This film is one of many made about the Jowett Car Club by various individuals and organisations over several decades, going back to the early 1950s and covering each decade up to 1984. This film was made by Jowett car enthusiast and Club Officer Keith Wear, assisted by Colin and Ian Egglestone. The Jowett Car Club has built up a sizeable collection of films in an Archive of which Keith is the Film Librarian.  Keith can be seen in the opening sequence leaving the offices of the former Jowett...

This film is one of many made about the Jowett Car Club by various individuals and organisations over several decades, going back to the early 1950s and covering each decade up to 1984. This film was made by Jowett car enthusiast and Club Officer Keith Wear, assisted by Colin and Ian Egglestone. The Jowett Car Club has built up a sizeable collection of films in an Archive of which Keith is the Film Librarian.  Keith can be seen in the opening sequence leaving the offices of the former Jowett Cars Ltd factory in the Javelin at Idle, Bradford. This film of the National Jowett Rally of 29th May 1983 is representative of many of these films.  There is also a film from 1927 of a demonstration of Jowett vehicles as being suitable for military purposes because of their lightness and gripping qualities when driving through mud.  

The Jowett Car Club was formed in 1923 and has expanded to have members from all over the globe.  It is the oldest One Make car club in the world. As well as organising rallies and other events, it also produces a monthly magazine and provides advice on buying and restoring Jowetts.  Each year the club holds an international rally and these have been held in many different locations in the UK.  Bradford was chosen for the 1983 rally to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of the club, being the city in which brothers Ben and William Jowett designed their first car in 1906 and where production commenced in 1910, ceasing in 1953.

The display of Jowett vehicles and Concours took place at Saltaire near Bradford. This is a UNESCO designated World Heritage Site. In 1853, Sir Titus Salt founded an extensive worsted spinning and weaving mill with a model village providing good housing for his workers and facilities including a school, library, institute, church etc. Saltaire is a combination of the founder’s name and that of the adjacent river Aire. The mill is sited on the banks of the Leeds Liverpool canal on which much of the raw material and finished goods were transported.

The Centenary Rally was a significant event in the life of the Jowett Car Club.  Keith Wear, an owner of a Jowett Javelin built in 1952, decided to produce this film together with fellow experienced cine enthusiasts Colin and Ian Egglestone, members of the Bradford Cine Circle. They agreed upon an outline for the film, and Colin and Ian undertook the camera work.  Young Darren Smith assisted with sound recording at the event, and Ian edited the film with commentary by Keith.  Upon completion the Film was previewed at the City Hall in Bradford to the Lord Mayor’s civic party prior to being included in the programme of the Bradford Cine Circle members' open show to the public which took place over three evenings.

In the film, as Keith makes his way to the rally in the Javelin, he passes the unusually named Idle Working Men’s Club.  As might be expected with a name like that, many have sought to join up!  Among the Honorary members are Paul Gascoigne, Roger Moore and Uri Geller.   Coming from throughout the U.K. and from Switzerland and Holland many Jowetts are seen, on a slightly misty morning, on their routes to Saltaire and arriving at Salts Mill.  Saltaire United Reform Church provides the background for the display of Jowett ‘Bradford’ vans and light trucks and an excellent collection of vintage vehicles dating from the early 1900s.  The oldest car was from the 1910/13 period and unique in having tiller steering which preceded the steering wheel.

The company of Jowett was founded by the brothers William and Benjamin Jowett in 1901, when motoring was still in its infancy. It started with a water cooled V twin engine, and then in 1904 produced an air cooled engine with overhead valves, the first of its kind, using a spark plug for ignition.   They produced their first car in 1905/06, for which they designed their famous two cylinder horizontally opposed engine; although production was delayed because they were concentrating on the production of the Scott-Jowett motorbikes. It wasn’t until 1910 that a lightweight 6 cwt car was manufactured in large numbers.  In the 1920s they produced a 7hp vehicle that was regarded as the best of its kind on the road at that time, especially noted for going up hills – very important in West Yorkshire! They soon branched out making a variety of models: four-seaters, two-seaters, saloons, a sports and a light van. In 1926 one of their standard cars was the first to make a journey across the desert from Lagos on the Atlantic to Massawa on the Red Sea – 3,800 miles in less than two months.

On into the 1930s they produced a four cylinder car, and during the Second World War, as with the First World War and like many engineering companies, they switched production to munitions work, making parts for tanks and aircraft. After the war the company introduced a completely revolutionary car in both body style and technical design. The Javelin had a four cylinder horizontally- opposed engine and a gearbox controlled by a gear lever mounted on the steering column. This enabled provision of a front bench seat for three persons, usually two adults and a child. Although designed as a family saloon the Javelinwon the 1.5 litre class at the Monte Carlo Rally in 1949. This was followed by the 60 bhp of the Jupiter, which could get from 0 to 60 in 15 seconds, and a top speed of 95 mph – although only half the average acceleration of today’s cars, at the time this was high performance. In 1951 the Jupiter won a whole series of races in the 1.5 litre class, including the Monte Carlo Rally – where it was runner up as well – and it was the only car in its class to finish the Le Mans 24 hour Grand Prix Endurance. The Jupiter also won the 2 litre class of the Le Mans 24 hour race on 1950, 1951 and 1952. 

The 50th anniversary booklet produced by Jowett boasts that the factory employed the latest methods of assembly with the most modern machinery.  It is signed off by the managing Director, Arthur Jopling: “I have every confidence in our team, our products and our future.”  After 1951 Jowetts developed prototypes for a R4 Jupiter with a fibre glass body.  In 1950, Jowetts developed the prototype CD range incorporating a Four door saloon, Estate Car, Van and truck. The bodies were to be produced by Briggs Motor Bodies of Dagenham. These never went into production due to financial considerations and contractual difficulties. Ford Motor Company purchased Briggs.

In 1953 Jowetts developed a proposed update to the Jupiter in bringing out the R4 sports model. The body was manufactured in Fabric Reinforced Plastic. A car was displayed at the 1953 Motor Show though it never went beyond prototype stage before the company withdrew from vehicle production completely, continuing for a further ten years manufacturing spare parts for existing cars and vans.

So, with all this success, why did Jowett fold in 1954? It did in fact continue to manufacture spare parts for existing cars for another 10 years, but ceased to make new cars. The company was one of many that went under with the stiffer competition from Europe and Japan once the affects of the war began to wear off. Before the war Britain was in a strong position: in 1937 providing 15% of all world vehicle exports. It was in an equally strong position in the immediate post-war period when, in 1950, 75% of British car production and 60% of its commercial vehicle production was exported, accounting for just over half of all exported vehicles worldwide. However, by the mid-1950s the US car industry was catching up with domestic demand, and so exports to the States fell off dramatically. At that time the US were well in advance of British cars in terms of comfort – with power steering, radios, electronic windows: all the things that would appeal to those driving the long miles down the wide open roads.   In Europe too production was recovering, and Japanese industry really took off.

Vauxhall had already been taken over by General Motors in 1925, and these, together with Ford, accounted for 29% share of the British market. In response to this competition the British Motor Corporation was established in 1952, comprising Austin, Morris, MG, Riley and Wolseley, with a 40% share of the British market. From then on over the next few decades there was a whole series of takeovers and mergers.

The 1960s saw BMC acquiring Jaguar and then merging with Leyland – which acquired Triumph and Rover – to form British Leyland Motor Corporation in 1968, encouraged by the government, and especially Tony Benn as chairman of the Industrial Reorganization Committee. These remained the big British owned producers, alongside the big three US companies of Chrysler (UK), Ford, and Vauxhall (GM). Britain gradually slipped down the league table for manufacturing cars, from fourth in 1968 to sixth in 1974.  At present the motor cars that are built by UK owned companies are for very small specialised markets.

One explanation for the decline of the British motor industry during this period is briefly outlined by Susan Bowden in her review of Timothy Whisler’s book (see References). This is that the management of the British motor industry were so confident in “the innate superiority of the company's products”, that they “failed to read the signals of changing market conditions.” Bowden herself cites the long term detrimental affects of government influence in providing a cushion for British producers. Whatever the merits of this analysis (much simplified here), cars manufactured in the UK at present are regarded as being of a high standard. 

Most makes of car, and many models, now have their own classic car club. Many of these were formed after the Second World War, although the Veteran Car Club of Great Britain was formed as long ago as 1930. A Veteran car is any built before 1919 (this has changed slightly over the years), a Vintage between 1919 and 1930, those made during the 1930s are classed as aPost Vintage Thoroughbred, and a Classic those made after the Second World War but no longer in production, although where the cut off date is here is one of dispute – this has nothing much to do with the zero rate road tax for ‘Historic Vehicles’ which the Labour Government fixed as pre-1973.  In looking at the cars in this film, it isn’t hard to see why so many much prefer the look of the classic cars of the past to the blander look of cars of today.

(With special thanks to Keith Wear for contributing much of this context)

References

Susan Bowden, "Review of Timothy R. Whisler, The British Motor Industry, 1945-94; A Case Study in Industrial Decline." EH.Net Economic History Services

David Millward, British car industry – victim of its own success, Telegraph January 2009

Jowett Car Club

Jowett Jupiter Sports Car

Booklet on 50 years of Jowett Cars

Further Information

 Roy Church, The Rise and Decline of the British Motor Industry, Cambridge University Press, 1995.

James Ruppert, The British Car Industry: Our Part in Its Downfall, Foresight Publications, 2008

Timothy Whisler, The British Motor Industry, 1945-94; A Case Study in Industrial Decline, Oxford University Press, 1999.