Filed Under: News
Mention the North Country town of Bradford to most people, you are likely to get a response of oh yes, heard of it. However there is far more to the town than one would expect.
During the industrial revolution it was known as the wool capital of the world, it did not boast as being the most polluted town in the British Isles, somewhere around 200 chimneys were pumping out obnoxious sulphuric fumes, so bad, that life expectancy was grim, such was the regard the mill owner’s had for their employees.
Though it must be mentioned one owner did, moved to Saltaire and then built a village for his worker’s, this is now a UNESCO world heritage site, so there are some good people around.
The work ethos was an invitation to immigrants to seek job’s, many left our shores to seek a better life and found work in Bradford, those early settler’s left a legacy of Catholic churches, all over the town, and no doubt relatives unknown to many.
Today one is more likely to come across Mosques belonging to the those who have left the subcontinent to find their fortune in Britain. There is even a German quarter, Bradfords diverse architecture reflects the many cultures that came for work.
Bradford was and still is home to Rugby League and Soccer teams. At one stage Bradford had a very successful speedway team, the captain of which, one Oliver Hart, specialised in the leg trailing style of riding, when going round the bends some riders rode leg out in front and then there was the leg trailer who used his leg as a sort of rear wheel brake, speedway bikes had no brakes at all, very spectacular.
Bradford is also very rich in culture, it has the most visited museum outside of London, the Media Museum which was the photographic centre, as one might expect with a very high Asian population there are some direct links to Bollywood.
Bradford had yet another trick up it’s sleeve, Automobile manufacture, which was successful for just over fifty years, ah yes, another British firm forced out of business. Well you are wrong, they closed the firm, voluntary liquidation, all creditor’s were paid in full and there was still a substantial amount of money still in the pot, why, doesn’t seem apparent, the Cars were successful and new model’s were planned, though we find a good reason later.
One of life’s strange happening’s.
In the first place Bradford makes a change from Coventry, right the real story begins, I suppose I had better explain the title, well the firms was started by the Jowett Brother’s, William and Benjamin Jowett, so hence the title.
It seems the two brother’s constructed an engine in their father’s workshop in 1901, which from all accounts was quite successful. They joined up with an Arthur V Lamb, he did the clerical work, and went into the making of cycles in Manningham Lane, Bradford, they also roped in their sister Ruth, a nice tidy family affair. The company started with the three Jowett’s having an equal share, the original capital was £90, Arthur bought Ruth’s share for £60
After the success of the original engine, they decided that cars were the way to go, rather than cycles. It would seem that at this time most cycle manufacturers were doing the same thing.
Production of a very basic light car was commenced in 1906, the brother’s theory being a light engine for a light car, so a little 816cc flat twin motor was mated to a very light chassis with a two seater body.
It goes almost without saying the car was modified in 1910, and either they could not be bothered or the original concept was so goods it lasted right through to 1954, unbelievable.
Apparently Jowetts appear in the Guiness Book of Records, for the longest produced engine of any sort from 1910 to 1953, some fin e achievement.
The brother’s did a programme of developments over the years, however the first world war interrupted production but in the same year as the war ended the engine was increased to 907cc, it was very reliable and frugal in its use of petrol.
Things were beginning to move by 1920 an electric starter and at the end of the decade a four seater tourer and this was followed by a saloon.
In 1926, take your mind back, a complete lack of roads as we know them, almost no servicing facilities for motor vehicles, the poor Africans probably had never seen or heard of a motor vehicle.
Well two 7hp Jowett’s, landed on the West Coast of Africa, I guess somewhere like the Ivory Coast and were driven to the Red Sea a total mileage of 3800 miles half of which was towing fuel for the car’s, it took 60 day’s to complete the journey.
Now isn’t that something to be proud of, if only the brother’s had been more pushy in later life.
All these vehicles were powered by the twin cylinder engine, however you cannot go on for ever, the public demand more, so the brothers developed a four cylinder version with increased power to 946cc.
You would not describe the Jowett as a fast vehicle, you would be stretching a point to say it was quick, given, you would be lucky to get to 50mph, it appears a waste of time thinking 0-60 times.
Along came our German friends in 1939, and all car production ceased for the duration. I can’t remember hearing of any serious bombing of Bradford, unlike Coventry, which was almost flattened , by the way was by now Bradford had become a city, so at least the brother’s did not lose everything like so many other manufacturer’s, though they did have a fire which apparently was a bit of a disaster.
Right, come 1947 a new wave was sweeping through the car industry as a whole, Jowett were not going to be left behind , well again it is interpretation which is important, a van was produced called ironically the Bradford, using a two cylinder engine of 1005cc, suspension eh, cart springs and cable brakes, the gearbox a three speed, described as an agricultural box, it had a turn of speed 53mph top. Now you might snigger at this attempt to bring modern technology to the fore, but no, it was totally reliable, tradesmen it loved, so much so 40 odd thousand were made, and this will wipe the smile from your face, they reckon a large proportion of them still exist.
It was a simple vehicle, an ash frame with alloy panels, no only that, it was also made with the ability to seat either six or four people, so it was in effect an early SUV.
As a classic the Bradford must go in to the top part of the list, it is not an exotic, just a dam fine example of British Engineering.
However, Jowett bros realised they needed a new saloon for the post war period, having read about the Bradford one would wonder what is coming next, well The Javelin actually designed by one Gerald Palmer, whose name has not cropped up before.
Gerald was later head hunted by MG, and ditched Jowett, served him right because when Leonard Lord took over MG and all the other makes him and Gerald rather fell out, Gerald was dismissed, however he did get another job with Vauxhall.
The design was aerodynamic, using the flat four engine, situated well forward of the main cabin area, which allowed up to six to travel in relative comfort. Rack and Pinion steering and torsion bar independent front suspension of advanced design, the notes seem to ignore what was used at the back end, leaf springs no doubt, and unitary construction.
It seems Jowett’s manufacturing capacity was insufficient to make bodies, so this was farmed out to Briggs in Doncaster, something tells me there was a tie up with Ford and Briggs, however we will come back to that later.
The Javelin was not a cheap car, the 1485cc engine was much faster than Jowett’s previous engine’s, 0-60 timing about 22secs and top speed of 83 mph, and one writer states it will cruise all day at 80mph, that should be taken with a pinch of salt, we had no motorways then, and the only place it could be achieved would be on a test facility, and that would be driver only, nevertheless it looks good.
One probably should not be surprised about Gerald, as the poor old Javelin was flawed, the rain affected it, blown cylinder head gaskets and broken crankshafts, added to which was poor manufacturing of the body.
One owner who did not wish to be identified said when it came to changing the spark plugs, it was much easier to take off the front wheels, than try to “Fiddle”.
It is hearsay, but most of these problems came about as the company was under capitalised and there was not the necessary finances available. But read on and there is a degree of nonsense with this opinion.
Naturally interest waned and sales slumped, Jowett sold only nearly 23 thousand and production came to a close in 1953.
Despite all of the foregoing the Javelin had a class win in the 1949 Monte Carlo Rally, and again in the Spa 24 hour and an outright win in the Tulip Rally of 1953, so it wasn’t all bad.
So was that the end, certainly not in 1950, a sports car had been produced “the Jupiter”, this was advanced engineering, but before you leap ahead the Jowett Brother’s were no longer in charge
Ben had retired in 1936 and William called it a day in 1940, now strange as it may seem neither Ruth the sister and Arthur V Lamb are mentioned again. We know Ruth sold out but what happened to Arthur, mystery of the week.
The company was sold to Charlie Clore who was a financial manipulator, he at one time owned so many of the famous shoe shops it was unbelievable, he held on for two years and then sold it to London Bankers, Lazard Brother’s, who would have put in place a management team.
Whilst the bodies for the Javelin were arriving fully completed except for the mechanicals the new Jupiter was built in house, the company had acquired the services of one Eberan von Eberhorst, no prizes for guessing from where he originated from, actually Auto Union.
So we now had a 1486cc overhead valve flat four, in this advanced body, which had a tubular semi space frame chassis, fitted with hydraulic brakes. Some chassis were supplied to outside coach builder’s to put their interpretation on.
But what is sad and ridiculous,is the Jupiter was a fantastic sports machine, it had a list of successes Class wins at Le Mans, outright win at Lisbon rally and even more wins at Le Mans.
However come 1954 the doors were closed and that was the end of Jowett Cars, as I said it was not because of bankruptcy, the factory site was sold to International Harvester, Briggs stopped producing Jowett bodies and the factory was taken over by Fisher Ludlow another body producer,alas, the Achilles heel of the British Motor Industry, BMC took it over.
It was said publicly that there was a problem obtaining bodies, so production slumped and no business can function on that basis.
One wonder’s why none of the big companies didn’t take Jowett under their corporate wing
There are Jowett owner’s clubs in the UK , Australia , New Zealand and the USA. And Denmark
Some famous owner’s, Peter Craven, well Peter was at one time the world speedway champion, john Surtees, the only man to switch from Motor-cycle racing to cars, successfully, Peter Ustinov the very large actor.
There is a Bradford Industrial Museum which has a collection of Jowett vehicles.
So if you are on holiday in the Lake district it is an easy run over the Peninnes to Bradford, or if you are in the Yorkshire Dales even easier, the country side around is breath taking and well worth the visit. If you like Steam trains there is some brilliant lines to explore.
Happy motoring, as always drive with care, Ted
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