Jowett A Century of Memories by Noel Stokoe, Amberley Publishing, £15.99

In 1906, Bradford brothers Benjamin and William Jowett designed and built their first car.

Within four years they had started production of the Jowett, an ultra- economy light car, in their home town.

From Jowett Bradfords to Jupiters and Javelins, the list of reliable, long-lasting Jowetts is an illustrious one.

The company closed its Idle factory in 1954 but the Jowett name retains a loyal following. Famous Jowett owners have included Peter Ustinov, racing driver John Surtees and Martin Fry, lead singer of Eighties band ABC.

Noel Stokoe, from North Yorkshire, has owned Jowetts for the past two decades and has written several books on the company, its cars and their owners.

In this latest book he uses a selection of letters from owners and previously un-published images from the Jowett Car Club archives, bringing together a fascinating potted history of the car marque.

Delightful old photographs include a 1934 Jowett 7-hp saloon, pictured after its epic trip around Scotland in 1951; a poster advertising “The Little Engine with the Big Pull”; the Grimley family from Bradford on an early 1960s camping holiday with their Jowett Javelin and caravan; and three smiling women in overalls and neatly bobbed hair, starting up a late-1920s Jowett saloon.

One of them is the mother of Molly Laxton, of Otley, who was taken in the family Jowett to be weighed as a baby.

“My mother worked at the Grosvenor Garage and I have a picture of it with a car parked in front of the showroom with the registration number KY1 clearly visible. Also shown is a 7hp Jowett two-seater reduced from £150 to £139, and deferred payments being available, if required!” she says.

Other memories of pre-war Jowett owners include James Crafer’s recollections of his first car journey, aged seven. It was 1934 and the car, a Jowett Weasel four-seater open tourer, was owned by a First World War Tank Corps captain, who was a friend of his father’s.

“The Captain, having been blown up during the war, had lost his left leg and right arm. He had a cumbersome artificial leg but no artificial arm, the empty sleeve being tucked into his jacket pocket,” recalls James. “Yet he handled the old Jowett Weasel brilliantly. He even managed to light his pipe while driving, clamping a matchbox under his arm stump, his good knee jammed against the steering wheel.”

John Doran had a Jupiter in 1952 when he was living in Ghana, West Africa. He had the car overhauled by Jowetts in Idle then took it to Germany for his next Army posting.

“Finally, I sold the car in 1963 for £75 to a garage in London, as I no longer had anywhere to keep it,” he recalls.

“They were going to drive it off to the local scrap yard – what a pity. I bet it would have been worth a bomb now!”