Husthwaite Newsletter
Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2016 11:22 pm
Jowett Yorkshire’s own car maker
I was reading a 1927 'Autocar' magazine article (don't ask) and the fuzzy photograph at the top showed an old Jowett 7hp car going up what turned out to be Sutton Bank. One thing led to another and I discovered that this was Jowett's regular test run, whenever they had a new car or modification to try out. Winter or summer, day and night, cars set out from Idle near Bradford and went up and down as many vertical hills as they could cram into the eight hour run. Sutton Bank was the halfway point. And the same car did it three times a day! The Jowett brothers made cars from 1905 to 1954. The cars and vans were strong, very reliable, different from everybody else's and very Yorkshire. People now still remember the Javelin, much ahead of its time, and the very long-running Bradford van, with its distinctive two cylinder sound. Phill Green worked for Jowetts in its later days, as an engineer in the experimental department, developing the Javelin and Jupiter. He did many of the marathon test drives, stopping in Easingwold to unfreeze himself. He's coming to talk to us at the village hall on Saturday 2 May about his experiences with this unique car maker. He will bring his Jupiter (one of the last cars they made) and we hope that other owners of classic Jowetts will be coming too. With luck, before the afternoon talk, there will be a chance to look at a few of these wonderful old cars, talk to their owners and have tea and cakes in the hall. About the 1927 article; the writer was pleased that the car with its four passengers (and a very small engine) made it to the top. For the time, this was a serious achievement and, for years to come, helped the car to sell especially well in hilly Yorkshire.
Andrew Coulthard
I was reading a 1927 'Autocar' magazine article (don't ask) and the fuzzy photograph at the top showed an old Jowett 7hp car going up what turned out to be Sutton Bank. One thing led to another and I discovered that this was Jowett's regular test run, whenever they had a new car or modification to try out. Winter or summer, day and night, cars set out from Idle near Bradford and went up and down as many vertical hills as they could cram into the eight hour run. Sutton Bank was the halfway point. And the same car did it three times a day! The Jowett brothers made cars from 1905 to 1954. The cars and vans were strong, very reliable, different from everybody else's and very Yorkshire. People now still remember the Javelin, much ahead of its time, and the very long-running Bradford van, with its distinctive two cylinder sound. Phill Green worked for Jowetts in its later days, as an engineer in the experimental department, developing the Javelin and Jupiter. He did many of the marathon test drives, stopping in Easingwold to unfreeze himself. He's coming to talk to us at the village hall on Saturday 2 May about his experiences with this unique car maker. He will bring his Jupiter (one of the last cars they made) and we hope that other owners of classic Jowetts will be coming too. With luck, before the afternoon talk, there will be a chance to look at a few of these wonderful old cars, talk to their owners and have tea and cakes in the hall. About the 1927 article; the writer was pleased that the car with its four passengers (and a very small engine) made it to the top. For the time, this was a serious achievement and, for years to come, helped the car to sell especially well in hilly Yorkshire.
Andrew Coulthard