My 1st car was 1953 Jowett Javelin KWX 188 in 1964 when I was 18. Paid £45 for it. Flat 4 cylinder 1500cc engine. Memories of the car include running trips to Skegness from our village near Lincoln for several mates, bench seats with column change meant 4 in front & 4 in back, 5 shillings each & petrol 4/6d a gallon, 3 gallons for round trip, = nice bit of pocket money for me. Drive up & down seafront, windows down, music loud, pile out into pub on corner. Think I overdid it with the regular heavy payload as eventually one evening on way back home from pub about 5 miles away, loud thud/bang, looked in mirror & could only see big smokescreen behind. Nursed it home with funny engine noise. Next day at work (apprentice draughtsman) in drawing office, my mentor, who had a Jowett Bradford van & was old school engineer, instructed me how to remove engine sump (quite easy job) & examine inside, nothing horrible obvious. Instructed to remove sparkplugs & use screwdriver to poke inside to check pistons, 1 piston on nearside bank appeared to be in same position even when I turned the engine with a spanner. Remove cyl. head & disconnect con rod, pull conrod & piston out towards crankshaft, top of piston stayed at top of cylinder. More info from mentor, he knew someone in Lincoln who had several Jowetts & lots of spares. Bought S/hand Con rod & piston + new set of rings & bearings. Fitted everything back together, couldnt find pliers. Took sump off again & lo missing pliers. Discontinued trips to Skegness.
I understood that Jowett company went bust & last cars produced in 1953, probably due to high new price, Javelin approx. £1000.
Happy days.