Home » A Car That Shares My Name: Cold Start

A Car That Shares My Name: Cold Start

Cs Jason1

For people of my advanced age, my name was fairly common, at least for a little while. I’m told it’s a name popular with Hellenized Greek Jews back in around 400 BCE, which is significantly older than I am, for example, and even predates another ancient Greek cultural touchstone, that poster of that blonde woman pretending to eat a gyro. The Greeks got my name from a mythological figure who traveled in a boat called the Argo looking for some golden wool, whatever the hell that would be, and died in a manner that feels uncomfortably plausible for me, when a part from his old decaying vehicle fell on his head. The name, of course, is Jason, and as far as I’m aware, only one car has ever borne it: the Jowett Jason.

Jowett was a British carmaker that was active between 1906 to 1954. Jowett was very fond of flat, horizontally-opposed engines, starting with flat twins and then around 1936 moving to flat-four engines, one of which the Jason had.

Cs Jason2

Vidframe Min Top
Vidframe Min Bottom

It’s an appealing little car, this namesake of mine. I’m fond of flat-fours as it is, so I’m happy one of those is thumping away under that hood, behind that rakishly-raked radiator grille there. I don’t think Jowetts of any type were ever very popular, but they do seem like appealing little cars, and I like that for a while after the war they continued with an alliterative naming convention, building cars called the Jupiter and Javelin. They also, in the 1930s, built a car called the Weasel, so it seems they knew how to have fun, too. Weasel fun.

Cars with conventional human names aren’t common; I’ve written about some in the past, and maybe some future Cold Starts will have more. In the meantime, this one is mine, along with all my fellow Jasons.

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But not Jaysons. That’s just weird.

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maribert
maribert
1 year ago

Mercedes is of course not just a car, but a whole brand that was named after a person, or so at least common wisdom tells us, namely Mercédès Jellinek. Why she had that name or why her name was spelled with diacritics is unknown (maybe “because French” even if she was Austrian), but in Spanish the word “mercedes” (no diacritics) is simply the plural of the word “merced” meaning “mercy”, and as the Spanish are fond of calling their girls “Mary of the “, there would be Spanish women being called “María de las Mercedes”, or just “Mercedes” for short. BTW it’s the same story with “Dolores”, for example.
In an interesting twist, IIRC our beloved Autopian author Mercedes named herself after the car brand, somewhat completing the cycle.

hugh crawford
hugh crawford
1 year ago

The Jupiter and Javelin I am familiar with , the Jason not so much.

On the other hand every car I have owned except one was an Otto cycle. Have another kid named Diesel and you will have me covered.

Sklooner
Sklooner
1 year ago

What about the taillights ? FT

Citrus
Citrus
1 year ago

Somehow the name of my favorite person and my least favorite person. Which can sometimes be awkward when talking to people familiar with both.

nlpnt
nlpnt
1 year ago

Most of the engineering seems to be worthy of the name, but oof, that sad little single off-the-shelf taillight.

Ranwhenparked
Ranwhenparked
1 year ago

My understanding is Jowett went out of business when BMC took over their body supplier, creating uncertainty over the future supply of body shells. Similar to what prompted Sir William Lyons into merging Jaguar with BMC over a decade later

DoctorNine
DoctorNine
1 year ago

Regarding the ‘Jason’ name thing. ‘Jason Incorporated’ is a small manufacturing conglomerate that makes the seats for Harley-Davidson motorcycles and some other stuff. There’s also ‘Jason Automotive Technologies’ which makes battery power distribution units for high voltage automotive EV designs. If you work on vehicles in Asia or South America, you probably have heard of a ‘Jason Company, LTD.’ in China that makes knock off suspension and steering parts for almost every vehicle known to man. Otherwise, I have no ‘Jason’ related Autopian stuff on my radar.

Mark Tucker
1 year ago

Oh yeah? Well, Lincoln made like EIGHT cars with my first name.

Man With A Reliable Jeep
Man With A Reliable Jeep
1 year ago
Reply to  Mark Tucker

Oh, damn. Shots fired. You sunk my Battleship.

andyindividual
andyindividual
1 year ago

Torpedoed

andyindividual
andyindividual
1 year ago
Reply to  Mark Tucker

I thought they made 48.

Mark Tucker
1 year ago
Reply to  andyindividual

We don’t talk about Weird Uncle Preston. (Just kidding, no relation that I’m aware of)

05LGT
05LGT
1 year ago
Reply to  Mark Tucker

We don’t talk about CBASS.

MorganGT
MorganGT
1 year ago
Reply to  Mark Tucker

Yeah, but I have an ENTIRE car company named after me!

Frank Wrench
Frank Wrench
1 year ago

A plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel

Canopysaurus
Canopysaurus
1 year ago

What did the cop say to the bank robbers as they jumped into their Jowett get-away car?

“Sorry boys, you’re not going to Weasel out of this one!”

TomMetcalf
TomMetcalf
1 year ago

“popular with Hellenized Greek Jews”

How does one become Hellenized? Can you also Hellenize Gentiles?

Dusty Kornphartz
Dusty Kornphartz
1 year ago
Reply to  TomMetcalf

I think they come pre-Hellenized don’t they?

TOSSABL
TOSSABL
1 year ago
Reply to  TomMetcalf

This is an important question.
I’m assuming it’s because ‘Alexanderized’ is a bit awkward and because ‘since the Greeks kicked your asses’ is just too much of a mouthful. Have we historians in the house?

Rollin Hand
Rollin Hand
1 year ago

And here I was thinking the car would be a Torchinsky.

(Announcer voice) You want power….you want luxury…get neither with the Torchinsky Turbo S, new for eighty-fiiiiiive.”

Old Busted Hotness
Old Busted Hotness
1 year ago
Reply to  Rollin Hand

You want power… you want luxury… you want style! Buy a Torchinsky Turbo S, and you’ll want them even more!

amberturnsignalsarebetter
amberturnsignalsarebetter
1 year ago

Maybe we could persuade a Chang-Li importer to slap some Torchinsky badges on them as they come out of their shipping boxes?

SquareTaillight2002
SquareTaillight2002
1 year ago

Now that would be ‘Fashion’!

Rusted_muffler_bearings
Rusted_muffler_bearings
1 year ago
Reply to  Rollin Hand

Yeah, but did you see how many taillights and turn signal indicators are on the Torchinsky SLE trim package?

mabus
mabus
1 year ago

Thirty years from now, once The Autopian becomes the only auto site to have survived into the 2050’s and our man Torch has long since retired to the shores of East Eola, Illinois, people will be nostalgic for what, by then, had become known as the THE JASONIAN ERA.

Crossroads
Crossroads
1 year ago
Reply to  mabus

But the Jasonian Era will have been followed by the Ottonian Era, so all will be good in Autopia.

A. Barth
A. Barth
1 year ago

Really good stuff, Torch!

I had never heard of Jowett, so this was a nice way to start the morning. When looking around for some more information, I found a nice photo to complement the cutaway drawing of the flat four in the Jupiter:comment image

The whole article is pretty interesting. https://historicvehicles.com.au/historic-car-brands/jowett/

I like this piece in particular:

“In 1926, two Jowetts, named ‘Wait’ and ‘See’ crossed the centre of Africa, covering 3800 miles in 60 days. Jowett had accepted a challenge issued by Frank Gray, the former MP for Oxford, to build a car that was capable of crossing the ‘uncrossable’ heart of Africa, from the Atlantic coast to the Red Sea.”

DWSmith
DWSmith
1 year ago
Reply to  A. Barth

What’s the speed limit?

63.

Miles per hour?

No miles per day.

interrobang
interrobang
1 year ago

My primary concern when deciding between a two- and four-cylinder engine is the proportion of individuality, so I am just elated that Jowett understands a discriminating driver like me.

Boulevard_Yachtsman
Boulevard_Yachtsman
1 year ago
Reply to  interrobang

It was a little disappointing to see the four advertised to have “as much” individuality as the two. Shouldn’t it have twice as much? Or at least “even more”? I know individuality can be tough to quantify, but “as much” doesn’t inspire a whole lot of confidence when twice as many pistons are involved.

flyingstitch
flyingstitch
1 year ago

I thought we were going to hear about an obscure Ferrari or L:ambo called La Torcia.

The Jayson spelling is weird enough, but there’s probably a Jeighson walking around somewhere.

TomMetcalf
TomMetcalf
1 year ago
Reply to  flyingstitch

‘Creative’ spellings have gotten out of hand. They seem to go hand in hand with the kind of folks that have a sign that says “Farmhouse” in their newly built home on a quarter acre lot on a cul-de-sac.

Lew Schiller
Lew Schiller
1 year ago
Reply to  TomMetcalf

Creative spellings that go hand in hand with creative pronunciation that they expect you to know just from reading said name on paper.

Ranwhenparked
Ranwhenparked
1 year ago
Reply to  TomMetcalf

And “Gather” stenciled in calligraphy on the living room wall

phuzz
phuzz
1 year ago
Reply to  TomMetcalf

I remember getting something signed by an author who had just got back from a signing tour in the US, he said he was happy to be back into the UK, because practically everyone uses a standard spelling for their name.

amberturnsignalsarebetter
amberturnsignalsarebetter
1 year ago
Reply to  flyingstitch

Have do you know about my new EV startup? We’re still in stealth mode, but thanks to an unlikely partnership with an elderly colonel who inherited a short-lived Motor Carriages business in the 1930s and an obscure Sicilian design house, my dream of bringing electric performance to the tragically under-served vintage alpine transportation segment is ‘ramping up for production’.

Pretty soon everyone will be strapping steamer trunks on to the back of their Jeighson La Torcia ‘n’ Ski for the drive to Aspen.

StillNotATony
StillNotATony
1 year ago

You guts ever wonder about the customer who bought the last new car built by a car manufacturer that went out of business? I’m not talking about something like Pontiac that went away, but the parent company is still around.

Who was the last guy who bought a Jowett? Did he go into the last dealership, see the only car on the lot, and think to himself “Oh yeah. That’s the car for me! Parts availability? Service? All a mystery! Just part of the adventure! Where do I sign?!?”

I could ponder this all day…

interrobang
interrobang
1 year ago
Reply to  StillNotATony

I think about this when a model that has been out of production for several years still shows up on new vehicle sales reports. Who are you, odd stranger, who has purchased a brand new 2019 Buick Lacrosse?

mdharrell
mdharrell
1 year ago
Reply to  StillNotATony

“Oh yeah. That’s the car for me! Parts availability? Service? All a mystery! Just part of the adventure! Where do I sign?!?”

Stop giving away my shopping secrets! Now everybody will want one!

Ranwhenparked
Ranwhenparked
1 year ago
Reply to  StillNotATony

Jowett stayed in business as an aircraft parts manufacturer and kept providing spare parts and support to their car models until 1963

CRX89
CRX89
1 year ago
Reply to  StillNotATony

Whoever bought the last Saab probably reads these, maybe they will chime in.

mdharrell
mdharrell
1 year ago
Reply to  CRX89

Count me out. It’s still too easy to get parts and service for the newer ones.

J. Turner Rockford
J. Turner Rockford
1 year ago

“What do you consider fun? Fun, weasel fun!”

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