The Jowetts that got away

by Noel Stokoe

Jowett Cars were built in Bradford from 1906 to 1954. All pre-war cars up to 1935 were powered by a twin-cylinder horizontally-opposed 7-hp engine. In 1935, a new four-cylinder horizontally-opposed engine was introduced with a 10-hp rating running alongside the original twin-cylinder model, which had been increased to an 8-hp rating. Little changed during the pre-war period; many of the models were made in very small numbers, and sadly, there are no survivors today.

The Jowett brothers experimented in the mid-1930s with a new inline power unit, but it did not go into production. The post-war period saw massive changes in the Jowett company with both brothers retiring before the war.

The first all-new model was the Javelin saloon that was launched in 1947 and the Jupiter sportscar in 1950. By 1951, a new range of cars, vans, pick-up and estate cars, known as the Bradford CD range, was proposed, but only reached the prototype stage.

The Jupiter won its class at Le Mans in 1950, 1951 and 1952 in a much-lightened model known as the R1. In 1953, a new Jupiter known at the R4 was launched just in time for the Motor Show, which was hoped to save the ailing company, but sadly, it was not to be with only three prototypes being built.

Unfortunately, none of these models materialised. Jowett’s history could have been so different had fate been kinder to them.

Buch, Softcover, 16,5 x 23,5 cm, 150 Seiten, 131 farbige Abbildungen, englischer Text