The Major’s Jupiter: A Look at the 1951 Jowett Jupiter

My wife made an offer on a house in New Zealand while vacationing there with her family a few years ago. She is a realtor, and not an impulsive person, so I did not object, especially after she mentioned that it had a four-car garage. I was a bit apprehensive on the flight over though, wondering what we were getting ourselves into.

A couple of hours after arrival, we were driving up a lush green hill, overlooking the ocean on a beautiful warm summer day—in January. The seasons are reversed here. We wound up and around and came to a park in which there were six or seven Jowett Javelins and Jupiters along with a couple of tiny Bradford trucks also built by Jowett. I asked the cabbie to stop, and walked over to a red 1951 Jupiter to get a closer look. I had only ever seen pictures of them.