A Family Affair
Sarah & Greg Kambish’s 1974 Jensen-Healey Mk II
STORY | EVAN GRIFFEY
Photography | KARL NOAKES
In any scenario a Jensen-Healey MkII sports car makes a phenomenal hand-me-down. The car checks all the boxes, great proportions, tons of British charm, and an addicting open-air driving experience. The roadster was designed by Donald Healey and produced by Jensen between 1972 and 1976. A total of 10,453 were built. The long and slender drop-top is motivated by a Lotus 907 twin-cam, four-cylinder engine. Output checks in at an impressive 145 horsepower from 2.0 liters.
The fine motorcar featured here, VIN 17529, engine serial number 78140, was purchased by Gregory Kambish on December 3, 1974, at San Jose British Motors in California. Greg had spent many weekends between 1965 and 1976 with his brothers working at Laguna Seca and Sonoma Raceway as pit marshals, mechanics, and flaggers, among other official capacities at the tracks. “I was upgrading from a 1956 Austin Healey 100-4 and talked to several race drivers and mechanics I knew before I made the big decision,” says Greg. “Body aerodynamics, the high-performance engine, and general interior finish were major factors of pulling the trigger.
The Jensen-Healey would go on to make a big impact on the Kambish family. “I still revel in the stories my dad would share, and growing up as a kid in the Jensen-Healey is what started my love of cars and fast things,” says Greg’s daughter, Sarah. “My parents split when I was about three years old, and dad would take my older sister and I everywhere in the Jensen-Healey as it was his only car. We even went camping and fishing with the three of us, it was the ‘70s and two kids to one seat, while maybe not the best idea, was how it was done back then. The luggage rack was stacked high with our tent, camping gear, and our fishing poles in personalized cardboard tubes with our names on them.”
Greg relates the car was no garage queen. Birthday parties, trips to Disneyland, roller skating at the local rink, road trips to faraway ghost towns, and long back country drives are all on the Jensen-Healey’s ledger. “On many occasions,” quips Greg, “my two daughters and I were jammed into the Jensen, top up or down, one in the passenger seat and the other sideways behind the front seats. We had no qualms jumping in the car and going wherever. Occasionally even our friends were squeezed in for short romps around the neighborhood.
One fateful summer in what is believed to be 1989 or 1990, temperatures between central California and Bullhead City, Arizona caused the Jensen-Healey to overheat. Greg says eventually the piston rings collapsed and the engine started burning oil and losing power. Needing more utility in his life, Greg purchased a pickup through a Pacific Gas and Electric fleet sale. Greg happened to be a longtime mechanic for PG&E so he had the inside info to pick the best of the lot. Unfortunately, the Jensen-Healey was the loser as the car was parked and used less and less as time marched on. “I was able to freshen up the engine at 146,000 miles,” says Greg, “but finally realized I couldn’t afford to race the car and it wouldn’t like snow, so I gave it up to my brother Frank who really wanted it and moved to Idaho where I took to chasing slow moving cows on a horse.” Frank used it for pleasure and as a commuter on occasion. He repainted the Jensen-Healey and it was kept in the garage under a car cover when not in use.
Fast forward to the summer of 2020, when Sarah took a trip to visit her aunt and uncle in Northern California. “I went into the garage to look at the car and was hit with a wave of fond memories. I reminded my uncle Frank, (as I often did) that I had eyes for the car, and it had long been settled that it would go to me. He was 83 years old and getting in and out of the car had become difficult. So, he inquired how interested I really was, I asked him how much, and he gave me a number that I couldn’t pass up. My boyfriend immediately told me to shake the man’s hand, so I did. Bam, it was official, the car I treasured my whole life was finally mine.”
“I didn’t have a place to park it at that time, so we made an agreement to leave it in California and I would pick it up the next summer. Unfortunately, in November that year my uncle suffered a heart attack and passed away. So, I didn’t get a chance to talk more with him about what the car meant to him and what he had done with it. But he had all the service records, extra wheels, and replacement parts that were all in bins ready for me to pick up.”
“That first summer, I spent a lot of time admiring the Jensen-Healey in my garage. I also took it to my dad’s house in Idaho so we could replace the brakes, put in a new radiator, and for him to relive the old days and take the car to a local car show. I have been showing and driving it on the weekends ever since. The Jensen-Healey is a real trooper, it currently has about 271,000 miles on the clock.”
“It’s a treat on the road. I love the way it takes a corner, the feel behind the wheel is exhilarating with the top down and the wind in your hair. I sense my uncle in the car with me sometimes and it puts a smile on my face and urges me to push the throttle a little closer to the floor. The lines of the car are E-Type Jaguar-esque and people who know what it is can’t believe the way she looks, they absolutely love the car.”
The proof is in the pudding. Sarah has entered the car into four judged car shows since taking possession of the roadster. The first one was the Festival of Cars run in conjunction with the Tigard Festival of Balloons, and the car took first place in the 1970s category. She then entered the All British Field Meet in Portland in 2022 and 2023, and the MkII was awarded the first-place people’s choice trophy each year.
Greg says there’s no doubt the car has been well-liked. “I have always known Sarah loves the car,” says the prideful father, “we badly miss my brother, but there is comfort knowing the Jensen is in excellent hands.” When it comes to hand-me-downs, it doesn’t get any better than that.
