JASON LEN

A tireless restorer of British sports cars who also has a passion for motorcycles

- STEPHAN SZANTAI

It all started in 1962, with a passenger ride in a neighbour’s MG TC. Jason Len – then aged 12 – soon gained a liking for British cars. “That TC tickled my fancy,” he recalls. “I went to shows with the owner and hung out at the shop that restored it. Four years later, I got a job there on weekends and during summers, working on old British vehicles.” It allowed him to learn the restoration craft and, aged 17, he bought a 1951 MG TD for $100. After spending a summer refurbishing it, he sold it on with a $300 profit – phenomenal for a teenager making 80 cents an hour.

During his college years, Len studied mechanical engineering while working at local repair shops when time allowed. But the fact that he couldn’t find a job afterward led him to rethink his options. “I decided to open up a British car workshop,” says Len, and so was born Britannica Motors in 1973, which he would run for more than 40 years. As the company took off, he got involved with racing, first with an Austin-Healey Sprite then a Chevrolet Corvette and a Jaguar E-type – the same coupé that sits prominently in his collection today.