Jean Jennings, Who Wrote With Verve About Cars, Dies at 70

The first time Jean Jennings confronted the Mexican federal police, they had just arrested one of her friends for public urination.It was 1983, and she was part of an eight-vehicle road test along the length of Baja California, which she had joined as a writer for Car and Driver magazine.Thinking fast, she called her friend a cerdo — pig — and talked the police down to a fine.A few days later, the cops caught them speeding outside La Paz, near the bottom of the peninsula; she wriggled out of a ticket by showing officers her Datsun’s fancy electronic voice system.

Still later, she was arrested when she hit a cow.This time she wheedled an officer into letting her drive his police car, gave his girlfriend a manicure and got away with a $50 fine.Mrs.

Jennings, who died on Dec.16 at 70, was not just one of the best writers in automotive journalism; she was also, by all accounts, the most interesting.

She won a demolition derby, rode a motorcycle across China and traversed New Zealand in a 1916 Benz, all during her 30-year career first at Car and Driver and then at Automobile, where she was editor in chief.Mrs.Jennings had no formal training in journalism.

Cars, though, she knew: Before joining Car and Driver in 1981, she had driven a cab, repaired engines and crash-tested prototype Chryslers at the company’s proving grounds outside Detroit.Tim Jennings, her husband, said she died of Alzheimer’s disease in a care facility.Cars, and writing about cars, were (and still are) largely a man’s world, but Mrs.Jennings had no problem making it her own.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

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