A-Z Of Marques: Jowett

The marque: Yorkshire cars of unconventional ability.

The history: The Jowett family was making gas engines at the end of the 19th century when brothers Bill and William started to experiment with bicycles. They went on to produce the first Jowett cars.

These had flat-twin engines with horizontally-opposed cylinders, and the company never abandoned that layout.

By the 1920s, Jowett was one of the big players in the British motor industry. The design was becoming dated by the next decade, but it soldiered on to the early 1950s as the Jowett Bradford estate car and van.

By then, Jowett had a much more modern design: the Javelin. Launched in 1947, it had a flat-four engine and an aerodynamic body with a fastback tail. They were lively enough to do well in rallies, but the company struggled.

In 1953, Ford bought Briggs Motor Bodies which made the Javelin body. Starved of an affordable body supply, the company died in 1954.

Defining model: Javelin.

They say: We always speak as we find.

We say: But no one listened.