Whilst it was briefly mentioned in the earlier "BBC Top Gear Filming (TVR factory Blackpool)" thread it was a surprise to a few of us that the Jensen factory had stood the test of time and part of the building remained in West Bromwich. For those yet to see the episode on the BBC there was a scene where the trio from Top Gear appeared to pay some homage at the factory site where many British sports cars including the Tiger had been built/assembled.Bobbybutton wrote:I hadn't appreciated the Jenson Factory was still there, we should go and visit and get some pics for the Club Mag?
Using Google Maps, and searching the world wide web it appears the building used in the filming (see pic below) is now owned by the Reliant Windows Ltd Company and is situated in Kelvin Way, the site of the Jensen factory from 1956 where it moved to after it had outgrown its original site at High St, Carters Green, also in West Bromwich.
Knowing that Richard Calver is a renown expert on all things Jensen you can see from his recent book that the main building was indeed a similar style to the one attended by Top Gear, with the entrance being virtually identical - a clue that it may have been the actual building with some work being done perhaps as part of a face lift in subsequent years.
With a thought of perhaps paying a visit before the building finally made way to progress, the STOC (editor) made contact with Richard Calver to ascertain precisely what remained of the Jensen factory, and this is his reply;
I thought it would be appropriate for all of us to view Richard Calver's kind response so that we can gauge whether a trip to West Bromwich would be worthy of the time and effort and to avoid any disappointment or expectations.Richard Calver wrote:""The building shown in your pic isn't part of the old Jensen factory. It's the Richards Engineering building, also in Kelvin Way, reminiscent in style of the entrance of the old Jensen factory which you can see on p251 of my book.
I haven't heard what they said about it in TG, so don't know if they alluded to Jensen while showing the Richards building, or claimed it was the actual factory building. Either way, it's a deception because the real factory building is still there in essentially an unrecognisable form.
The original factory site was huge and was broken up in the late 70s to form a multitude of units, with the exception of the Service Department which remained in the hands of JP&S and operated as such until the early 1990s. It has since been gutted, in 1997 becoming a Metal Enclosures factory and lately having become an Alcoa building. It might even have another identity now.
The factory used by Jensen prior to the move to Kelvin Way in the late 1950s was at Carters Green, about two miles away in Shaftesbury St just off the West Brom High St. This factory was demolished many years ago, probably in the late 1960s or early 1970s I should think, but the old office block at the front of the site remained standing until this year. I believe it is being torn down now, or soon will be. You can see a photo of the Carters Green site in about 2001 on my web page at http://www.richardcalver.com/jensenhistory.htm at the time the casino which now stands next door was being built. I attach pics of the Carters Green office block and the Kelvin Way Service Department (Alcoa) in 2005.
The Jensen Owners Club in the UK has held several runs to the old factory at Kelvin Way over the years but now the site is so unrecognisable that they don't do it any more. A pity because in the day those streets were being used as test tracks by the drivers, with every new Interceptor and FF being test driven for at least 100 miles, and sometimes hundreds of miles. The local residents were quite accustomed to hearing and seeing them every day.
You can see the outline of the factory site in your Birminham A-Z on p79 ref H6-7. It is still marked as the Kelvin Way Industrial Estate and immediately to the left of it are two square buildings, the one closest to the canal being the former Service Department (now Alcoa) which is pictured in the attachment.
There was talk of getting up a petition to preserve Carters Green as a Heritage Listing but I don't think it will amount to much. Just another example among thousands of derelict buildings giving way to progress."
Me personally, I sense the original buildings have been lost to progress and there would be very little to be seen or recognised from the era.....
Finally, I'd certainly recommend Richard Calver's book with a brief mention of the Tiger
A History of Jensen - All The Models by Richard Calver