Jane was built by Chris-Craft in Detroit, Michigan, and is an early example of mass manufacturing in the boat world. Chris-Craft used the same assembly line production technique first pioneered by Henry Ford with his Ford Model T car. Each wooden component on Jane is stamped with a particular number, which meant a boat such as this could be constructed quickly but still to a high quality. 

Jane was exhibited at the 1938 New York Motorboat Show, where it won Motorboat of the Year. It was then imported into the UK by Arthur Bray, who was the British agent for Chris-Craft. Bray was an early member of the Windermere Motorboat Racing Club and Chris-Craft boats were extremely popular on the lake from the 1930s onwards.  

The Boat Conservation Team carefully researched what the original paint and upholstery would have looked like using the fragments that remained on Jane. Where parts were missing, such as the flag staff, replicas were made using the original Chris-Craft patterns or comparisons with surviving motorboats from the same era.