Pictures of what I believe to be a prototype Jowett

[malcolmturner]

Hello,
Thought these pictures might be of interest.
This car was in the garage of a neighbour and was disposed of shortly after I took the pictures. I have no idea where it went. The Neighbour's husband had died, she was moving and had to clear the house.
She told me it was a Jowett and showed me the pictures of it complete.
Cheers
Malcolm
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25850933@N ... 670253794/

[ian Howell]

I am not a 'Jupiter' person, but this looks most interesting!

I bet there will be lots of comments once the news gets out!


Watch this space - and thanks for thinking of 'Us'.

[Drummond Black]

Its an R4 Jupiter. From reg no, could be one raced by Alf Thomas .

[The Bradford man]

Needs to be saved if we can find where it went

[The Bradford man]

Is that number 2 R4 that ment to have survived or is that the 3rd 1 that was suposed to be scrapped?

[Alastair Gregg]

Most interesting, Drummond is forced to be right in a way, all three R4's were owned by Alf Thomas, and either he or his brother Barry would have raced it, (Anna Neale raced R4/1)but obviously he only raced one at a time . The period pictures are of a car known to the club and known to be under restoration by an enthusiast, I don't believe he has passed on (there will be a large number of Jowetts looking for a new home if so), its chassis number was 100 (that's all as the original model was going to be called ,Jowett 100, because it was capable of 100 Mph). Please check the pictures of the body, if as it would appear to me, there is rust in the middle of some panels then it has to be "100" as this was the one made of steel, the others were cotton fibre. Chassis R4/1 is on the road and can be seen at Jowett meetings. R4/2 is the one that was severely wrapped around a lamp post/wall. It is supposed to have been a write off. If this is R4/2 and someone knows of its whereabouts the club needs to know. R4/1 has recently changed hands (in the last 12 months) and has moved from Hampshire. Is that the area we are discussing Malcolm? Sadly your profile does not say what part of the country you hail from. The car was passed from a very much alive man to its present owner, however it is possible the former owner may have passed on since then. The location could well be an important key. Please lighten our darkness Malcolm.

[Peter Holden]

The photos are indeed the metal R4 as opposed to the plastic copies. Last time I saw that car it was in the same place as the first picture and a lot of work had been done on the car although it remained outside and a lot of the hard work that had been done was deteriorating.
The gentleman died, quite a few years ago and the car is now in Yorkshire undergoing restoration.
Three cars were indeed raced by Alf Thomas as denoted in Ed's book and one was supposed to have been wrecked in a crash - the wear abouts of this car or its remains I've no idea.
The second plastic car is road worthy.
On an additional point - I was told by a motor trader in the Bristol area that there was a 4th R4 and it was in the Bristol area back in the 50s. having spoken to Ed about this claim it is believed that no such 4th R4 was ever produced but we are talking about a development car and peoples recollections can get distorted over time

[Alastair Gregg]

So we have now narrowed it down to chassis 100, which as Peter says should (I strongly believe it is) be in Yorkshire being restored. Unless a further metal bodied one was made. This is unlikely as the metal body was the mould for the cotton fibre bodies to be made on. That early on in production you wouldn't have more than one mould (also taking into account Jowetts financial situation at the time).

Motor traders who are not Jowett specialists often get their stories in a twist (when buying a new or second hand modern have you ever been told something that later turned out to be untrue??), the best we could hope for would be to get a definitive answer from either Ed who knows more than anyone on everything there is to do with the Jupiter or Phill Green who was in the development department at the time and is a current Jupiter owner.

[malcolmturner]

The car that I took pictures of was in a garage in Bayston Hill near Shrewsbury.
The lady still lives in the area and is still friends with my Mom & Dad.
I'll ask what became of it but I'm unsure when I'll be able to talk to her. As soon as I do, I promise to come back and say.
Regards
Malcolm

[malcolmturner]

A bit more history: when I took the pictures, the car was owned by the wife of the deceased George Bird. He had bought it over 40 years previously from someone in Scotland.
The car is now owned by a chap called Phil Edwards who I understand lives in Shropshire / Powys border.

[Forumadmin]

Visited George many years ago and looked at the car. Will try to see if I took any pictures. If I did they will be on VHS.

[Forumadmin]

Malcolm sent pics above, so stored in Jowett archive!