Jowett Javelin

The Jowett Javelin was an award-winning British car that was produced from 1947 to 1953 by Jowett Cars Ltd of Idle, near Bradford. The model went through five variants labelled PA to PE, each having a standard and "de luxe" option.

The car was designed by Gerald Palmer during World War 2 and was intended to be a major leap forward following the relatively staid designs of pre-war Jowetts. The flat four overhead valve engine of 1486 cc with a compression ratio of 7.2:1 was water-cooled and had an aluminum block and wet cylinder liners.

It developed 50 bhp (37 kW) at 4100 rpm (52.5 bhp in the case of the PE) giving the car a maximum speed of 77 mph (124 km/h) and a 0-50 mph (80 km/h) time of 13.4 seconds. Two Zenith carburetors were fitted and PA and PB versions had hydraulic tappets. Unusually, the radiator was positioned behind the engine.

A four speed gearbox with column change was used. Early cars had gearboxes made by the Henry Meadows company, whilst the remainder of the cars had gearboxes made by Jowett themselves. The decision to make the gearboxes in house proved to be a costly mistake for Jowett.

Design features included aerodynamic styling with the headlights faired into the wings and, for the time, a steeply sloped, curved windscreen. The body was of pressed steel, incorporating a box-section chassis and was made for Jowett by Briggs Motor Bodies in their Doncaster factory. The suspension used torsion-bars on all wheels (independent at the front) and internal gear-and-pinion steering.

PA and PB models had mixed Girling hydraulic brakes at the front and mechanical braking at the rear. Later versions were fully hydraulic.The car had a wheelbase of 102 inches (2,600 mm) and a track of 51 inches (1,300 mm). Overall the car was 14 feet (4.3 m) long, 5 feet (1.5 m) wide and weighed about 1 (Imperial) ton (depending on model and year). Suspension was by torsion bars all round, with independent springing at the front. The car was expensive costing GB£819 at launch.

A de-luxe saloon version tested by The Motor magazine in 1953 had a top speed of 82.4 mph (132.6 km/h) and could accelerate from 0-60 mph (97 km/h) in 20.9 seconds. A fuel consumption of 29.1 miles per imperial gallon (9.71 liters per 100 km; 24.2 mpg-US) was recorded. The test car cost £1207 including taxes. Just over 23,000 units were produced over a 6 year production run.