Production numbers, dates and major modification data.

With thanks to the Morris Commercial club for this.

New J type van sills.

A pair of J type van sills have recently been made by MTR Restorations.
These have been made so the owner can fit them themselves.
These do look very good indeed, so these will help to get yet another J van out on the road where they all should be!

A suitable JB van upgrade?

A 16J engine, so it's a 1622cc from a commercial, more than lightly a J4.

Yes, a 1622 cc, with twin duplex timing chain and a proper oil seal on the timing chain cover, unlike the original felt type. Of course the sump is wrong, that's going to get bashed by the front axle, I hope it can be turned round. The original JB engine was approximately 50 BHP, the 1622 is about 60 bhp.

Upgrades?

There are lots of questions floating around the great random e-mail/ forum sites.
Engine upgrades, from side valve to OHV, if OHV what cc?
Plenty to choose from, here is part of a list of engines.

New kid on the block?

Some engine work was needed on this JB.

Look at the wear grooves on the rocker shaft, a high mileage, very poor quality oil used or lack of regular oil changes.

London 1960.

A snowdrop Police man halts the traffic.
A new idea to make Police officers more visible at dusk and during twilight hours. A white cloth cover for their helmets and cloth armbands.

OYF 421 (a GPO van) waits for the off before a J2 catches him up.

Do you watch Norwegian Television? We do...

A sort of Top Gear/5th Gear motoring series featuring old and new, race cars, custom vehicles.
Well, Kare Jorgen had his early Morris J type hospital transport van featured this week. One of 6 van delivered to this Norwegian island. Its now the only one left and now the island is connected by a bridge and causeway to save the hours ferry crossing. If you want to watch the whole programme click on this link.https://www.tv3play.no/programmer/garasjen/579275?autostart=true
There does not seem to be a way of skipping the adverts!!!!! 

A brief advert on e-bay.

For only a few hours, an advert for a Morris mini-bus appeared.
With a starting bid of only £450 but no sooner was it there the advert had gone, seems somebody made them an offer they could not refuse.

 Here it is a few years ago, sort of an ice cream van made into a 4 seater bus, slightly strange or what?
On another theme, we have made contact with a J van owner in Mexico City who's van used to be a local Butchers van.
The owner is slowly restoring it but a garage that was doing the body work has lost some of the parts including headlights and brackets, so if you think its hard getting J van bits, spare a thought for this guy.

Advertising material.

Some people like to collect advertising material on the good old J 10 cwt van, only much later was it called the "J type" maybe after the fact the chassis number starts with the letter J. There is plenty of J related items around but some are rarer than others.
For example there is one for sale on good old Flea-bay at the moment, well over priced, true its one of the first but not the rarest.
Also watch out, some are undated and some have at least two versions, if it has a number on it prefixed with the letter H, its for HOME issue and if it is prefixed with E, its for export use.
You can also collect Morris Commercial newspaper adverts or maybe adverts from body builders.
Here are a few of the many examples to collect.

Currently for sale on ebay USA at £19 is the above export booklet. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/351305918881?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fsch%2Fi.html%3F_from%3DR40%26ghostText%3D%26_sacat%3D0%26_nkw%3D351305918881%26_rdc%3D1