World’s first AWD sports car goes on sale in the UK

The Jensen Interceptor FF is half a century old and belongs to a production batch of only 320 units, according to some sources. More importantly, it is widely considered the world’s first vehicle with the drive put on both axles for reasons other than off-road performance.

Jensen Motors called the car FF meaning ‘Ferguson Formula’, an homage to Harry Ferguson, head of Ferguson Research and the inventor of its AWD system. Around 37% of torque went to the front axle. Aside from this innovation, the Interceptor FF was among the world’s first vehicles to take advantage of traction control.

Compared to the standard RWD Interceptor coupe, the FF has a considerably different chassis and is 127 mm (5 inches) longer. It uses a U.S.-made 6.3-liter V8 in tandem with a TorqueFlite three-speed automatic transmission.

The model never became popular among buyers, however. It cost more than some Aston Martins did and was right-hand-drive by design (you couldn’t put the steering wheel on the left side due to certain limitations of the AWD system).

This particular example had five owners, the latest one having acquired it in 2016. Despite having covered around 145,000 kilometers (90,000 miles), the coupe is in excellent condition thanks to a complete overhaul performed 17 years ago.

The car will soon go on sale in UK with no announced reserve.