Jowett Jupiter Restoration
A view inside a Jowett Jupiter showing the tubular chassis. The Jupiter shared many mechanical components with the Javelin but the saloon did not have a completely separate chassis. When conceiving the Javelin, Jowetts had not planned for a sports car to follow but were rather cajoled into it by various motoring luminaries outside the company who were very taken with the Javelin's performance and reasoned a lighter car would be even more impressive. As it happened, Jowetts found themselves in the same boat as Rover and Triumph - to name but two - short of steel if they failed to export, but plenty of aluminium available to build a car hopefully attractive to foreign markets. Gerald Palmer, the clever designer of the Javelin had returned to MG so for a sports chassis design Jowetts were introduced to the impressively titled Professor Dr Dipl Ing Robert Eberan von Eberhorst. He had worked pre-war with Ferdinand Porsche on Auto Union racing cars. Funnily enough, he worked most on engine design, but we will gloss over that. Eberhorst's chassis design was pretty much standard good practice for the time. One requirement called for the use of special and expensive elliptical tubes, but Jowett initially ignored this small detail. When chassis torsion problems became apparent (typically the doors stuck shut) the chassis was strengthened in production by welding angle iron along the tube underside. Teutonic precision meets Yorkshire practicality.
Jowett Jupiter Restoration
A view inside a Jowett Jupiter showing the tubular chassis. The Jupiter shared many mechanical components with the Javelin but the saloon did not have a completely separate chassis. When conceiving the Javelin, Jowetts had not planned for a sports car to follow but were rather cajoled into it by various motoring luminaries outside the company who were very taken with the Javelin's performance and reasoned a lighter car would be even more impressive. As it happened, Jowetts found themselves in the same boat as Rover and Triumph - to name but two - short of steel if they failed to export, but plenty of aluminium available to build a car hopefully attractive to foreign markets. Gerald Palmer, the clever designer of the Javelin had returned to MG so for a sports chassis design Jowetts were introduced to the impressively titled Professor Dr Dipl Ing Robert Eberan von Eberhorst. He had worked pre-war with Ferdinand Porsche on Auto Union racing cars. Funnily enough, he worked most on engine design, but we will gloss over that. Eberhorst's chassis design was pretty much standard good practice for the time. One requirement called for the use of special and expensive elliptical tubes, but Jowett initially ignored this small detail. When chassis torsion problems became apparent (typically the doors stuck shut) the chassis was strengthened in production by welding angle iron along the tube underside. Teutonic precision meets Yorkshire practicality.