CD Saloon

[isleofthanet]

Had Jowett produced the CD saloon it may have looked like this?

[Nick Webster]

My understanding is that Briggs had quite an input to the styling of the CD, leaving Jowett to concentrate on the mechanical side. I have always been stuck by the similarities in appearance between the CD and the Ford 100E, which appeared in 1953, clearly indicating work was probably proceeding with both at the same time. In a different world, even if the CD had made it to production, it would have lost out heavily to the clout behind the 100E.

Unfortunately, Jowett could not see themselves as anything other than a volume car maker (though I doubt they really knew what post war volumes really meant) and the R4 was not taken as seriously as it should have been, being a viable cheap niche market sportscar as an alternative to the recent larger engined cars such as Healey 100 and TR2.

Nick

[isleofthanet]

I wonder why you compare the CD saloon to the 100E, it was a much larger car with dimensions almost identical to the Mk 1 Consul.
The saloon was a one off, Briggs wanted more than double the cost of the van to produce it. So Jowett built it in the Experimental Dept with i assume the CD front end that they bought from Briggs Bodies, images of which are in the C.H.Wood collection. Also i think they used two rear quarter panels and built up the rest themselves.
I dont know why they chose to build it as a two door saloon because of its size it was unique.
It saw little service when it went to Howden Clough and was usually kept for special occasions only.
I think the van and probably the estate would have sold well but whether they would have made a profit, who knows?
Regards

[Nick Webster]

I think my comparison with the 100E stems from the general "3 block" design, particularly with the general proportions around the front end, plus of course, the two door feature. I had not quite appreciated that the car was as big as the Consul. Perhaps I had based my assumption on the fact that the van was to be powered by a flat twin and therefore must on the smaller side on weight grounds alone. I believe I have read somewhere that it was indeed judged to be underpowered. My observations from my previous post apply just as well... even if developed as a four door, it would not have done well as a rival to the Consul either.

Nick

[isleofthanet]

The images are just to show what a change of colour of the saloon and the CD pick up may have looked like if they had gone into production. Replies from others have been interesting, especially from New Zealand.
There is no way it would have been able to compete with the big boys such as Ford for example. The Consul was in production from January 1951 and i believe the list price was about £700.

Alan

[David Morris]

Hi All,

Jowett were never short of ideas, but what they lacked in the early 1950's was funding. The pot of cash they had probably accumulated from their hectic production during WW2 had dwindled away and they had sought capital from the banking sector, who showed little enthusiasm in supplying more when the Javelin ceased to be viable. They had spent a lot with Briggs on the development of the CD, which left them with very little working capital.

In my view, they might have stayed afloat if they had replaced the Bradford with a practical, low cost, commercial van, for which they knew had a ready, local and loyal market, and for export. What they had learnt from the Javelin was that they would never be able to compete with the 'big boys' on the volume car market. Best to leave that to Ford, Morris and Austin. The basic but profitable Bradford should have showed them where there was a reliable source of income. They had spent so much on developing the CD, but might have done better to have dropped any plans for a saloon, and just run out a basic commercial version.

Leaning on the remarkable competition success they had secured with the Jupiter, which I believe never made much of a profit, they might have done better to have concentrated with in-house production of the R4, on a limited scale, which had already attracted lots of advance orders at the 1954 Motor Show. It was a bright new initiative, which could have probably attracted both a new, younger, set of customers and also brought in new funding. I would have also ceased production of the Javelin and Jupiter, as both were now running at a loss.

To keep the experimental department in business, perhaps they should have expanded their development side, with more emphasis on their jobbing shop business? They showed great potential with the latter development work with Ferguson, and perhaps this could have been expanded? Jowett's were always basically a jobbing shop, always ready to do outside work, at which they did well.

Who would then be compared with Jowett's in the late 1950's? Perhaps Reliant, Healeys and Jenson? It was a time when youngsters ( as I was then! ) were getting enthusiastic over 'specials' using fibreglass bodies, often based on Ford Populars, which were about as basic as you could get, with a sidevalve engine and two transverse cart springs! Jowett's, with the R4, would have swept the board!

Probably downsizing and shedding some staff, along with moving to a smaller site would also have been useful, with enough space to continue making the R4 and doing Javelin/Jupiter maintenance/spares supply. Plus asking Meadows to recommence gearbox manufacture, realising too late that this was a skillset that Jowett's completely lacked! In contrast, Jowett's were expert at publicity and with R4's sweeping the competition field, orders would have flooded in! The R4 appeared four years before the Austin/Healey Sprite, emerging into an untapped and eager market, post-war.

Ah well, hindsight is a marvellous thing!

All the best for 2024,

David