A J type on Brazils version of e-bay.

Fed up with the high prices of UK vans, check out this early (square side lights) van.

Do a "Top Gear" and drive it back to Blighty as a new years challenge.

Details are as follows.

Morris Furgão 1948
Otimo Furgão
Mecanica Original
Funcionando
Precisa de um banho de tinta
Peça Rara
Valor de 15 mil Reais

Thanks again to Mike Parry of the MO and 6/80 car club for this.

Further up-date on this vehicle, it has been pointed out this is the same van that was for sale in Montevedeo, Uruguay. (Montevedeo is about 800Km far from Rio Grande do Sul (the place where it is now). If you compare it to the pictures posted of it in September last year on this blog you will see it is the same van. This vehicle sold for $500US, It has moved across the border and according to the current advert it is in running order with all original mechanical items.
My local contact Diego Moreno Bravo, who is restoring a Morris Oxford is contacting the owner by e-mail to try to get the chassis number. In the original advert it was listed as a 1951 van, while it is currently being advertised as a 1948 vehicle. If this was true it would be the oldest known J in the world and the chassis number would be barely into double figures.
I will keep you posted.
This a 1980's picture of OBL432 outside the original (stars entrance) to Pinewood Film Studios. All general traffic had to use a side entrance, as Pinewood was a grand house (and still is) and has often been featured in period films. I will take the van back to the same location soon so you can see how it has changed. Thanks to D.E. for the picture. (sorry about the quality, the print has faded in the last thirty years).

We had a bit of snow, just a light dusting.

I have been using OBL432 all last week and most of this week to get to work and do my shopping. It handles rather well in the snow and ice, maybe the low gearing helps, moving off in first gear on tick-over speed, no wheel spinning and away we go.

I have been out with the grease gun twice these few weeks, it's a wise thing to do, to drive out the water in the king pins and handbrake cables.

A happy New Year to you all.

Some feedback and another new site.

I had a very nice e-mail today and I quote "Your website has been very useful to me during my restoration and I have enjoyed the latest news and information that you show.
Thank you very much".
It is rather nice to get some feedback on what I get up to. One of the things I always wanted to do was a full blown web site covering all aspects of the J. Blogger can be limiting in many way.
One thing I have just competed is a separate blog on windscreen rubber replacement. I would ask you to have a look at this blog and give me some more feedback. If it is a success I will do more of the same. Take a look at it here. windscreen-rubbers.

Of interest is the fact that this site in its present layout was started on the 20th December last year, we are coming up to our first years anniversary and have had a staggering 20475 visitors.
Of those I'm pleased to say 737 people have viewed/downloaded the on-line manuals the most popular is the windscreen rubber profile page!! Hence the above new blog!!
I'm rather busy at the moment so I may well break my promise to do at least one blog entry a week, so if this is the last one of 2009, Have a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year... I know I could do with it..
And as a fellow J owner always remembers " The only way is a J ".. Thanks G.S.

Probably the Best Beer Truck in the World!

Mike Parry of the 6-80 and MO club visited the Carlsberg J type in Denmark and kindly sent me a selection of pictures. You can see them here Carlsberg.

A rather nice J chassis number JL32694 dating from 1954.

As Mike states " A great day out- they even let me drive it- very interesting, being LHD but driving on the right hand side of the road- the accelerator pedal being in-between the brake and clutch pedals".

Below are some more www finds by the Great DG, thanks mate.

The last day of house clearance.

A rather frosty start to the day. Yes its being used again to cart stuff about.
The van started first press of the starter button. It took many minutes to scrape the windscreen both inside and out.

This is the view from the driver seat, thick frost on both sides of the glass.
It took along time to clear totally but as the van slowly thawed out I had the normal sensation of condensation dripping from the roof, the joys of an old vehicle use most days and not just kept for a couple of summer time rallies.
I have had contact from NZ, via this blog, they are looking for a J type to buy and use. They have sent me a couple of nice J type pictures of J's they have come across, which I will put at the top of this blog in the next couple of days.
If you know of a J for sale in NZ do let me pass on the details.

If you have a Corgi /Dinky GPO van in your collection this is the original van the model is based on.

This is an interesting J type van being the subject of the Corgi model of a Royal Mail J type. Dry stored since 1992, and now available for restoration. Very original, it still has the Pyrene fire extinguisher in place and all instruments are intact.The engine is removed and is not seized. Many spares including NOS brake master cylinder, two good headlights, two side doors, steering box, wheels, drivers seat and other bits and bobs. There is also a Royal Mail index card indicating its service. Obviously a trailer job, but I can help with this. If you wish to discuss it then please phone 01942 725868 daytime. Payment is cash on collection.Item number 220519431889.

The lastest goings on in J type world.

J types of Stoke Poges, were joined on Friday by the Head Quarters Branch from Birmingham. Made a change as it was only two weeks ago that roles were reversed and I visited Birmingham for the classic car show.Here is Mr Kevin Mitchell, the events organiser for the MO and 6/80 car club.

He kindly popped in to see me while at work to present me with an award for an article I wrote for their magazine about my adventures and mis-adventures with my J types.

As you know the side-valve J uses the same side-valve engine as some of their club cars. Indeed some J type owners are in this club as they offer a good spares parts service.
Another J type is for sale on e-bay, owned by Tony Mellor who has had it only a couple of years. It came from Cork and had the registration number ZR 3057. He has spent rather a lot on this vehicle, fully refurbished engine and gearbox, fully welded up with many new parts to be fitted. (A coincidence is that Tony also owned 5003 NX many many years ago).

It was only a few weeks ago he was looking for an enthusiast or a company to reassemble this kit of parts. All of a sudden he is emigrating , I know I would try to take my J with me if I ever thought of doing that! What will it fetch? I would guess about 6k, we shall see.
I have replaced my leaking near-side windscreen rubber in my J type, I have taken a full set of pictures at every stage and made a list all tools/materials used.

It will be a separate blog just like the picture albums and it will be "posted" in the next couple of days, just a couple more pictures to take if it ever stops raining..

A nice period shots.!!!

The above image and plenty more pictures of J types from the recent NEC show, check out the MO-6/80 car club site. Click here.

Another period photograph found by the great GD. while surfing the www.

They say imitation is a form of flattery.

ROD 525 lives on, a rather nice scale model of ROD is currently on e-bay.
Based on the Corgi version it has been very cleverly converted to a pick up.

Very nice model and with only one day to go, only one bid. Item number 320445972513

OBL 432 at the NEC.

Well by now OBL will be back at home after a week away in Birmingham. No problems going up apart from the driver needing a tea and a wee.
Return journey very interesting due to very gusty side winds down the motorway, apart from a fuel stop half way I got home in the light.

Many things are happening in the J type world, Here are a few.
The van below that was for sale in NZ has been snapped up and is as we speak on its way to Australia to join the new owners other classic vehicles.

As the new owner states and I quote

I have seen some of the documents on your site, they are great, a wonderful service.

I should blame you really, your site triggered the interest in the first place!

OK, when it arrives I will take some shots and video of the van.

So it's my fault, I'm very pleased to say!!! Another J type thats going to be used and enjoyed, excellent.

The chassis plate and sidevalve engine/gearbox are for sale for £350 on e-bay. The chassis plate dates from late 1952/53. Beware if your thinking of buying it, the DVLA do look out for items like this, to catch people out trying to claim false identities for their vehicle.

It also would appear that the guy who bought the "Bowie" van off of e-bay also bought the Colin Ellis wreck, so far he has spent over £6 thousand pounds and he still does not have all the bits to make a road worthy van. It is rumoured he has a third vehicle but he declined to give details.
The ice cream van below has been on e-bay a few times, trying to get work for it at events well its up for sale now with a bid of £6500 but it has yet to get to the reserve. In an e-mail I have been told of that the seller is looking for £12 thousand, must be money in ice creams.

A nice 1958 van for sale in NZ.

Van at Birdlings Flat for viewing.
new WOF on sale, new tyres
Excellent Billboard, wonderful running cond
P/Plates not included, Twin internal sliding front doors
will freight to all main centres via tollrail..please present all offers..
Reason for sale
cashflow problems otherwise it would have NEVER been up for sale!

Licensed to seat 5 but only has the original delivery single seat, 4 speed gearbox, Model: JBI ,

Year: 1958, Main colour: Green, Second colour: Black
Vehicle type: Passenger Car/Van, Body style: Light Van, CC rating: 1,320
Fuel type: Petrol, Gross vehicle mass: 1,999kg

Nice tow bar, could be very useful.
Nicely fitted indicator stalk, it looks in keeping with the van.
Side panels? Do they hide filled in windows?

Added seat? or maybe a cunning tool box? Are these squares filled in windows? Or as they are a bit skew, could they be some sort of stuck on sound deadening material?


Very clean and sound, you could start using this straight away, you might even win a prize at your first rally.

Another J type changes hands.

Yes another J type moves on. The history of this van is rather checkered, found by Colin Ellis in an orchard about 25 years ago. It was in a sorry state then and needed cross bracing and a large strap around the whole vehicle when it was first saved. The main reason it was saved was it was a rare G.P.O. version.

It has rested for the last 20 odd years, no work has been done on it for a very long time.

The engine was stripped down and left. It was in this state that Colin sold it earlier this year as he was getting rid of a life times collection of G.P.O. vehicles and related items.

It sold on e-bay for the staggering sum of £2300. Well over priced for a now very fragile vehicle. It has re-appeared for sale on e-bay just a couple of days ago. It sold again for £3000 !!!! and auction ended early.

When you consider what you will have to spend on this to get it back on the road this is a very high price to pay for a massive, costly project.

I have been asked what is my next job on my J type. A very good question, so many things need to be done, as very little has been to it recently. It is in need of a clutch and gearbox and a full service would not come amiss.

So having been asked a few times "how do you do?" I'm going to replace my leaking windscreen rubbers.

I have never had a problem doing these. I replaced all the rubbers on 3981 EV and ROD 525, so I will do them shortly on OBL432 and take lots of pictures to help others.

OBL432 pictured outside the house I have been slowly clearing. The remaining furniture in the house will be collected next Friday for auction/house clearance, what does not sell will be dumped, needs must, money urgently required. Down sizing big time.

Pathe film clips.

Police driver training, 1958 style. They tell us to drive correctly on empty roads in a Police Morris 6.Street shot.
Aerial view of a London square with a white J type on the far right.
Close up of that same J type.
Geoff Duke wins the 1958 "Red Rose Trophy", with a little help from his motor bike carrying J.
I mentioned yesterday the Pathe Film Clips, already G.D. has found another J, with a nice diagonal roof board for ROYAL ? Oddly the film title "A Village High Street" is dated 1940!!

Anybody else found any more?