Kenlowe

Kenlowe was formed by Kenneth Lowe at Burchetts Green, near Maidenhead, Berkshire, to make electric cooling fans and systems; its own chronology claims that in 1955 it 'pioneered thermo electric engine cooling fans worldwide', a concept it says 85 per cent of cars now use, and the company described itself in 2015 as 'established for over 60 years'. Kenlowe Accessories and Company Limited was incorporated on 8 March 1961 and Grace's Guide records its advertisements from October 1962 through the Motor Show issues of 1966, 1970, 1972, 1973 and 1975.

The firm's list of 'automotive firsts' continues with a sealed cooling system and coolant expansion catch tank in 1958, a liquid-to-liquid oil cooler in 1966 (later widely adopted for automatic transmissions), a one-piece plastic fan with integral ring duct in 1970, an electronic contactless ignition system in 1974, a pump-assisted engine pre-heating system in 1986 and, in 1995, off-car engine pre-heaters used by Formula One and World Rally champions. Between 2000 and 2014 it updated its cooling range and bought Pacet Manufacturing Ltd. Kenlowe fans are developed in a wind tunnel and climate chamber and made to ISO 9001/TS16949 for cars, 4x4s, vans, trucks, buses and construction and agricultural vehicles.

For Land Rover owners the product was the Kenlowe thermostatic electric fan kit, replacing the engine-driven fan to free power and reduce noise while cutting in only when the radiator warmed; the kits are still listed for Series IIA and III by specialists such as Famous Four. A second company, Kenlowe Limited, was incorporated on 8 July 1982.

Both companies were placed in members' voluntary liquidation on 9 March 2016, renamed Lowepa Limited and Lowejo Limited in January 2017, and dissolved in April and July 2018. A new Kenlowe Limited, registered in October 2015 and renamed from Lowejo Limited in January 2017, is on the register as a dormant company at High Wycombe. The kenlowe.com website, headed 'Kenlowe Group of Companies, Maidenhead' and dated 2015, states that Kenlowe now supplies fans only to vehicle manufacturers and engineering companies and 'no longer make or supply thermo electric fan packages for retrofit on individual cars'. Whether any manufacturing continues could not be established.