Jowett Motor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., Bradford, Yorkshire, UK 1906 - 1919

Jowett Cars Ltd., Bradford, Yorkshire, UK 1919 - 1954

The company was founded by Benjamin and William Jowett in 1901 with capital of £90 to make bicycles and their own design of V-twin petrol engines. Their father was a blacksmith and engineer who had experimented with petrol engines as far back as 1896 with limited success. In 1905 the brothers built a flat twin engine of 815cc which amazingly remained in production until 1953 with only one modest changes in capacity to 907cc in 1921 and 946cc in 1937.

Their first prototype car was built in 1906 with the flat twin engine, tiller steering and an advanced worm drive rear axle. It was not until 1910 that they were satisfied with the design of their first light car and put it into production with a conventional bevel gear rear axle. Modifications continued to be made and the tiller steering was abandoned in 1914 after only 24 cars had been made. The cars were originally sold in very small numbers, locally in Yorkshire, and so by 1916 only a further 36 were produced. The first batch had 2-seat aluminium bodies by Ryder and the next batch with the more rounded radiator were bodied by Humbouldt also of Bradford.

Car production ceased for the remainder of the First World war period and the factory was enlarged, moved to Idle on the northern edge of Bradford, and was employed in making components for the war effort.

In April 1920 cars again started to leave the factory and were unchanged until 1921 when the engine was enlarged to 907cc. In spite of it's size the engine was very reliable and delivered good torque at low engine speed. After the Humbouldt coachbuilding company failed Jowett made most of the bodies at their own factory at Idle. A longer chassis with 4-seat body was available from 1923 at about the same time as coil ignition replaced the magneto on the engine. A 4-door saloon was catalogued from 1926 alongside the open and closed bodies on the original chassis. In spite of their staid image and old fashioned design, with 2-wheel brakes and fixed cylinder head engines, the Jowett sales continued to rise with 3,474 being sold in 1927. It was so popular that the world's first one-make car club was founded in 1922 as the Jowett Light Car & Social Club in Bradford, a southern branch in London in 1923 and others followed around the UK. oorless bodies and the engine fitted further back in the chassis. A stripped version was driven at Brooklands for 12 hours at an average speed of 54.85 mph and a couple of 2-seaters named "Wait" and "See" made a trans-African crossing from Lagos to Massawa towing trailers for the 3,800 miles.

Changes at Jowett were slow in coming and so by 1931 there was a wider and stiffer chassis and the saloon bodies were fabric covered although 4-wheel brakes had been fitted since 1929. There were several body styles available by 1932 including saloons and tourers on both wheelbases. From 1930 they had been identified by names such as Black Prince, Grey Knight and Silverdale for the De Luxe models and in 1934 they announced the Kestrel sports saloon, the Simba tourer and the Weasel sports tourer all with 4-speed gearboxes. Synchromesh was frowned upon by the ultra conservative Jowett brothers and was not available until 1940.

But this conservative attitude was not just related to gearboxes as Jowett continued with the same flat twin engine, although an experimental 1.5-litre vertical in-line 4-cylinder engine was tried in 1934. The 1,146cc side valve flat four of 1935 did go into production in a spacious 6-light saloon called the Jupiter or Jason depending on the interior trim and retailing at about £200. The styling, with a sloping radiator, was too much for the equally conservative Jowett buyers and it was withdrawn in favour of the traditional body shape named the Plover after only 300 had been made.

The company was floated on the Stock exchange in 1935 in an attempt to raise additional capital for expansion and development. Unfortunately the issue was a failure and the Jowett brothers retired shortly afterwards following a boardroom shakeup. From the remainder of the 1930s sales and profits declined so that by 1939 sales of cars and vans amounted to a mere 1,661 vehicles with a workforce of 600.

All subsequent Jowetts built from 1937 until production was suspended by war were saloons and shared the same body. The original flat twin engine was increased in size to 946cc in 1937, and in all 2,088 cars were sold, against 1,582 of the four cylinder cars which cost £30 more.

It could easily be argued that the war saved Jowett from bankruptcy. The demands for armaments were such that the workforce grew to about 2,000 working three shifts a day. The business of rearranging the factory to cope with this new work was Charles Calcott Reilly, known as Peter Reilly to his friends, who had previously been an associate of Gordon England whose speciality was building and racing special Austin 7s. Reilly also obtained a substantial order from the Admiralty for generator sets using the Jowett flat twin engine.

With the factory now fully operational with the war work Reilly, with commendable foresight, turned his attention to the possibility of peacetime car production. He reasoned that the company needed an automotive designer with the flair to bring Jowett up to date whilst allowing for the problems associated with a cash strapped economy. In 1941 he approached Gerald Palmer, who had abroad engineering experience, and was employed by Morris Motors in Oxford.

Gerald's initial response was that the offer was not sufficiently attractive because Jowett did not have the facilities to produce the unitary construction bodies that were already the basis of all mass produced cars. He was, however, excited by the possibility of applying his talents to the design of an entirely new car.

Gerald was, therefore, surprised to receive a visit from Reilly at his home in Iffley, and was persuaded to change his mind. Gerald Palmer joined Jowett in January 1942 and started on what had been a long held ambition to design an entire car from scratch.

It was finally agreed that the new car would continue the Jowett tradition of a flat engine of 4-cylinders improved by overhead valves and with the capacity increased to 1,486cc. The unitary body was to be made by Briggs Motor Bodies of Doncaster and was an attractive modern design which drew some of it's influence from the Lincoln Zephyr. The suspension was independent by wishbones at the front and trailing arms and a live axle at the rear. The springing at both ends was by torsion bars. Steering was by "rack & pinion" and the gearchange was on the steering column.

The Javelin as it was named was a complete contrast to the pre-war Jowetts and became the fastest, best handling 1.5-litre car on the market instead of the slowest. It was capable of exceeding 80 mph when the equivalent Morris Oxford could only manage 70 mph.

Launched in 1946 the Javelin was not readily available in the UK until 1949 as the government directives of the early post-war period restricted steel supplies unless the cars made a contribution to the "export drive". The Javelin was intended as a "world" car and did sell well overseas.

Gerald Palmer was invited back to Morris Motors in July 1949 as his job as a designer was completed at Jowett and he did not see himself as a development engineer. Unfortunately Jowett did not have any development engineers, only bankers, whose main objective was short term profit. To this end they dispensed with the Meadows gearbox in 1951 and reverted to making their own at the Idle factory to save money. Unfortunately their machinery was old and worn out by the war work and the gears they turned out were tapered so that they jumped out of gear. This and other minor problems caused buyer confidence to fall and with it sales of new cars. To make matters worse Briggs had geared up to produce bodies at a certain rate and by the end of 1952 Jowett were unable to take delivery so there were upwards of 1,000 body shells accumulating all around the town. Briggs were asked to suspend body production for several months to allow production to catch up, but this was an equally severe financial problem and so they gave notice to Jowett that they were withdrawing from the contract. In the end Briggs were forced to sell out to Ford and Jowett ceased production of the Javelin in September 1953.

The Javelin had a competition history too, with a class win in the 1949 Monte Carlo Rally followed by an overall 1^st, 2^nd and 4^th in 1951 and an oveall 1^st in the 1953 Tulip Rally. In racing they won the up to 2-litre class in the Belgian 24 hour race.

Having seen the sporting potential of the Javelin the directors of Jowett decided to capitalise on this by entering the sports car market with America in mind. The initial design was the work of Eberan von Eberhorst whose reputation had been built on the success of the Auto Union racing cars. The chassis were multi-tubular space frames to be built by ERA at Dunstable and the car was to be called the ERA-Javelin. The prototype coupe design was not well received and ERA lost the contract after 5 chassis had been delivered. It was restyled by Reg Korner at the Idle works with a curvaceous body and a 3-seat bench to be made at the Jowett factory and named the Jupiter. The chassis was difficult and expensive to make and only about 900 were made.

The Jupiter was capable of 90 mph in standard trim and was an obvious candidate for sports car racing. Jupiters won their class at Le Mans in 1950, 1951 and 1953 (although there was little competition) and were 1^st and 2^nd in class in the 1951 Tourist Trophy. A Jupiter was overall winner of the Bremgarten Sports Car Race in Switzerland in 1951.

Development of the Jupiter continued with a shorter chassis and lightweight fibreglass body called the R4, but only three were made. The company had for some time been kept afloat by the faithful "Bradford" van of which 40,000 had been built, but was still using the original flat twin engine design from 1906. They planned an updated version, the CD Bradford, with an engine enlarged to 1,005cc and a range of saloon, van and pick-up bodies, but the company folded before production started.

The Jowett Owners Club actively supports owners and can be contacted via the Secretary:-

Mrs. P. Winteringham at 33 Woodlands Road, Gomersal, West Yorkshire BD19 4SF

Bibliography:-

The Complete Jowett History by Paul Clark & Edmund Nankivell,

published by Foulis/Haynes. 1991

Auto-Architect, the autobiography of Gerald Palmer, published by Magna Press. 1998