BMC were planning to drop the Healey and Jensen asked Eric Neale, their house stylist, to design a replacement for the US market.

In a break from their recent tradition of using glassfibre, he used an aluminium body on a steel platform and tube chassis.

Reception to the convertible car was generally favourable, although the strakes over the wheel arch were criticised in the press as outdated.

The Norcros group had been controlling the company for some years and preferred to adopt an Italian styled body, a view shared by Managing Director Brian Owen and Deputy Chief Engineer Kevin Beattie.

They approached Touring of Milan who produced a rival design that was put into production by Vignale as the Interceptor.