Lancia Motor Club

Can any of the "longer serving members" amongst you comment on the merits of the "Jowett Javelin"

I've never driven one but have long been curious to what extent it compares with the Aprilia. Launched in the year the Aprilia ceased production, it is also a fairly interesting vehicle compared with the drudgery of many contemporaries.At least in terms of specification (1500cc/50bhp/independent suspension/no chassis) and a sporting pedigree it  merits some comparison.I always think it would be nice to see a group road test in a car magazine with the Aprilia and some competitors but this is the only other car I can think of that is a family saloon and is in the running.

Scarpia,

Longer serving or longer suffering? Who knows?

I don’t have any comparative tests between Aprilia and Jowett Javelin, and I agree it would be an interesting one. Torsion bar suspension and all.

What I do have is a Technical Topics article from ‘The Autocar’ of 22 November 1957, which is in effect a comparison between the specification and design of the 1936 Aprilia and the contemporary 1957 Wolseley 1500. The title of the article is ‘Changing relationships of wheelbase, weights and accommodation’. In every measured respect the Aprilia is superior. I’ll scan it in and send you a copy, and anyone else who is interested.

Colin

As it happens, Maltby had a Javelin as well as all the Lancias, but it was his wife's car, so I never had a ride in it, let alone a drive. He spoke highly of it, which is more than he did of. . . . I'll let you guess!
 Regards, John

In the insular England existing in the fifties, perhaps the Javelin was considered an Aprilia equivilent. Perhaps you could even describe Palmer's car as a prototype Imprezza. They had success on the Alpine rally and the Jupiter did well at Le-mans. Discuss. Promise not to edit.

In the early 60s I was able to compare my Aprilia with Javelins & Jupiters owned by a number of works friends.  Interesting though they were they did not have independent rear suspension but had a live back axle albeit a well located one.  It was considered advisable to have a later oval web crankshaft (fitted I believe to the Jupters) as the earlier crankshafts were a little fragile.

Peter

William, I can remember doing comparison test for Classic and Sportscar with Steve Henshall's Aprilia and a Javlin back in the early Ninetys. I did have a copy, but I think it was in the history file for my car, so went with the car  when I sold it. I will have a search to see if I still have it. Ade

Look forward to seeing it if you can find it.Was Steve's aprilia the one with a two tone paint job and a beige interior?

Delving back into the chaos that I laughingly call my ‘archive’, I stumble across an Autocar article from 1964 that comments on the relative merits of Aprilia and Jowett Javelin – guess which sounds better to me? I have scanned it in and will be happy to send it to anyone who wants it.

Colin

Sorry for the late reply William, Steve Henshall's car was two tone Lancia blue/cream with a navy leather interior, reg YSV 717 (I think)

what happened to the car, I seem to remember it featured in an article in a classic car magazine.?

 

The June 1991 issue of Supercar & Classics featured the Aprilia and Javelin.
The car now resides in Northern Ireland, owned by the father of an well-known former international rally navigator.
By the way, I recently purchased an "Aprilia CD" from eBay, though many of the articles are non-English, but apart from that the quality of the scanned images is excellent.
 
Tim F