Jowett Car Books - History and Models (1/2)

Jowett - A Century of Memories

In 1906, brothers Benjamin and William Jowett designed and built their first car. Within four years, in 1910, they had started production of the Jowett, an ultra-economy light car in their home town of Bradford.
In 2010, Jowett owners came together in Yorkshire to mark the centenary of the marque. A wide variety of Jowett cars and commercials appeared at the centenary rally. From Jowett Bradfords to Jupiters and Javelins as well as Long Fours and Kestrels, the list of reliable and long-lasting Jowetts is an illustrious one.

Despite the company closing down its idle Bradford factory in 1954, Jowetts still engender a loyal following amongst enthusiasts. Famous owners have included John Surtees, the racing driver; Peter Ustinov, John Blashford-Snell and Martin Fry, lead singer of ABC, all owning Jowetts due to their rugged individualism.

Noel Stokoe, author of many books on Jowett, brings together a potted history of the marque with a selection of letters from previous owners as well as many previously-unpublished images of Jowetts, using the archives of the Jowett Car Club, one of the oldest one-marque car clubs in existence.

Jowett, 1901-1954

The Jowett Motor Manufacturing Company was founded in Bradford in 1901 by Benjamin, Ruth and William Jowett. Their first product was a V-twin engine which proved to be successful in various cars. In 1906 a prototype car was built using a new design of engine. The first of a long line of Jowetts was born!

After a few years of tinkering, the car was ready for production. While few Jowetts were made during the First World War, expansion took place during the war and production restarted in 1920. By 1927, over 3,000 Jowetts were leaving the factory per year with their owners enjoying reliable, economical motoring.

By the end of the Second World War, Jowett had modified the pre-war commercial and re-named it the Bradford. The van was a success and helped keep the company busy while it readied itself for production of the Javelin, a unitary construction saloon with a flat-four engine. It was a technical masterpiece, ahead of its time and the first totally new car of the post-war era.
But the company was in trouble by the early 1950s. Not enough sales of the Javelin and development costs of new models led to the sale of the factory in early 1954. A few Jupiters were made out of spare parts but the end was in sight.
Spare parts continued to be supplied till 1963 and this led indirectly to a relatively large number of cars surviving. Today they are catered for by the longest running one-make car club in the world, the Jowett Car Club, which was founded in 1923.

This book telles the entire story of the Jowett company and the cars it produced.

Jowetts of the 1920s

Based in Idle, near Bradford, the Jowett car was the result of two brothers' engineering skills. Put into production before the start of the First World War, the Jowett car, by the 1920s, was well-known as a rugged, dependable, reliable form of transport, much beloved of its owners, who had soon formed an Owner's Club, which at 90 years of age is the oldest one make car club in the world.

The new Jowett factory opened in Idle in 1919 and the first car produced was the Jowett Seven, with commercial models following in 1922 and the Jowett Long Four tourer during 1923, with a closed model in 1925.
The first decade after the war was perhaps one of Jowett's finest, with the company manufacturing thousands of their economical cars and light vans to an appreciative and enthusiastic audience.

Noel Stokoe is acknowledged as an expert on the Jowett, owning two himself, but also is the club's historian.

Jowett Cars of the 1930s

Brothers William and Ben Jowett, of Bradford, Yorkshire, built their first car in 1906 and tested it for four years before going into car production in 1910. By the time the factory switched to First World War munitions work, in 1916, forty-eight cars had been built. They resumed car production in 1920, and sales went from strength to strength.

The 1930s proved to be a much more difficult time for Jowett, as a devastating fire in 1930 destroyed the factory and almost their entire stock of new cars. The brothers then had to decide whether or not they should rebuild the factory and start car manufacturing again-luckily, they did, as many interesting models were produced during this decade.

From the first car in 1906, all cars the Jowetts produced were powered by the famous flat-twin engine known as 'the little engine with the big pull' that was used in all cars and light commercial vehicles.
In 1935, the range was expanded to include a four-cylinder horizontally opposed engine, and they used these two engines in various models until the Second World War.

In this book Noel Stokoe presents the history of Jowett and its cars during the thirties.

Jowett - Advertising the Marque

This is a history of the Jowett car company's distinctive advertising from the days when owning a Jowett was cheaper than walking.

Auto - Architect - The Autobiography of Gerald Palmer (1911-1999)

This second edition of Gerald Palmer's autobiography is published five years after his death in 1999 and Christopher Balfour, who collaborated with Gerald on the first edition, has taken the opportunity to review the impact this talented car designer had on the motor industry and to include some photographs that were not used in the first book.