Hollywood owner of 1938 Jensen

Mike Williams. Am interested in current info re HL 1 my uncle sold you that car and is a personal fav since I first saw pics and the car itself as a young child. There's a backstory would love to share with you about his 1st day driving it in '51. He did have paperwork re it's history and the attempts by a well known Reno collector to buy it in the early 60s.

mac.mclaren55 at hotmail.com

Mike, three Jensens had the 267-ci Lincoln Zephyr V-12, and since they were produced in '39, also the coil springs at the rear the Model H began that year a la Buick and Olds ('38 for them).  Three Allards also used your Zephyr V-12, as did several of the 20 1937-39 Atalantas built in Staines, Middlesex,  and a lone Brough Superior, the latter usually powered by a stock Hudson six, tho' a few were stock Hudson eights, like most of the nearly 1,500 Railtons. 

The Zephyr engine may've put out less torque per cubic inch than any other domestic engine then in production, Crosley included, and had/has reputation for cooling and other pecadillos, but owners who kept their oil clean and drove on the open road reported good service.  The 260-ci ohv nine-mained Nash inline eight-propelled Jensens Model Hs, 131" wb (Ford V-8-engined Model S 126") had an overal 2.9:1 final drive in Columbia high range, so the short stroke Zephyr Jensens like yours would, like the 3.5 x 3.75 288-ci 1936-37 Cords,  fly;  among the very few cars of the era that could safely cruise close to their absolute top speed.  Autocar after their usual stringent testing, reported 91 mph for a Nash Model H, so yours should readily manage the same.

 Forgive the ramble, but I knew Reid Railton's son, who had a well fettled '37 namesake tourer, now back in England, and my late mechanics' mechanic, who ran motor pools in the War II Pacific, then worked at Packard, Hudson, GM dealerships before starting his own shop in 1959, was a Hudson maven, so knowing about the other "sports bastards" as such Anglo-American meldings affectionately known inevitable.  Two Californians bought Zephyr Jensens, Clark Gable being one of them.  Louis D. Lighton, producer of the Gable/Spencer Tracy/Myrna Loy/Lionel Barrymore Test Pilot (1938) bought both a Ford Model S tourer and Nash H conv. coupe.   (You never know where some cars'll show up.  I know a fellow Down Under with ten pre- and postwar junior and senior Packards, among them a '39 Twelve formal sedan first owned by Lionel Barrymore, in addition to 30 or so ancient Sceptered isle motorbikes, which he and his wife exercise two at a time on the lightly traveled roads outside Canberry, keeping an eye out for the errant 'roo.)

  If Bill McNight, owner of Willco Auto Restoration, Carson, CA still around, he might know more, having a masterfully rebuilt '38 Nash Model H sports tourer.  Bill said it was the best driving of his cars, smoother than his '35 3.5-liter Bentley, as fast and more refined than his ohv 4.3-liter six-cylinder '37 Alvis, so  yours should be both fast and downright silky.  The Jensen Model H was almost expensive as an Alvis (which had synchromesh on first gear from 1936-on, something Jaguar didn't have 'til late '64),  and  cost a few hundred pounds less than a  4.5-liter Meadows six-powered Lagonda M45,  so the Jensen H owner got  fair refinement for his or her dollars or pounds.

Not sure if this Jensen is the same car or not:  Vol. 2. No. 8 – Theme: THE FIRSTS – Rare & Unique Vehicles Magazine (rareandunique.media)

Craig