Jowett Jupiter restored after decade-long project
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The 1952 Jowett Jupiter has been restored after a decade-long project by its dedicated owners, who have kept in touch with the original owner since learning of the car's restoration.
It can come as quite a shock when an old flame makes unexpected contact after over 50 years and especially when she was the love of your life. Exactly this has just happened and I have to say she is still absolutely beautiful and, dare I say it, even more stunning that when we were together all those years ago.
Now totally restored and rebuilt after a decade long restoration by her dedicated owners, my 1952 Jowett Jupiter has come out of the shadows and is ready to stun the world once more. Still bearing her original number plate and fully refreshed in a light blue finish, this rare classic will outlast most of us today I suspect.
I heard from the Jupiter Club some years ago that my old car was being restored and contact was made with the Jowett enthusiast husband and wife from Worcestershire. We have kept in touch since and I hope to visit one day next year. But I have been advised to be very cautious. More later!
This was my first road legal car and I had previously owned a Jowett Javelin in a car club plus my parents also once owned a Javelin so the brand was in the blood. I used it to commute to The City of London from Kingston Surrey each day when a student undertaking further education. Despite the traffic, the car never let me down and only sold it when I joined the motor trade full time. I cannot imagine such a journey today in any car let alone a classic.
Sadly Jowett struggled with body production outsourcing and reliability issues together with fierce competition from the newly formed BMC conglomerate headed by Lord Nuffield. The Javelin suffered sales shortfalls and the Jupiter could never carry the firm on its own so the business closed and the factory sold in the mid 1950’s. With similar styling to Jaguar’s XK120, these sportscars were innovative in the day featuring a 1.5 litre horizontally opposed flat four engine with keen performance. They achieved great competition success in the day. Values around £30,000-40,000.
A chum of mine happens to still own his 1934 Singer Le Mans from his university days and when I told him of my intended visit to see my old Jupiter, he cautioned me from actually touching it. Be careful Paul, he warned, she just might lick you back!