Cargolex
50 years of the Jowett Jupiter (part 1)
It’s actually now been 65 years since Jowett’s Jupiter first hit the streets, but this photo depicts part of a birthday celebration for the car at LeMans. In 1950, just a few months after it’s debut, the unconventional Jupiter won its class (and finished 16th overall) at the grueling 24 hours of LeMans, won overall that year by a Talbot Lago T26.
Jowett was a relatively small British manufacturer which, before the war, had built relatively pedestrian machines. They were competent and dependable but not exciting. That all changed in 1947 with the introduction of the Jowett Javelin, a slick lightweight sedan with a sweet flat four up front. The sophisticated Javelin was, mechanically, light years ahead of most other British vehicles at the time and more modern than many Detroit cars. With plenty of power, durable mechanicals, and a low center of gravity and stiff unibody, Javelins were excellent rally cars and won their class at the Monte Carlo rally in 1949.
It wasn’t long before the company decided to build something a little sportier – and, teaming up with ERA, the Jupiter was born.
In post-WW2 Britain, automakers had to export cars for sale in ordered to be allocated the still-limited quantities of things like steel. Demand for cars was still weak in Britain and government policy favored exporting domestically-produced consumer goods and big-ticket items - which would then bring in currency to the economy. With British sports cars hot in the U.S., it was thought a sports car would be an export hit and help the company expand.
The Jupiter mated a spaceframe chassis with a lightweight aluminum body and the mechanical pieces of the Javelin, which produced arguably the most sophisticated British Sports car of the era short of the Jaguar XK120. The chassis design was done by Ebaran von Eberhost, formerly with Auto Union and then with race-car manufacturer ERA.
As good as the Jupiter was, it wasn’t easy to make, and just 825 (731 mk1s and 94 mk2s) were made. A further 75 chassis were made for coachbuilders, and there were many special bodies for these cars. In 1954, Jowett was working on a follow-up sports car with a cheaper fiberglass body, the R4, but around that time the bottom fell out at the company due to increased competition and the sale of its main body supplier to a competitor.
46 years later, these immaculate Jupiters gathered at LeMans to celebrate the car’s golden anniversary and its 1950 class win.
©2000 A. Kwanten.
50 years of the Jowett Jupiter (part 1)
It’s actually now been 65 years since Jowett’s Jupiter first hit the streets, but this photo depicts part of a birthday celebration for the car at LeMans. In 1950, just a few months after it’s debut, the unconventional Jupiter won its class (and finished 16th overall) at the grueling 24 hours of LeMans, won overall that year by a Talbot Lago T26.
Jowett was a relatively small British manufacturer which, before the war, had built relatively pedestrian machines. They were competent and dependable but not exciting. That all changed in 1947 with the introduction of the Jowett Javelin, a slick lightweight sedan with a sweet flat four up front. The sophisticated Javelin was, mechanically, light years ahead of most other British vehicles at the time and more modern than many Detroit cars. With plenty of power, durable mechanicals, and a low center of gravity and stiff unibody, Javelins were excellent rally cars and won their class at the Monte Carlo rally in 1949.
It wasn’t long before the company decided to build something a little sportier – and, teaming up with ERA, the Jupiter was born.
In post-WW2 Britain, automakers had to export cars for sale in ordered to be allocated the still-limited quantities of things like steel. Demand for cars was still weak in Britain and government policy favored exporting domestically-produced consumer goods and big-ticket items - which would then bring in currency to the economy. With British sports cars hot in the U.S., it was thought a sports car would be an export hit and help the company expand.
The Jupiter mated a spaceframe chassis with a lightweight aluminum body and the mechanical pieces of the Javelin, which produced arguably the most sophisticated British Sports car of the era short of the Jaguar XK120. The chassis design was done by Ebaran von Eberhost, formerly with Auto Union and then with race-car manufacturer ERA.
As good as the Jupiter was, it wasn’t easy to make, and just 825 (731 mk1s and 94 mk2s) were made. A further 75 chassis were made for coachbuilders, and there were many special bodies for these cars. In 1954, Jowett was working on a follow-up sports car with a cheaper fiberglass body, the R4, but around that time the bottom fell out at the company due to increased competition and the sale of its main body supplier to a competitor.
46 years later, these immaculate Jupiters gathered at LeMans to celebrate the car’s golden anniversary and its 1950 class win.
©2000 A. Kwanten.