The Jowett Jupiter is a British
sports car
A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...
which was produced by
Jowett Cars Ltd of
Idle
Idle generally refers to idleness, a lack of motion or energy.
Idle or ''idling'', may also refer to:
Technology
* Idle (engine), engine running without load
** Idle speed
* Idle (CPU), CPU non-utilisation or low-priority mode
** Synchronous ...
, near
Bradford.
Following the launch of the all new
Jowett Javelin[under the name Javelin Jupiter. (Javelin Jupiter. Spectacular Win at Le Mans. ''The Times'', Wednesday, 28 Jun 1950; pg. 3; Issue 51729)] and its successes in competition, Jowett decided to use its power train in a sports car for export in the hope of increasing their inadequate steel allocation.
The chassis only was displayed in October at the
London Motor Show
London Motor Show, formerly the London Motorfair, is a motor show in England. It was held biannually at Earls Court Exhibition Centre, from 1977 to 1999. When the event won the support of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders and P&O ...
which opened 28 September 1949 and the complete car for the first time in New York in April 1950.
["It has been known since last October when the E.R.A. Javelin chassis was exhibited at the Motor Show that Jowett Cars have been developing a new model designed to combine exceptional road performance with comfort and docility. Full details have now been announced. . . . first public view of the complete car is being reserved for the British Automobile and Motor Cycle Show to be held in New York in April. Meanwhile the chassis alone is to be exhibited at the Geneva Motor Show at the end of March. . . . the first complete cars will go to the United States . . ." (New Jowett Model. ''The Times'', Saturday, 25 Mar 1950; pg. 6; Issue 51649)] Again the chassis only was given its continental launch at the
Geneva Motor Show which opened 16 March 1950. Initially the car was known as the Jowett Javelin Jupiter however the Javelin part of the name was dropped in February 1951.
[ It continued in production until 1954.
]
Design features
Jowett through Lawrence Pomeroy of ''The Motor'' joined forces with ERA and they persuaded Eberan von Eberhorst
Robert Eberan von Eberhorst (23 October 1902 – 14 March 1982), later known as Robert Eberan-Eberhorst, was a noted Austrian engineer, who designed the Auto Union Type D Grand Prix motor racing car.
Early life
Born into Austrian nobility, the f ...
, formerly with Auto Union
Auto Union AG, was an amalgamation of four German automobile manufacturers, founded in 1932 and established in 1936 in Chemnitz, Saxony. It is the immediate predecessor of Audi as it is known today.
As well as acting as an umbrella firm fo ...
, to come to England. He joined ERA
An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth.
Comp ...
in Dunstable and, amongst other projected development and chassis work, designed and developed what became the Jupiter's tubular steel chassis.[ The suspension used soft torsion bars and anti-roll bars front and rear with independent suspension at the front. The engine was mounted very far forward ahead of the front axle line with the radiator low behind it over the gearbox. Adjustment of the anti-roll bars easily influenced oversteer and understeer to provide fine suspension tuning. On this torsionally stiff frame Reg Korner of Jowett put a steel framed aluminium drophead coupé body with a bench seat for three people. Eberan's chassis had been designed for a closed coupé and it proved to require strengthening. The anti-roll bars were abandoned. There was no external access to the boot (trunk) and the bonnet (hood) was rear hinged and opened complete with the wings. These cars were only for export, it was hoped coachbuilders would supply the local market.
An initial 75 chassis were supplied to external coachbuilders such as Stabilimenti Farina, Ghia Suisse, Abbott of Farnham and others in Britain. The high cost of these, mostly handsome, bodies for what was only a 1500 c.c. car obliged Jowett to build their own complete cars. The Jowett factory made 731 Mk1 and 94 Mk1a cars. The Mk 1a came out in late 1952 with a little more power (63 bhp) and an opening lid to a boot of larger capacity.
File:Jowett Jupiter with open bonnet.JPG, Jowett Jupiter with open bonnet
File:Jowett Jupiter (body by Richard Mead).JPG, Jowett Jupiter with body by coachbuilder Richard Mead of ]Dorridge
Dorridge is a large village in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in the West Midlands (county), England. Historically part of the historic counties of England, historic county of Warwickshire, the village is encompassed within the electoral wa ...
, Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...
. One of six built.
File:Jowett Jupiter 109 by Farina 1950-1951 (9220982504).jpg, Jowett Jupiter by Stabilimenti Farina
Powertrain
The flat four
A flat-four engine, also known as a horizontally opposed-four engine, is a four-cylinder piston engine with two banks of cylinders lying on opposite sides of a common crankshaft. The most common type of flat-four engine is the boxer-four engine, ...
overhead valve engine of 1486 cc was more highly tuned than in the Javelin and had its compression ratio raised from 7.2:1 to 8.0:1 developing at 4500 rpm giving the car a maximum speed of and a 0-50 mph time of 11.7 seconds.[ Two ]Zenith
The zenith (, ) is an imaginary point directly "above" a particular location, on the celestial sphere. "Above" means in the vertical direction ( plumb line) opposite to the gravity direction at that location ( nadir). The zenith is the "high ...
carburettors
A carburetor (also spelled carburettor) is a device used by an internal combustion engine to control and mix air and fuel entering the engine. The primary method of adding fuel to the intake air is through the venturi tube in the main meterin ...
were fitted. A four speed gearbox with column change was used.
Motor sport success
The Jupiter achieved competition success with a record-breaking class win at the 1950 Le Mans 24 Hour race
The 1950 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 18th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 24 and 25 June 1950. It was won by the French father-and-son pairing of Louis and Jean-Louis Rosier driving a privately entered Talbot-Lago.
Regulations
The revi ...
, a class one-two in the 1951 Monte Carlo International Rally
The Monte Carlo Rally or Rallye Monte-Carlo (officially ''Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo'') is a rallying event organised each year by the Automobile Club de Monaco. The rally now takes place along the French Riviera in Monaco and southeas ...
, an outright win in the 1951 Lisbon International Rally, and a class one-two in a gruelling four-hour sports car race on the public road at Dundrod Circuit
Dundrod Circuit is a motorsport street circuit used for the RAC Tourist Trophy for sports cars between 1950 and 1955 and for the motorcycle Ulster Grand Prix from 1953 onwards. It is situated near the village of Dundrod in Lisburn, Northe ...
in Northern Ireland in September 1951. This was a resurrection of the famous Ulster Tourist Trophy races of 1928-1936 previously run on the Ards circuit. Le Mans was again class-won in 1951 and 1952, and lesser events were taken in 1952 but by 1953 newer faster cars were proving a match for the Jupiter which was after all a well-appointed touring car first and foremost.
Performance and contemporary driving impressions
A car tested by the British magazine ''The Motor
''The Motor'' (later, just ''Motor'') was a British weekly car magazine
''Car'' is a British automotive enthusiast magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. International editions are published by Bauer Automotive in Republi ...
'' in 1950 had a top speed of and could accelerate from 0- in 18.0 seconds. A fuel consumption of was recorded. The test car cost £1086 including taxes. At this time a Jaguar XK120 cost £1263 including taxes when tested by the same magazine.
A road test by the competitor magazine, '' The Autocar'' recorded a top speed of 90 mph (145 km/h) but acceleration to for these testers took them to 20.4 seconds. The final drive ratio on the first publicly presented prototype of 4.1 to 1 was reduced to 4.56 to 1 and it is possible that the final drive on the tested cars was not the same. The Autocar testers were enthused by the car's performance, especially in view of the "well-known ... verve of the Javelin engine" and its "susceptiblity to power output increase". The Jupiter's compression ratio of 8:1 was nevertheless higher than on most UK market cars in 1950, and some mild "pinging
In spark ignition internal combustion engines, knocking (also knock, detonation, spark knock, pinging or pinking) occurs when combustion of some of the air/fuel mixture in the cylinder does not result from propagation of the flame front ignite ...
" was recorded using 72 octane fuel, which was the highest grade normally available in Britain at the time. Other features drawing particular praise included quick, light though highly geared steering and gear change linkage which was "unusually positive for a steering column layout".
Jupiter R1
A racing derivative of the Jupiter, the R1, was entered in the 1951 1500 cc sports car race at Watkins Glen, driven to first place by George Weaver. In the 1952 24 Hours of Le Mans
The 1952 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 20th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 14–15 June 1952 at Circuit de la Sarthe.
After 22 years away, Mercedes-Benz returned in triumph, scoring a 1–2 victory with their new gull-wing Mercedes-Ben ...
another example won its class at 13th overall, driven by Marcel Becquart and Gordon Wilkins. Three examples of the R1 were made - one survives.
Jupiter R4
The original Jupiter was a somewhat heavy car and this handicapped its performance. An intended successor, the R4, was made with fibreglass body and a new lighter chassis and showed the potential of being a genuine car but Jowett closed before the car could reach production. Three prototypes were made of which two survive.[
]
Popular Culture
* In Raymond Chandler's '' The Long Goodbye,'' Terry Lennox drives a Jowett Jupiter (described as "a rust-colored Jupiter-Jowett with a flimsy canvas rain top under which there was only just room for the two of us").
Note
References
Books
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*
*
*
External links
{{Commons category, Jowett Jupiter
Jowett Car Club Limited site
Jowett Jupiter site
Jowett North West Section
North American Jowett Register
:Special Jupiters
Jupiter by Stabilimenti Farina
Jupiter Farina other side
Jupiter R1
Jupiter R4
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandth t ...
Cars powered by boxer engines
Cars introduced in 1950
Convertibles
Sports cars