The Jowett Bradford : Jowett's Unsung Hero

A celebration of the Yorkshire-built Jowett Bradford range of light commercial vehicles built between 1946 and 1953.

The Jowett Bradford was rushed into production in 1946 as a stop-gap model pending the launch of the all-new Javelin saloon, which its young designer, Gerald Palmer, had been working on since 1942.

It was based on the 1938 8-hp commercial and was a pre-war design in every respect; however, it was very popular with farmers and small businesses such as bakers, greengrocers, fish mongers and drapers, etc., as it was economical, cheap, rugged and simple to work on. It was powered by a flat-twin horizontally opposed 1,005-cc engine, which was basically the same as the one fitted to the first prototype Jowett in 1906 with minor improvements. Compared to the new Javelin saloon and Jupiter sportscar, the powerplant was outdated.

The Bradford was expected to be dropped from the range in 1951, but this never happened and remained in production right up to the closure of the factory in 1954 when Jowett’s ceased trading. Ironically, it was the largest selling model that Jowett’s ever produced with almost 40,000 being built.