Jen-Tug

In 1946, Jensen Motors recruited George Riekie as development engineer. Riekie came from Latil Industrial Vehicles, a firm which had built a prototype commercial tractor unit, known as a tug, in 1939. Riekie appears to have brought the plans for the tug with him, adapting it to Jensen’s body-building experience and giving rise to the Jen-Tug, unveiled in 1947. Powered at first by a Ford 4-cylinder petrol engine and later by an Austin unit, the Jen-Tug saw service in a wide range of applications which required the towing of trailers or goods wagons, both on road and off. A battery powered version was marketed later. Jensen built a variety of trailers to suit the Tugs, the trailers often being ordered in a two or three-to-one ratio to prime movers by some of the big corporate buyers of such vehicles, including the recently nationalized British Railways. The Jen-Tug was rendered obsolete by its competitors in the 1950s. In round terms, Jensen Motors built approximately 700 Tugs, 1350 trailers, and 25 electric powered Tugs. Two Tugs and trailers are known in Australia, including the combination pictured.