Kjell Qvale facts for kids

Kjell Qvale (born July 7, 1919 – died November 2, 2013) was a Norwegian-American businessman. He was a very important person in the car world. Qvale helped create the Jensen-Healey car. He was also the first person to distribute Jaguar cars on the West Coast of the U.S.

Kjell Qvale also helped start two famous events: the San Francisco Auto Show and the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. He even came up with the idea for the unique "Corkscrew" turn at the Laguna Seca race track.

Early Life and Beginnings

Kjell Qvale was born in Trondhjem, Norway. His father was a sea captain. In 1929, when Kjell was ten years old, he moved to the United States.

He later went to the University of Washington. During World War II, he served as a pilot in the U.S. Navy.

Bringing Cars to America

After the war, Qvale took a trip to New Orleans. There, he saw an MG TC, which was a cool English sports car. He loved it so much that he thought other people would too. So, he decided to start a business importing these cars to the United States.

He set up his business near San Francisco. Soon, he started bringing in other popular car brands. These included Austin, Morris, Jaguar, and Rolls-Royce. His company was called 'British Motor Car Distributors'. Later, he also imported cars from other countries, like Volkswagen, Porsche, De Tomaso, Maserati, and Lamborghini. He was even the first person to distribute Volkswagens in the Western U.S.

For a short time, Qvale got into making cars himself. He bought a big part of a company called Jensen Motors.

Creating the Jensen-Healey

By 1970, Qvale's company was selling over 160,000 cars in the U.S. One very popular car was the Austin-Healey. It was made by the British Motor Corporation (BMC). But then, BMC announced they would stop making Austin-Healeys. This was a problem for Qvale because he would lose sales.

It was also bad news for the car's designer, Donald Healey, and for Jensen Motors, which built the Austin-Healeys. So, these three people – Qvale, Healey, and Jensen Motors – talked and came up with a plan. They decided to design and build a new car to replace the Austin-Healey. In 1970, Kjell Qvale became the main owner of Jensen Motors. The first Jensen-Healey car was finished in 1972.

A Short Trip to Hollywood

In 1974, an actor named Nico Minardos asked Qvale to use a Jensen Interceptor car in his movie, Assault on Agathon. Qvale ended up financing the whole movie! The film used the Jensen car a lot. Even though it didn't do well at the box office, Qvale said he had "no regrets." He thought it was a fun experience to be a Hollywood producer.

Qvale Automotive Group

Kjell Qvale's son, Bruce Qvale, later started his own car company called Qvale. This company was an independent Italian car manufacturer, started in 2000. Their only car was the Qvale Mangusta. It was originally designed as the De Tomaso Biguà. In 2003, Qvale sold the rights to the Mangusta car to another company, MG Rover Group.

A Passion for Horse Racing

Kjell Qvale loved owning and racing thoroughbred racehorses his whole life. He was the president of the Pacific Racing Association at Golden Gate Fields. He also led the board of directors at Golden Gate Fields for 25 years. His horse breeding farm in the Napa Valley was the last home of a famous horse named Silky Sullivan.

In the 1980s, he raced his own horse, Variety Road. This horse almost competed in the famous United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. Variety Road's biggest win was in 1987, in the Grade I San Fernando Stakes. He won by a tiny bit against other famous horses like Broad Brush, Snow Chief, and Ferdinand.

Later Years and Death

Kjell Qvale passed away at 94 years old. He was still racing his horses right up until the day he died. He had an active racing stable in Napa, California. His very last win as a horse owner happened on October 20, 2013, at Santa Anita Park.