So it seems they moved in their latest years to the Javelin and Jupiter, so logic suggests they’d be producing at least a saloon and a roadster, perhaps a few other types cars (though British car manufacture has become a specialist area with companies focusing on a relatively narrow range)
Looking around me I saw a few cars that fitted the bill, and started with the Javelin. To try and find a 21st Century Javelin I’d expect something that handled well, could seat 5 people comfortably, with a sensible sized engine and styling that ignored what others had done before. Tough ask. Still, it can be more expensive than some of the other cars available, because the Javelin was, so price isn’t a big problem.
Candidate one: BMW 5 Series. It handles well, rear wheel drive, comfortable seating for 5, lots of technology that wasn’t fitted to other cars at the time of launch, but perhaps more luxurious against other more affordable cars than the Javelin was against its competition in the 50s. The looks are out though - it looks like every other luxury saloon on the market.
Candidate two: Subaru Legacy/Impreza. The horizontally opposed engine fits with Jowett engine philosophy, and the reliability and comfort is fairly obvious. But 4 wheel drive? I wonder whether Jowett would have gone this way with their cars – they were keen on cars that could handle everything that a Yorkshire winter could throw at them, so perhaps they’d have gone this route to get the handling and cornering ability. Again they look very ordinary, and are easily mistaken for a Mondeo or other similar saloons.
Candidate three: Chrysler PT Cruiser. The looks kind of fit – a bit of hotrod about it, the big front grille, but front wheel drive and questionable engineering quality perhaps isn’t quite up to what Jowett would have achieved, though perhaps the build quality does reflect the kind of problems Jowett had with gearboxes etc.
Thoughts? What else would Jowett have developed? Is there a modern equivalent for the Jupiter (an MX5 or Saab 93 perhaps?) or the Bradford and others?
It seems to me that they’d probably have tried to achieve Subaru engineering quality with the Chrysler’s unique looks, and perhaps with BMW finish, and probably would produce a car that is well above average in cost as a result – it would sell in limited numbers, but would be a distinctive, different car to see on the roads, and not beyond the reach of most affluent families but perhaps a luxury choice for most.
If Jowett were building cars now, what engine would be in them? What size would it be? Nearest comparable engine on the market today?
Jack.
I don't see a car that is a natural successor, that they would have designed and manufactured because it is a natural progression - any modern car seems to require a level of evolution beyond what we could try and predict over 60 years.
