This 1951 Jowett Jupiter is being offered by its owner of 10 years. Noted restorer Reg Gilbert bought the car as a basket case in 1975 and gave it a lengthy restoration in the 1980s that was documented in the Jowett club newsletter. The seller has rebuilt the brake system and replaced most of the gaskets — the work being done by Zakira’s Garage, a Cincinnati shop known for restoring historic Indy race cars. The car reportedly needs nothing and is regularly driven to concours events up to 250 miles away by its enthusiast owner. These were limited production, light weight sports cars that achieved real success in racing with class wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Jupiters used an aluminum body mounted on a semi space frame and featured torsion bar suspension and rack and pinion steering. The cars competed successfully at Le Mans, scoring class wins in 1950 and 1951 as well as a 1951 Lisbon Rally win. The restorer of this car lived in Canada, but the car ended up Florida before being purchased by the seller in 2005. Red over black is believed to be the original color scheme.



The banjo-spoke steering wheel, pleated leather upholstery, large round instruments, and wooden dash fascia are British car standbys and the windup windows made these cars viable daily drivers. Transmission is a column-shifted 4-speed manual. Restorer Reg Gilbert converted the car to lefthand drive and also changed the original hydraulic brakes to hydro mechanical. Parts for that system can be scarce, but a rebuildable master cylinder was located in Scotland for the rebuild done by the seller.

The 60-horsepower 1486cc flat four features twin Zenith carburetors and positive crankcase ventilation (a rarity at the time). The flat configuration helped give the car a low center of gravity. Road & Track reported a 0-60 time of 15 seconds and a top speed of 90 mph. The engine is said to weep a little oil, but not enough to leave oil spots on the garage floor.

The underside looks clean and solid with several lift shots viewable below. Just 899 Jupiters were built before production ended in 1954, but they retain a enthusiastic club following today. The Jowett club served as shuttle drivers at the Goodwood Revival a few years back when we visited that event, and we saw two red Jupiters just like this one on duty (we rode in a Javelin). They looked very cool in person.