J
Jaguar
The origins of Jaguar are linked with Blackpool and motorcycles. William Lyons and William Walmsley started making sidecars for motorcycles, calling their business the Swallow Sidecar Company. This then developed into building bespoke bodywork for cars on existing chassis, initially using the Austin 7 chassis.

Their work was seen by London car distributor Bertie Henly, who ordered 500 of the cars. As the business expanded, premises at Blackpool were no longer large enough. A move to Coventry resulted.

The company went on to build a complete car for itself, albeit powered by a re-worked Standard engine: the car was designated SSI.

A name was needed for the cars: Jaguar was the result. The early cars were given the designation SS until the time of the Second World War. In 1960 the company bought Daimler, then in 1966 was merged with BMC. In 1968 Jaguar became part of British Leyland. Later Jaguar was privatised, and then in the 1990s became part of Ford.

Models of Jaguars can be found fairly extensively, with the cult E Type appearing in many ranges.

JEP
Jouets en Paris started toy production in 1932, initially with tin plate products, including excellent cars. Later, in 1958, it produced a range of 1/43rd scale French family cars, with plastic bodies but die-cast baseplates.

Joal
A Spanish company which produces fine die-cast models of plant and construction equipment, plus a range of heavy commercial vehicles using Volvo cabs.

R. Joseph and Co Ltd
Makers of tin plate aircraft, including the 'Joey' aeroplane: none could be flown.

Joustra
Maker of tin plate toys, founded in 1935 in Strasbourg by Guillaume Marx, who was previously a director of Bing.

JRD
When CIJ gave up its special agreement with Citroën in 1935 to produce models of the marque, the dies were returned to Citroën. These were seen by M. Rabier who raised the capital to found a new company called JRD to once again produce the Citroën toys. These were to 1/30th scale, die-cast, but there was a 1/10th scale 11cv saloon produced.

Later the company moved to 1/43rd scale, using a 'plaster and flour' mixture, for models of such as Delahayes and Peugeot 402. Next came a series of tin plate Citroën light commercials in 1/20th scale.

In 1956 the company started production in mazak to 1/43rd scale, but this was short-lived and by 1963 had been taken over by CIJ. Still the emphasis was on Citroën, with versions of the 2CV van, plus cars such as the DS19, while other cars included Peugeot, Simca, Jaguar and Fiat.

In 1985 some of the original Citroën castings were again put into use: while the boxes matched those of the original JRD versions, the actual models are inscribed '85' on the baseplate.

 

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