately commissioned considerable bodywork restoration and had the vehicle painted in its current red finish. The 541 moved to Guernsey around 10 years ago and has been subject to regular maintenance and repair work as required. After a period of storage, some light re-commissioning work has recently been undertaken to get the car ready for regular use again.