Jowett was a manufacturer of light cars and light commercial vehicles in Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, England from 1906 to 1954.
Early history
Jowett was founded in 1901 by brothers Benjamin (1877–1963) and William (1880–1965) Jowett with Arthur V. Lamb. They started in the cycle business and went on to make V-twin engines for driving machinery. Some early engines found their way locally into other car makes as replacements. In 1904, they became the Jowett Motor Manufacturing Company based in Back Burlington Street, Bradford. Their first Jowett light car was produced in February 1906 but as their little workshop was fully occupied with general engineering activities, experiments with different engine configurations, and making the first six Scott motorbikes, it did not go into production until 1910, and then after more than of exhaustive trials.
thumb|Jowett Eight pre-war example
thumb|right|Jowett Seven Chummy short chassis tourer (1926)—Shuttleworth Collection
thumb|Jowett Seven Long Tourer 1929 example
thumb|Jowett Eight 2-cylinder 1937
thumb|Jowett Ten 4-cylinder 1937
Their intention was to provide a low weight vehicle at a low price and with low running costs. The prototype could be described as the United Kingdom's first real light car. Engine and gearbox were specifically designed for a light car and made largely of aluminium. Its low speed torque and gear ratios were ideally suited to the hills about Bradford and Yorkshire's terrain where poor roads provided little use for a high top speed or quick acceleration. Construction of the engine and the rest of the car was robust. Benjamin Jowett held that their light car class was suffering from engines either from cyclecars with sufficient power but subject to rapid deterioration because of inadequate bearing surfaces, or engines from larger cars too heavy for the rest of the car's structure leading to a different set of troubles. The Jowett engine was designed and built for a light car.
The production car "quickly became popular". The company was bought by property developer Charles Clore in 1945 and he sold it in 1947 to the bankers Lazard Brothers.
Post-war
When production restarted after the Second World War, the twin-cylinder engine was dropped from the range of new cars, but continued in 1005 cc form to the end of production in the commercial vehicles, now comprising a light lorry, the Bradford van, two versions of an estate car called the Utility, and chassis front-ends and kits for outside coachbuilders, many abroad. The new cars were a complete change from what had gone before with the streamlined Jowett Javelin designed by a team led by Gerald Palmer. This had such advanced features as a flat-four push-rod engine, independent front suspension with torsion bars front and rear, and unitary body construction. The car was good for and had excellent handling. In 1950 the Javelin was joined by the Jowett Jupiter sports car with a chassis designed by Eberan von Eberhorst who had worked for Auto Union. Javelins were designed for production levels never before attempted by Jowett. Javelin and Bradford body production was out-sourced to Briggs Motor Bodies, who built a new plant at Doncaster. Briggs supplied the bodies fully trimmed and ready to be applied to the mechanicals. The Jupiters were always built in-house at Idle. The new mechanicals had teething troubles, but Javelin bodies were still being mass-produced to the original schedule, leading to their being stockpiled. Export sales collapsed by 75 per cent in 1952 followed by sluggish domestic sales while the nation waited for the removal of a "temporarily" increased purchase tax, finally eased in April 1953, with disastrous long-term consequences for Jowett.
thumb|Jowett Javelin saloon in original (metallic) finish, 1949 example
thumb|Jowett Jupiter 2-seater sports
Poor business strategy and direction, and over-confidence, were the financially sound company's downfall and, even after the engine and gearbox problems were solved, the Idle plant was never able to build, nor – during 1952 – was the distribution network able to sell, the expected volume. Collapse of the arrangements for the supply of bodies led to suspension of Javelin production in 1953, together with the by now outdated Bradford, though tooling had been completed for new models. was later taken over by Blackburn in 1956, although spares for the postwar cars were kept available until 1963, when the remainder of the Jowett company was closed due to the rationalisation of the aircraft industry.
Crisis and closure
The purchase tax on new cars was reduced by 25 per cent on 15 April 1953 (from per cent to 50 per cent), which triggered a surge in demand for new cars on the UK market. In the resulting scramble for production facilities, Ford bought Briggs, whose new Doncaster plant built the unitary construction bodies and fully trimmed them for Jowett Javelin cars and Bradford vans. In April 1953, the Ford Motor Company Limited purchased from the US shareholders majority control of Briggs Motor Bodies Limited, whose main factory was adjacent to the Ford plant at Dagenham. Remaining minority shareholders were bought out, and Ford quickly acquired full ownership of the Briggs business. The Briggs factory at Doncaster was surplus to Ford's requirements and it was sold to Fisher and Ludlow. Fisher and Ludlow itself was quickly swallowed up by the newly created British Motor Corporation.
At the beginning of July, the Chairman of Jowett Cars Limited, A.F. Jopling, who at the time was also a senior employee with Blackburn Aircraft, informed Jowett shareholders at their Annual General Meeting that difficulties had arisen over the future supply of car bodies. Negotiations were proceeding, but an interruption in delivery of completed vehicles appeared likely to occur in the closing months of that year. He also reported that exports for 1952 were almost 75 per cent down on 1951. On the home market, during the six-month run-up to tax changes in April 1953, the anticipated success of an organised campaign for a reduction in purchase tax had sharply reduced previously buoyant UK new car demand. Home market sales in the last quarter of 1952 were only 15 per cent of the sales in the three preceding quarters. completed in September 1953. "It is now stated that since the company ceased manufacturing Javelin and Bradford vehicles it has not been found possible to keep the main factory operating at an economic level." However Jowett Cars Limited reported a (small) profit for the financial year.
At the 35th Annual General Meeting in August 1954, the chairman advised the profound regret of the board and all associated with the company, including the users of the some 65,000 vehicles which had been made since 1946, for their joint circumstances.
Ultimately shareholders received back rather more than the nominal value of their shares. That process was completed in mid-1955.
Jowett 1930s gallery
<gallery>
File:Jowett_Sports_1923_front.jpg|Jowett Sports 1923
File:Jowett_Sports_1923_rear.jpg|Rear of Jowett Sports
File:Jowett_7HP_1930_side.jpg|Jowett 7 hp 1930
File:Jowett_7HP_1930_front.jpg|Jowett 7 hp
File:Jowett Lorry 1930.jpg|Jowett lorry 1930
File:Jowett_Blackbird_1932_front.jpg|Jowett 7 hp Blackbird 1932
File:Jowett_Blackbird_1932_head.jpg|Jowett 7 hp Blackbird 1932
File:Jowett_Blackbird_1932_side.jpg|Jowett 7 hp Blackbird 1932
File:Jowett_Flying_Fox_1933_front.jpg|Jowett 7 hp Flying Fox 1933
File:Jowett_Flying_Fox_1933_rear.jpg|2 plus 2 Jowett 7 hp 1933
File:Jowett_Flying_Fox_1933_side.jpg|7 hp Flying Fox 2 plus 2 Jowett
File:Jowett_Weasel_1935_rear.jpg|Jowett 7 hp Weasel 1935
File:Jowett_Weasel_front.jpg|Jowett 7 hp Weasel 1935
File:Jowett_Weasel_1935_th.jpg|Jowett 7 hp Weasel 1935<br>by Bradford City Hall
File:Jowett_Eight_head.jpg|Jowett Eight