Barn find - Bradford by Jowett

[Kevin H]

I went along with a friend at the weekend to investigate what he had been told was an 'an old car' in a shed/garage on a property he had bought (on Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia). The shed was incredibly overgrown with vine and what we initially thought was a door to the shed turned out to be the back of a wooden truck type cab with a small rear window. I suspect the vehicle had been some sort of small flat bed truck, there were no wheels and I could clearly see a rectangular box section chassis. We cut our way through the vines and got around the front to find a metal body with intact pod style headlights (I can't believe I didn't take any photos!) and above where there was once presumably a grille there was a chrome badge that said "Bradford by Jowett". There did not appear to be an engine.

I know Jowett made cars but I didn't know they made small trucks. Just wondering if anyone knows anything about these Bradford vehicles?

[potential]

Have a look on Wikipedia, they've some nice pictures and a bit of history. I know too that a lot of cars supplied CKD to Australia got 'Ute' bodies, even if they didn't have them in the home market. I think there was a tax break?

[Peter.Kent]

Indeed they did. There`s one up the road from me, together with a Jupiter
and a Javellin. P

[Nick Challacombe]

Hi,
Bradford was the name for Jowett Commercial vehicles.
The Trojan van was its most famous commercial and was used
by Brooke Bond Tea and was always Bright Red.
A friend of mine has one of the last Jowett prototype cars
made out of a type of paper Mache used before fibre glass.
It is called a Jowett R4 which has a "soft top" which
looks as if it was made from an army surplus tent.
It was exhibited at the 1953 motor show.
Three cars were produced , one in metal, one in aluminium and
my friends cardboard one! The only know survivor.
His first run it is was with me to the fabulous Lowerman
collection in Holland. Apart from the useless hood in
the pouring rain , it ran extremely well.
All Jowett's and Bradford's had flat four engines I think.

[Dale409]

Yes Jowett did indeed make trucks, in fact they were the mainstay of
their business in the inter war period. Mostly they were small 2
cylinder vehicles and were incredibly reliable - and slow. When I was
a child, many years ago our local butcher had one as his delivery van
- back in the days when butchers actually made home deliveries. Milk
was delivered in bottles with cardboard stoppers which the birds used
to love pecking away and drinking the cream on the top of the bottle,
at least that's what I told my mum. The baker delivered fresh bread
from a horse drawn cart, we kids again told mum that the birds pecked
the soft bread from the split centre of the loaf. She didn't believe
that one but the whack on the bum was worth it. The ice man delivered
a large block of ice to go in the ice chest every 2 days and the
'bottleo' used to drive his horse and cart up the back lane buying
empties once a week....

[penman]

Hi Kevin
Jowett vehicles were made in Bradford and they used that name for their commercials, much like Vauxhall used Bedford as a distinct name for commercials ( I believe they were made near Bedford, the town, as well)

Come and have a look at this site http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/ if you want more info about Jowetts you could always join in the forum where you will find enthusiasts for all sorts including Jowetts, or just email the Admin and he will post any questions you want to ask.

Nick::

Trojan was a separate company based in Croydon, Surrey http://www.trojanmuseumtrust.org/

[Ashley James]

Trojans came from a different company and were eccentric two-strokes
with a maximum speed of 30 mph! Somewhere Steady Barker has written
a hilarious attempt at the Land's End trial in one.
Ash

[johnelfixit]

Kevin,
Have a look at http://jowett.org/ and click on the link to the Jowett Car
Club of Australia. You will find a picture of three Jowett Bradford `utes`.
Antipodean members will be most interested in your find! Should have a flat
twin watercooled engine in the front, post war cars (Javelin, looks not
unlike a 401, and Jupiter, not unlike a Jag XK120, have watercooled flat
four engines). I have a couple of Jupiters, one standard and one with a
special body by Richard Mead, who also built the Rover Marauders and is
reputed to have bodied a Bristol, but I have yet to find any evidence of
this.
Jowetts ceased trading in the early `50s but an active club keeps them alive
and supplied with spares.

Regards

John P

[RGSchmitt]

Hi all -

When I met wife Shannon, she had a 50% restored Jupiter in her
garage, leftover from the ex. With tons of spares. It was all sold
finally. Ex has passed away, but her former brother in law is the
registrar for the Jowett club in the US. Yes, the Jupiter sort of
resembles the XK-120m but...

A wonderfully restored Jupiter is reportedly for sale at $50K,
probably much less than the resto costs, here in Southern California.

Bob

PS "Bad weather" forecast today: rain!

[Jeremy]

Not all Trojans had a maximum speed of 30 mph. In the 1950s and 1960s I worked as a mate delivering laundry for the Glennifer laundry in south London / Kent. They used mainly old Morris vans, but bought some Trojans, which were made in Croydon. These were apparently pretty unreliable, but they certainly went a lot faster than 30 mph, and I don't think that they were 2-strokes then. Trojan also made German designed bubble cars under license for a while. Oddly enough I also owned a Croydon made camera for a while - had a name like Agilux but nothing to do with Agfa. Both companies disappeared in the 60s I think.