THE JOWETT JUPITER
Apart entirely from its success in overseas markets, the Jowett Javelin, introduced by the old-established Yorkshire firm after the war, has won for itself a firm place in the esteem of discriminating motorists at home, and it is only natural that there should have been a strong demand from enthusiastic owners for something even faster and, if possible, suitable for competition use. This demand has been met by using a modified version of the Javelin engine and the suspension elements, in alliance with a chassis of completely new design in which rigidity has been the chief aim of the design staff. '
The engine is a horizontally opposed four-cylinder one with overhead valves, and has a c.apaci ty of 1,486 c. c. A total power of 62.5 brake-horse-power is given at 4,500 r.p.m., with a total car weight of 18.5 cwt., so that a performance above average is to be expected. For the sake of reliability a full-flow oil filter and an oil radiator are incorporated in the lubrication system.
The Jowett is unusual in having the engine carried in front of the radiator, a method which, with the horizontal placing of the engine permits the entire wheelbase to be used for passenger space if necessary. Accesslbility is also very good with this lay-out, particularly as the complete bonnet and front wing assembly hinges upwards around the scuttle. The engine of the model I tested had a compression ratio of 8:1, which while perfect on the best fuels, which are obtainable everywhere except this country, is a little high for our present-day fuels, and the average home buyer might be wise to have the alternative of a 7.6:1 ratio.
The chassis is built of welded tubing and forms a most rigid structure in all planes, without unnecessary weight. As the rear suspension is by transverse torsion bars there is no need for the basic framework to extend beyond the rear axle (weight can be saved in this way also) and the rear of the body, the fuel tank and the spare wheel are carried by a sub-frame which does not have to bear any of the usual chassis strains. The independent front suspension is also by torsion bars, and the suspension all around is controlled by Woodhead hydrualic telescopic dampers, so placed as to resist any tendency for the car to roll under severe cornering. Owing to the markedly forward mounting of the engine the passenger load. is poised half way between the axles, which, were the body lines slightly different, would give immense luggage space. The way in which the complete bonnet and front wing assembly swings upwards makes such tasks as periodic greasing very simple,
so that there is no excuse for neglect. While one might expect a central gear lever on a car of semi-sporting character, because of the need to 'seat three abreast the gear lever has been mounted on the steering column. Girling hydraulic brakes are used, with the very good lining area per ton of 145 square inches, which, in conjunction with the use of ventilated wheels, should ensure that even under arduous alpine conditions there will be no brakefade. Partially to allow full advantage to be taken of the low
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seating position permitted by the chassis design, a divided pro,... pellor shaft is used, in conjunction with a hypoid bevel rear axle.
The bodywork of the Jupiter is an example of the way in which the smaller specialist manufacturer is forced to accept a compromise somewhere between the demands of his export buyers and the vociferous minority who are primarily interested only in competition work. The body is to wide and wind-resistant for those interested only in competition driving, and too narrow for the extreme comfort:"'lover. It is not quite wide enough to accomodate three abreast in comfort, although three can be carried for not too long a trip without anyone suffering discomfort. Very slight modification of the body lines to take advantage of the full chassis width would make the car a real three-seater. While the
body is basically of sporting type, the use of a cabriolet-type hood and winding windows gives the benefits of a closed car.
Despite the sporting character of the car, there is nothing flimsy ,about the bodywork ,and the finish, both externally and internally is good. I was surprlsed to find, particularly as modified versions of the Jupiter have been raced successfully, that the pedal positions pr~vented one from using the foot brake and the accelerator together when changing down. Door pockets are provided and a lockable cubby-hole of sensible size .. The hand brake, fitted below the facia board, is rather awkward to reach, particularly if one is wearing a coat liable to become involved with the window-winder and the door handle.
Because of the high compression used in the engine and the easiness with which the gear-change operates, there is little need to worry about the low-speed capabilities of the engine, but I found when I began my test that the pulling power at low speeds was unusually good. Anyone unused to the Jowett might at first consider that the engine is slightly rough, but this is far from the truth. It is in fact one of the smoothest of its size, but an impression of roughness is created by the way in which the exhaust pipes are arranged--an arrangement dictated dictated on the original Javelin saloon by cost. This allows the exhaust to have anµneven beat, but only when the engine is accelerating against the collar; once the car has reached normal road speed it is smooth and silent. During my test the weather was at its worst--rain accompanied by gustywinds--but this helped to emphasize the outstanding road-holding qualities of the car.
The high timed speed was 87.8 m.p.h. On one run with slight assistance from a gradient a speed of over 91 m.p.h. was reached. This is a very high speed for a 1.S litre car, and in view of the conditions an excellent testimony to its safety and controlability. The great rigidity of the tubular chassis was also most noticable. On any car other than a steel saloon the bodywork is of little assistance in strengthening the car as a whole, and it was noticeable that there was no movement of the doors or flexing of the body at high speed over uneven surfaces. While the fashion on most cars nowadays is to have very soft suspension, the manufacturers of the Jupiter have chosen to damp the spring movement more
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firmly. This means that at very low speeds on city streets there is some loss of softness in the springing, but at high speeds, over whatever type of surface, the car handles with an accuracy and precision that cannot easily be achieved on a very softly sprung car. There is a complete lack of roll on corners, which, particularly on a car of this type, enables one to drive as fast as circumstances will allow, without at any time worrying the most nervous of passengers.
When weather permits the hood can be stowed away very neatly, and the side windows > can still be used to prevent draught, although even with them wound down the well shaped V-screen deflects almost all of the airstream away from the passengers. A disadvantage
of the screen's proportions is that it is not possible for the wipers to clear it where the halves join, and this creates rather a blind spot in the driver's line of vision on left-hand corners, or when one is overtaking other cars. Not only do the brakes give a very good stopping distance, but the pedal action is pleasantly light and progressive, without any of the rather common tendency for deadness which makes the sensitive use of brakes so difficult.
I repeatedly drove the car at excessive speeds through quite seriously flooded portions of the road, and on no occaision was there any sign of mis-firing. This point should be of interest to overseas buyers, particularly as, the car's sporting appearance, the ground clearance of 7.5 inches makes it very suitable for the worst road conditions. The fuel consumptio.n averaged during the total mileage of my test was fractionally over 26 m.p.g., and, in view of the heavy state of the roads and the high speeds consistently used, this is
a very creditable figure. The headlamps gave a very well spread beamr with a range sufficiently long to make 60 m.p.h. a pleasant cruising speed. The willingness of the engine is shown by the fact that more than once the speed was allowed to rise, on a lower gear, to higher than the recommended maximum, and even then the engine remained smooth. While I found certain shortcomings in the Jupiter-no car is perfect--certain of them may well be matters of taste, but the interesting fact is that the fascination of the car remains unimpaired by my criticisms. As the fastest production car in its capacity class, which is- at the same time economical to run and possesses road-holding and cornering capabil~ties that place it well ahead of the majority of cars, it is a very notable achievement.
By: J. Eason Gibson, Country Life December 7, 1951.
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Do you know that of the 274 regular production Jupiters known to have come to the United States and Canada 214 were left hand drive and 60 were right hand drive?
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Lake Tahoe Ralley
By: Hunter Hackney
The night before the rally John Orlando and I finished checking our Jupiter. The car was in perfect condition. Friday morning we arrived at the start at 6 A.M. sharp. No one wanted to go first so we lagged to see who would.
We started out with a 44 mph average over the Angelus Crest Hwy. and the Vincent turn-off to Hwy 6. Here was the first checkpoint, which was quite a surprise for all.
Now across the desert toward Mojave and onto Hwy 395. At 9 A.M. we were 120 miles out from the start, near Little Lake. By 10 A.M. we were about 8 miles from Lone Pine, where we stopped for gas.
Here we saw our first snow, high above us on the slopes. We headed for Bridgeport, 148 miles away, planning to loaf on in and stop for lunch. During this leg John worked on the maps, figuring when we should get to the next checkpoint. At 11 A.M. we were 115 miles from Bridgeport. At 12:05 we entered Inyo National Park. In 25 minutes we had Climbed from 6~000 ft. to 8,041 ft. then dropped down the other side through a nice canyon.
At 1 P.M. we started up another very steep grade. This was as twisty as any Monte Carlo run; the down side was very gentle with long sweeping curves. At 1:20 we arrived at Bridgeport, 328 miles from the start.
We left Bridgeport at 2:57, averaging 30 mph so as to get to the checkpoint at 3:31 as planned. This is where we said goodbye to good roads: from here on in all roads are either under repair or they should be. We turned left onto Hwy 108 at an average of 34 mph, started up a narrow hairpin road that could compare with any Alpin Trail. This was Sonora Pass., with a summit of 9,624 ft. and was the first real test of car and man: however, we rolled into Sonora on time, where there was a secret checkpoint.
We took an hour for dinner and then learned that there was a detour 'on Hwy 49. After we passed this detour we turned back to Hwy 4 and Al terville
From Alterville we headed for Tahoe at an average of 38 mph, at night.
At Arnold, 465 miles out of L.A. we stopped for gas, etc. From here on in we drove like mad. These roads climbed up one side .' of a mountain and down the other with all hairpin turns. We really drove to·maintain our average: however, .we rolled into the last checkpoint in good time, at 11:18 P.M. We all loved it.
[NOTE: Hackney was first in the rally and tied for second in the gymkhana which made him overall winner for the event]
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TEN YEARS JOWETTEERING
Actually I've only owned Jowetts for the last nine years but by the time that I've finished writing this I'm sure ten years or more will have passed.
It's hard to date my first exposure to Jowetts, but it was probably in the summer of 1969 when I began combing through my Father's collection of old Road & Track magazines. I was about to buy my first car and I'd caught the Sports Car bug from my Dad who amongst other interesting cars had owned a Bug-eye Sprite, Healy 100-6, and an early XK-E. Of course, the March 1953 issue was in the collection and I must have said to myself, "I've certainly never seen one of these before, probably very rare. I'll have to find one someday."
The search for my first sports car continued and one day while reviewing the ads in one of the local papers I came across an ad that read something like this: "For Sale, Jowett Jupiter, Jowett Javelin sedan and lots of spare parts". I nearly fainted, It was too good to be true. At the time I was working double shifts at an ungodly box-loading job "so I had my Father respond to the ad for me. He finally got a hold of the owner and was told, and I can almost quote, that the Jupiter had a frozen front end, but the Javelin was running, and that there were literally tons of parts. The asking price for the lot was $1500 which was way beyond my budget so with regret I didn't persue it any further. I eventually bought a 1960 Sunbeam Alpine and it was in this car that I had my first one on one encounter with a Jowett Jupiter.
After visiting Disneyland one day with my girlfriend Shannon, we decided to drive around the area for a while and see the sights. Near the corner of Commomwealth and Lemon in Fullerton I slammed on the brakes. I couldn't believe my eyes; it was a Jupiter in the flesh. The first I'd ever seen, and in good shape too. A nice bronze color, and apparantly all there. I left a note on~the car asking the owner to contact me if the car was for sale. He never did, so Jupiter thoughts were again put on the back burner. Time passed, the Alpine went the way of a lot of Alpines when I bought a Bug-eye. Other sports cars followed including an XK-120, and various Alfas until November 1975. A banner month.
I'd never forgotten about Jupiters. In fact I think I'd increased my knowledge of them by reading a copy of the Profile at Harry Morrow's Autobooks shop in town, and whenever the guys would get together for those automotive bull sessions and talk about the Ferraris and such that they would have loved to have owned, I'd always mention the lovely Jupiter that I'd seen years ago. My dream seemed just as far away as theirs until one Sunday when an
'- ad showed up in the Times that read : "For Sale, 1952 Jowett Jupiter Le Mans Winner" Later that week I made arrangements with a couple of friends to take a trip to Downey to see the Jupiter. We used to travel in packs when we went to look at cars. Just before leaving I noticed that there was an Alfa Sprint for sale in the same neck
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of the woods so we decided to see both of the cars that night. The Alfa was first as the freeway tooksus, and it was a beauty at a great price. Then it was off to see the Jupiter. We were a couple of hours late because of the Alfa, but after finding the place and locating the owner of the car I was finally regaled by the sight of my second Jupiter in the flesh, and by stories of this car having been the Le-Mans winner. The little research that I had done told me that this story was a crock even though the car did have twin fuel fillers. This Jupiter was in rough shape, and at the price I figured that I didn't want to have anything to do with it. Amongst other things the car had a Studebaker gearbox and its general state of disrepair turned me off. At that time I had no garage and heavy auto work was out of the question. I went home, phoned the owner of the Alfa and bought it the next day; thus missing another chance to own a Jowett.
A week or two later, Thanksgiving weekend to be exact, I was visiting my folks in Santa Paula (sixty miles north of Los Angeles) and as usual was perusing the Sunday Times automotive ads when I read this: "For sale, 1951 Jowett Jupiter, good condition". The 'phone number in the ad told me that the car was somewhere in Orange County and I wondered whether or not this could be the same bronze Jupiter that I had seen five years before. I phoned and my suspicions seemed confirmed when the owner told me that the car was indeed bronze. I asked if the car had sat at the corner of Commonwealth and Lemon, and the owner replied that he didn't know. I was hot, I just had to go see the car. Why did I have to be away from home when a rare ad like this showed Up? My sister had just bought a BMW 2002 and it seemed ripe for a fast ride, so I told the owner to hold the line a minute and asked my sis if she would mind going for a bit of a ride to see a Jowett Jupiter. I answered questions such as: A what? and How far? (about 250 miles round trip) with success and the four of us, Shannon, myself, my sister Terry and her boyfriend were on our way. We finally found the place, met the owner, and went down to the garage. There she was, the same Jupiter that I had seen years before. I poked around the car for
a bit and asked whether or not she ran. The owner said that she sure did and the car was started up. It was the first time I had heard a Jowett enginer and it sounded pretty good. We then went for a short test drive. I had finally driven a Jupiter. I told the owner that I was interested but Would like to think about it for a few days. I left a small deposit to hold the car for a few days and we headed back to Santa Paula. I made arrangements with the owner to see the Jupiter in the daylight, so the next weekend, after looking at a sailboat in
Long Beach with one of my car buddies we stopped by to have another look at the Jupiter. At this point I knew that I was going buy the car, but wanted some sort of moral support as the comments that' I'd heard after the previous visit had been of the "what a weird car, look where the engine is, what a crazy fan, and where will you ever find parts for it" sort. My friend was right one the button with his comment: "What a great car, and it's in as good a condition as the average bug-eye we see, and just think how much older and scarcer it is". That did it, I didn't even quibble much about the price, and told the owner that I'd take it if he Could arrange delivery one way or the other. He said OK and I left more deposit,
the balance to be paid upon delivery of the car. This was accomplished
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a few days later and I was finally the proud owner of a Jowett Jupiter.
I was scared to death and don't mind admitting it. Here I was, face to face with a totally different sort of beast. I walked around the car a few time, opened the bonnet, checked the oil and water; all OK there. I climbed in and looked about for a few minutes, checked to see if anything interesting had been left in the glove box, slipped the key into the lock and decided that for the maiden voyage I'd better go with the hood down. I finally accomplished this task and hopped back in, and turned the key. I heard the fuel pump working, took a deep breath and pushed the starter button. She kicked right over and there I was sitting in a running Jupiter of my own. Fortunately for me the previous owner had left a sketch of the shift pattern clipped to the dash, so without too much trouble, I found reverse and backed up the hill a little bit, found first gear all right and pointed myself toward the driveway, eased the clutch and wound down the long drive to the street. Into the street and: (lousy grinding noise, I couldn't find second gear. Only a horrible grinding noise. I tried it again and the same noise. No neutral even. The (lousy grinding word) car is stuck in first gear and no amount of wiggling the shifter around will fix it. I found a cul-de-sac and got the car back into the yard. Well, well, well, I said to myself, I guess that the doomsayers were right. I figured that every bit that was attached to the car was either broken or about to be. I guessed that the smart thing to do would be to find a parts car, and thought of the "Le Mans" Jupiter. I phoned the owner and found that his price had come down somewhat but but not nearly enough. I was at a loss with my poor broken Jupiter as my yard was basically a soft dirt hill and, of course, there was no garage, so I satisfied myself taking pictures of the car and researching as best I could the possibility of spare parts.
When I had purchased the car the previous owner had given me the name and number of a fellow in the Los Angeles area who supposedly could supply Jowett parts. I tried and tried to get a hold of this fellow but always had to leave my name .and number with an answering service. I wondered whether or not this was the same person that my father had talked to years before. Finally the owner of the parts returned my call and I was told that he did indeed have gearbox parts; that he had just about anything ,that a Jowett owner would ever need. Thanks for calling, he said, and that was that! I wasn't to hear anything more about these parts for quite a while,. but the owner of the "Le Mans" Jupiter called back with a much lower price. I counter-offered, found storage, arranged pickup and found myself the owner of two non-running Jupiters. This second Jupiter (E2/SAL/778) had come with a few extra bits that I carted up to my little house and spent some time cleaning and examining them; trying to figure out just what was what. The joys of bachellorhood:
a ki tchen full of Jowett bits. .. .
My research had found the addresses of The Jowett Car Club and George Mitchell. I wrote both; joined the JCC and spent hours and hours going over George's parts lists. Late in 1915 my father phoned and told me that there was an ad in Road & Track advertizing
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a Jupiter club in England. This, I thought, was too good to. be true. I wrote and joined the JOAC feeling much less alone than I had but a few weeks before. Edmund Nankivell replied to my letter and I must say that it was a tantalizing reply indeed as Edmund mentioned that my Jupiter (E 1/SA/2 0 6) had an interesting history. I had heard rumors When I purchased the car but didn't pay them much mind. Edmund's next letter half confirmed the rumers with the news that 206 was one of four Jupiters purchased by Red Skelton on a trip to. england. 206 in particular was purchased for the Hollywood writer Gene Fowler. Edmund also sent the addresses of a few Jupiter owners west of the rockies mentioning that I might like to get a hold of them and find out whether or not they still had their cars. I wonder if Edmund knew then that he had a live one on his hands? This eventually led to. the North American Jowett Register and lots of fun adventures some of which will be told
in further installments. (TO BE CONTINUED: NEXT TIME: I GET MARRIED, 206 GETS A GARAGE, I LEARN A LESSON, AND I GET 206 BACK ON THE ROAD--WELL, MAYBE!)
Ted Miller and E1 SAL 206
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JOWETT NOTES
A recent issue ef the English Men's magazine "Mayfair" I Vol. 20 Ne .. 7, to. be exact carries an article that should be of interest to all Jowett owners. Skip ever Alice I Jean I Suzi etc. if you can to page 62 and you will see some truly beautiful bodies •. Javelins, Jupiters and a Bradford all photographed in brilliant color to. accompany an article titled "Jowett Genius from Ben and Bill the Power-pot Men" In case you can net find the magazine in question locally I have a few extra fer cost plus postage, say: $4.50 while
they last. ---
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There is a new Jowett book avaiiable. By George GarSide, it is called: Jowett 1921-1953. It is a large soft-backed book of 112 pages· leaded with reprints of Jowett oriented articles from Automotive magazines of the period described in the title including Read Tests, and driving experiences interspersed with Jowett advertising from various periods. In particular I found the ads and articles en pre-war Jowetts especially interesting as there is certainly no. excess of such information ever here. Copies can be obtained directly from Mr. Garside at 19 Well Grove, Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England. Price: L.IO .50, post included.
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The Chrysler/Jowett connection. A Stateside Javelin Read test. Jupiter tuning notes.A Jowett Special. A Jowett record breaker. Notes on Javelin and Jupiter gearboxes. An address list. The North American Jowett Register. Your Jowett story, Your Parts wants, your questions, and your suggestions!
COMING ATTRACTIONS
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