Jowett was a British carmaker that was active between 1906 to 1954. Jowett was very fond of flat, horizontally-opposed engines, starting with flat twins and then around 1936 moving to flat-four engines, one of which the Jason had.
It’s an appealing little car, this namesake of mine. I’m fond of flat-fours as it is, so I’m happy one of those is thumping away under that hood, behind that rakishly-raked radiator grille there. I don’t think Jowetts of any type were ever very popular, but they do seem like appealing little cars, and I like that for a while after the war they continued with an alliterative naming convention, building cars called the Jupiter and Javelin. They also, in the 1930s, built a car called the Weasel, so it seems they knew how to have fun, too. Weasel fun. Cars with conventional human names aren’t common; I’ve written about some in the past, and maybe some future Cold Starts will have more. In the meantime, this one is mine, along with all my fellow Jasons. But not Jaysons. That’s just weird. (Announcer voice) You want power….you want luxury…get neither with the Torchinsky Turbo S, new for eighty-fiiiiiive.” I had never heard of Jowett, so this was a nice way to start the morning. When looking around for some more information, I found a nice photo to complement the cutaway drawing of the flat four in the Jupiter: https://historicvehicles.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/800px-Flat_Four_Jowett_Engine_from_a_Jowett_Jupiter-Tony-Hisgett.jpg The whole article is pretty interesting. https://historicvehicles.com.au/historic-car-brands/jowett/ I like this piece in particular: “In 1926, two Jowetts, named ‘Wait’ and ‘See’ crossed the centre of Africa, covering 3800 miles in 60 days. Jowett had accepted a challenge issued by Frank Gray, the former MP for Oxford, to build a car that was capable of crossing the ‘uncrossable’ heart of Africa, from the Atlantic coast to the Red Sea.” 63. Miles per hour? No miles per day. The Jayson spelling is weird enough, but there’s probably a Jeighson walking around somewhere. Pretty soon everyone will be strapping steamer trunks on to the back of their Jeighson La Torcia ‘n’ Ski for the drive to Aspen. Who was the last guy who bought a Jowett? Did he go into the last dealership, see the only car on the lot, and think to himself “Oh yeah. That’s the car for me! Parts availability? Service? All a mystery! Just part of the adventure! Where do I sign?!?” I could ponder this all day… Stop giving away my shopping secrets! Now everybody will want one! On the other hand every car I have owned except one was an Otto cycle. Have another kid named Diesel and you will have me covered. “Sorry boys, you’re not going to Weasel out of this one!” How does one become Hellenized? Can you also Hellenize Gentiles?
