Jowett Cars were built in Bradford, from 1906 to 1954. All pre-war cars up to 1935 were powered by a twin-cylinder horizontally opposed 7hp engine. In 1935 a new four-cylinder horizontally opposed engine was introduced with a 10hp rating running alongside the original twin-cylinder model which had been increased to an 8hp rating. Little changed during this pre-war period, many of the models were made in very small numbers, and sadly, there are no survivors today. The Jowett brothers experimented in the mid-1930's with a new in-line power unit which did not go into production. The post-war period saw massive changes in the Jowett company, with both Jowett brothers retiring by the end of the war. The first all-new model was the Javelin saloon, launched in 1947 and the Jupiter sportscar in 1950. By 1951 there should have led to a completely new range of cars, vans, pick-up and estate cars, known as the Bradford CD range. There were plans for a racing Jupiter known as the R1 and to re-vamp the Jupiter for road use known as the R4. Sadly, none of these models materialised and Jowett's history could have been so different had fate been kinder to them.

Brothers William and Ben Jowett, of Bradford, Yorkshire, built their first car in 1906 and tested it for four years before going into car production in 1910. By the time the factory switched to First World War munitions work, in 1916, forty-eight cars had been built. They resumed car production in 1920, and sales went from strength to strength. The 1930s proved to be a much more difficult time for Jowett, as a devastating fire in 1930 destroyed the factory and almost their entire stock of new cars. The brothers then had to decide whether or not they should rebuild the factory and start car manufacturing again-luckily, they did, as many interesting models were produced during this decade. From the first car in 1906, all cars the Jowetts produced were powered by the famous flat-twin engine known as 'the little engine with the big pull' that was used in all cars and light commercial vehicles. In 1935, the range was expanded to include a four-cylinder horizontally opposed engine, and they used these two engines in various models until the Second World War.