Moving on from the Sommer family’s cars, we meet Steen Volmer Jensen, who at age 19 decided he would build a car on his own. This car was never intended for mass production, but merely as a future engineer’s mad project. It took him more than five years and 5,000 hours before the SVJ 1000 GT was completed. SVJ are his initials.
The car sits on the chassis of an Auto Union 1000S and the body was built as a wooden frame to which he added clay. From that he molded an entire one-piece body in fiberglass. He then cut out doors, hood and trunk lid. This makes for a very snug fit for a homemade car created from scratch by a teenager.
The engine was originally a 57 horsepower Wartburg-sourced rotary engine, but during the build it was replaced with a 120 horsepower NSU Ro80 rotary – exactly what you would expect an overambitious and eccentric engineer-to-be to choose as a powerplant. With the Auto Union basis in mind it should come as no surprise that the car is front-wheel-drive, although its looks indicate rear-wheel-drive.
Weighing just short of 2,200 pounds the 171.7 inches long car would actually accelerate to 62mph in 9.6 seconds and continue all the way to 120. It looks much heavier than it is, but 120 horsepower go along way with a light fiberglass body. Jensen drove it for years and clocked more than 185,000 miles in it. Today, Jensen has passed away, and his car rests in Ole Sommer’s automobile museum north of Copenhagen.
But this is not the last we heard from Jensen. In the eighties he launched another project with an unconventional power plant, this time intended for a much larger audience. More on that next week.
What a very nice Car!!!
Touches and drops, here and there, from Ferrari, Facel Vega, Pegaso,… And the interior, is wonderful!!
Seems more a Latin (Southern Europe), hot blood, sourced exótica, than Northern/Scandinavian Car.
Simply gorgeous. Love it.
MK3 Ford Zodiac tail lights, very stylish.
Beautiful car – great post, Mads. I see more than a bit of Renault Caravelle in those lines. It is absolutely mind-blowing to me that this is the handiwork of teenager.
“Wartburg-sourced rotary”. Never heard of that.
But a very ambitious project for a kid. And very nicely done.
Perhaps he meant a Wartburg 3 replaced by a NSU RO80 Rotary, I googled it and found nothing. A very nice design.
I got this from a book and an information sheet at the museum. I did not go back and check if Wartburg actually made a rotary engine. It must be a mistake then.
Correction: I got the info about the original engine plans from a book by Claus Frausing and others about attempts at establishing Danish car production after World War II. I don’t know much about Wartburg except that there were a few of their 80’s two-stroke cars on the streets in Denmark when I was a kid. Maybe Frausing got the info wrong.
Imagine being able to build your own gran turismo with a very early rotary engine as a very young man and then be able to enjoy it for 185k miles. A lesson to those like myself who are afraid to take on a complex older car. Thanks Mads for showing this to us.
That is amazingly well finished. It certainly doesn’t look like a one off. Chrome work around the windows is nicely finished as is the interior. Impressive. Getting 185k out of a NSU rotary engine is impressive too.
Absolutely well done, amazingly finished for a home built, and nicely styled too! Looks like he was getting his inspiration from the Italian design houses, which is not a bad thing at all.
My old Honda Civic coupe was slightly BIGGER, and apparently heavier than this car, yet the pictures would seem to be of a 60s sized Mustang coupe.
Looks very Italianate…perhaps Frua? Interesting method of body construction, and very unusual choice of engine (s).
Looking forward to “part II”.
Much smaller than a Mustang the rear bumper appears to be a cut down Zephyr/Zodiac item and those are the size of a Mustang, it looks about the size and similar weight to my 59 Hillman with the power of a H120 Holbay engine it should go quite well.
Beautiful car. Maybe a little Sunbeam Alpine/Tiger in those rear fin-lets. He certainly had a good eye for proportion. I have read some history on the rotary and don’t remember the Wartburg name appearing. Maybe they were a licensee?
You’re spoiling us, Mads. This one is a nice combo of Alfa 2600 Zagato coupe and Sunbeam Alpine tailights.
Very unusual, yet nice looking car.
The nose has hints of Ferrari 250GTs and the tail lights and mini fins look distinctively like a Sunbeam Tiger.
When I first saw it, it somehow reminds of the AC 3000 ME… Maybe, the fender measurements in relation to the A-pillar and windshield design?