Summary of the production history of the...
Jowett Jupiter Sports Car
Jowett Cars Ltd of Bradford, England, manufactured light cars and commercial vehicles from 1906
to 1954. Jowett Jupiter sports cars were built from 1950 to 1954 all of which were powered
by a Jowett-designed 1486cc flat four pushrod engine of 60-62BHP in standard form. Most
Jupiters constructed were the aluminium-bodied Mk1 (731) and the Mk1a (94). A further 75
fully equipped Jupiter rolling chassis were sold to specialist coachbuilders like Farina,
Gebruder Beutler, Ghia Suisse, Richard Mead, Abbott of Farnham, to name but five. The
Factory built three sports-racing R1-type Jupiters for the Le Mans 24-hour races of 1951
and 1952 to capitalise on the standard Jupiter's class win at that race in 1950. During
1953 three R4-type Jupiters were designed and built on a quite different chassis to take
Jowett into the mid fifties and beyond. Bodywork was to be in a plastic-resin laminate.
The Jupiter car did not disgrace itself in national and international competition - rallies and races - during its production life and beyond. Historic races, rallies and concours d'elegances continue to provide happy hunting grounds for Jowett Jupiters.
The
plastic laminate R4 Jupiter. Three were made of which the first had a steel
body.
The R4 Jupiter attracted a lot of attention at the 1953 London Motor Show where it was the cheapest 100mph car exhibited.
This Jupiter R4 still looks good today.
The Factory closed before it could be raced by the Works, but one example had three
good seasons 1954-1957 in private hands. It could generally lap the Silverstone Club
circuit faster than any 1500cc MGA.
Some coachbuilt Jupiters are pretty, others not so. Here are two successful designs:
Six
Richard Mead Jupiters were built.
Three survive in good order (one in new Zealand), a fourth has been neglected and
needs full restoration. This example was recently restored to a very high standard.
 |
The maroon example was Marcel Becquart's Monte Carlo Rally
entrant of 1952 and 1953. With it he achieved the highest place for any Jowett in the general classification of the Monte: fifth. For more on the Farina Jupiters click here. |
Canada's Bill Vance has this to say about the Jupiter car in North America
||Jupiter (cars!) photos||Jupiter Specification||Buy the Jupiter Book||Buy Crowood's Javelin/Jupiter Book||
||Magazine Page||Magazine Overflow||Main Index Page||Famous Jupiter Owners||
||Book List||Competition History||Production History||Jowett Genealogy||Farina Jupiters||
||Spares and Services||A handbuilt car||Jowett Clubs||Le Mans Jupitour 2000||Blois Jupitour 2003||Jupitour 2006||Jupitour 2007||
||Interesting Jupiter links||Quirky Jupiter photos||A Jupiter travels to Hyères||
||Guest Book||