Not many massproduced post-war cars are seen as the product of one man’s genius. The original BMC Mini is certainly one outstanding example, as is the earlier Morris Minor, both fruits of Alec Issigonis’ fertile imagination. The Volkswagen which finally entered series production after WW2 as the Beetle is another, the brainchild of the great Ferdinand Porsche.
The Jowett Javelin doesn’t immediately spring to mind in this context, but it was the conception of Gerald Palmer and was no less revolutionary than the Beetle or the Mini when it entered production in 1947. Palmer had designed and built a sports car for the racing driver Joan Richmond in 1936 and drove it to the MG works, showing it to Cecil Kimber, the managing director. He arranged for Palmer to be interviewed by chief engineer Vic Oak, which led to a job in the Morris drawing office.
Meanwhile, Jowett had manufactured cars sincemanaging director Charles Reilly decided to plan for once peace returned. Gerald Palmer was persuaded to join Jowett as chief designer in 1942 at the remarkably young age of 30. He was attracted principally by the rare opportunity of the ‘clean-sheet’ design of an ultramodern and advanced car. That such a car could come from the staid, conservative Jowett company was improbable, but Reilly prevailed upon Palmer to go north and, despite the fact that the end of the war was not yet in sight, work began on the new model.
