Jensen 541R

Jensen 541R
Overview
Manufacturer	Jensen
Production	1957–1960 193 made
Body and chassis
Class	Grand tourer
Body style	2-door, 4-seat coupé
Powertrain
Engine	4.0 L Austin I6
Transmission	4-speed manual
Dimensions
Wheelbase	105 in (2,667 mm)
Length	176 in (4,470 mm)
Width	63 in (1,600 mm)
Chronology
Predecessor	Jensen 541
Successor	Jensen 541S

The Jensen 541R is a closed four-seater GT-class car built in the United Kingdom by Jensen between 1957 and 1960.

The original aluminium prototype appeared in 1953 as the 541 at the London Motor Show, although this changed to glassfibre for all production cars. Within a year, the new 541 had already earned rave reviews from magazines, notably Autocar, whose testers drove the grand tourer to a top speed of over 125 mph (201 km/h). It was the fastest four-seater the magazine had ever tested at the time.

The 541R employed a low-revving 3,993 cc (4.0 L; 243.7 cu in) straight-six engine from the Austin Sheerline. The suspension system came from the Austin A70 with independent suspension by coil springs at the front and a live axle with semi-elliptic springs at the rear. The 541R, introduced in 1957, differed from the 541 by using rack & pinion steering instead of a cam-and-roller system, and large disc brakes were used on all four wheels.

The car's styling was by Jensen's designer Eric Neale, and was not only considered attractive, but was aerodynamically efficient too; a Cd figure of only 0.39 was recorded, which became the lowest figure at Jensen. The body covered a chassis built by bracing 5-inch (12.7 cm) tubes with a mixture of steel pressings and cross-members to create a platform.

The 1957 model carried the DS7 version of the Austin Sheerline's four-litre motor equipped with twin carburetors on its right side. The cylinder head was reworked for the lifted compression ratio of 7.6:1 and a "long dwell". The engine had a raised output to 150 hp (112 kW) at 4100 rpm and 210 lb·ft (285 N·m). Only 53 cars were built with the engine.

In total Jensen built 193 541Rs before it was succeeded in 1961 by the Jensen 541S. This was similar to the 541R, but with a larger body and a GM-licensed Rolls-Royce hydramatic gearbox, and only 127 cars were built before the model was discontinued to be replaced by the CV8.

Performance

When the Jensen 541R was tested by Autocar magazine in January 1958 it achieved their highest maximum speed for a four-seater car at 127.5 mph (205.2 km/h). It was conducted in below-freezing conditions with a "stiff diagonal breeze". 0–60 mph was recorded at 10.6 seconds with fuel consumption at 18 mpg_-imp (16 L/100 km; 15 mpg_-US) overall with the normal range given as 15 mpg_-imp (19 L/100 km; 12 mpg_-US)–24 mpg_-imp (12 L/100 km; 20 mpg_-US).

Further reading

Media related to Jensen 541R at Wikimedia Commons

• Jensen Road Test Book: Jensen Cars 1946–67. Brooklands Books. 2002. ISBN 0-906589-86-X.
• Calver, Richard (1991). A history of Jensen: the chassis data. ISBN 0-646-03563-0.