Guys: I recently had a conversation with a guy that saw the build thread on my cabrio. His interest was peaked by the body mods and the fact that the car was originally "customized", likely in the fifties and from what I've been told, done in or around Los Angeles. I spoke at one time with a fellow that once owned the body, is from So. Cal and knew where the car came from. The guy that called me is named Ken, and he was so intrigued because He owns a '34 ford roadster with the same exact mods: sectioned, quarters shortened, arm pits in the doors, all work done in lead, rear wheel wells left in their stock configuration and at one point the cars were painted green. He told me about Percy T. Morgan. He developed a relationship with the Jensons of Jenson Ford in the UK. I don't know the exact time period but Morgan had a thing for '33 ford's. You can discover this by reading up on him. If you want, look up Jenson ford fantasy junction. Look at the car!!! You'll get it. Morgan is the man who ordered and imported the Clark Gable Jenson Ford. In an effort to shorten this a bit, Ken brought up the similarities of our two cars (I'm waiting on pics of his) and wonders about a connection to Mr. Morgan. Pretty speculative at this point but I'm very intrigued by the idea. Sooooo, HELP! Especially any of you really old (I can say that being 70 now) So Cal natives have any thoughts or real information that might help? Got to be someone out there that might still be connected to Morgan. Morgan was connected to Hollywood as well as being personal friends with Clark gable. Some of the lore is that Morgan also owned the well known, back in the day, Cock and Bull restaurant on Sunset Strip. I wish I knew someone as connected to that scene as Barry Weiss is. He owns the cars and runs in those circles. Someone probably knows something. I'm goin to include a pic of a Jenson ford and a pic of my cabrio the day I got it home. I never thought about the cabrio looking similar to a Jenson until Ken brought it up. I'm dyin to see if there is a connection!!! Tim
While Bob Gregorie is best-known for the Model 40 and 1932 speedsters he designed for Edsel Ford, he also designed this 1935 2+2 for possible sale in Europe:
Tim, Your car always looked good from the start, did you have a full car or just the body? It is always fun tracing cars history. I've sold too many only to fund out their history later. Good luck with the search. Bob
I'm now wondering if someone was copying the Jenson style when the sectioned my cabrio body. Who ever did the work had their act together. It has some very good cutting/welding done to it.
Years ago there was a feature in Ford Life magazine on the Clark Gable car, just one of those things I remember, he was on the cover with the Jensen. Bob
Bob: That was the most famous car Clark Gable never owned, true story. If you google clark gable jenson ford, there is some good reading. Tim
That's true, Clark Gable never owned a Jensen. He ordered one through Nerney Ford in Hollywood and put $1000 down as a deposit. It was silver with red leather interior. When it arrived he declined it, didn't like the color. He wanted the black one instead but Percey Morgan said no. He let Gable drive around in the silver one for a few days but he returned it and bought a Duesenberg. The Jensen sold new for $2,900. I have the Ford Life magazine 37 kid mentioned, all of them in fact, that the article is in. I'll scan it this week if anyone's interested. It was written by Lorin Sorensen, Ford historian.
According to the article, which was written in '71, the Cock and Bull was owned by Percy Morgan's brother.
Flyin-t: Thanks for the info. I wish there was a way to find out what all Percy Morgan did with cars. I'm in touch with a guy in Oklahoma that has a roadster which is sectioned in the same (odd) manor as my cabriolet. His car also came from L.A.. He is the one that brought up the Jenson style. May be some great history. I think at best it would be something like Morgan had a local "customizer" do the body work in anticipation of building cars resembling the Jenson's. We'll likely never know but I can hope. I've read about the cock and bull being owned by John Morgan and in a different story it was attributed to Percy. That's how that stuff works. I've put this info on the Early Ford V8 club site also with no results. Tim
The bodies were built in England, not Hollywood. Morgan bought the chassis, 2 of them both equipped with Columbia rear ends, and shipped them to Jensen Motors in West Bromwich. Each chassis cost $567.87. The Jensen built bodies cost $1,297.85. then the completed cars were shipped to the L.A. harbor for Morgan to pickup. He joked that the chassis/car had over 11,000 miles on them by the time he got them. The article by Sorensen was an interview with Morgan in '71 at his home, he was 74 and still had all the files concerning his Jensen Fords. As a side note the actor Robert Bray who played the forest ranger on the Lassie series owned one of the Jensen's, dismantled it and stored it at his home in Lake Arrowhead, ca. It's a pretty interesting story.
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