Another Australian J for sale.

Another early van has emerged out of the undergrowth, looks like the Dravleys Dry Cleaners van need some TLC. I do hope this very early (square side lamp) J type van is saved.
It on e-bay Australia http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/morris-commercial-rat-rod-/170931946515?pt=AU and it is up to $300 dollars, very cheap. Its well worth saving.

An up date on the green Morris JB van at the top of the page.
Its a 1959 model and according to the DVLA,

Seems it is still recorded as being in its old colour of grey and has not been taxed since 1990, I wonder if we can solve this little mystery.

Spending money.

I have been out spending money, very easy to do even when your feeling a bit short.
I have up-graded the storage site (on this blog) where the down-loadable manuals are stored, this will mean bigger files can be stored and the downloading speed should improve.
Please feel free to download and print out any of the documents there.
I have also been buying various J type spares, you never know when these parts will come in handy.
Also if anyone is interested in doing the rear axle ratio swap I have purchased another good second hand crown wheel and pinion, its a 4.55 to 1 to replace your 5.625 to 1, complete with all roller bearings and thrust bearings.
If you want to know how to replace the differential parts check out this blog post http://ratioswap.blogspot.co.uk/.

Purchase Tax in 1950.

Another snippet from a commercial vehicle magazine tells me that purchase tax went up in July 1950, this forced Morris motors to increase the price of the 10 CWT van (J type) up to the staggering price of £72 19s 5d.
If they were that price now, how many would you buy?

Commercial Motor Mag 7th March 1952.

The ice-cream dispensing vehicle has been converted from a MorrisCommercial J-type van, the original roof being replaced by one of' hand-beaten aluminium. Coachbuilt doors replace the original sliding doors, and the whole Of the body sides above the waist rail are fitted with 'sliding windows.

Interior fittings -include two aluminium lockers, one on each side of the body, and aluminium counters. 

A Stuart Turner electrically driven water pump and a Perspex sink are fitted to the off-side locker, whilst two jellymould roof lamps provide interior lighting. A Flettner ventilator is fitted in the roof.

A high degree of manoeuvrability is a useful asset to an ice-cream dispensing vehicle, and this feature the J-type van possesses to a greater degree than many other types.

Another mention of the the JB van, this time 23rd September 1960,

TODAY'S announcement of a new range of Austin and Morris I0-12-cwt. forward-control vans sounds the death knell of a vehicle that pioneered the many small forward control vans built by many European countries. This was the Morris-Commercial J type, later known as the Morris JB. The J type was introduced at the 1948 Earls Court Show, and was revolutionary in being the first 1/4 -ton van not to be derived directly from a private car and bearing no resemblance to a car.

It has remained popular to the end, the G.P.O. alone having several thousand in service. With its large body capacity, neat lines and good manoeuvrability, the J type was a winner from the start. The only major change it suffered was the replacement of the original Morris Oxford side-valve engine by a more modern overhead-valve unit. In its development stages, however, the prototype once had a flat horizontally opposed engine, designed for a car and then dropped. One example was also built as a battery-electric milk float.

The latest on Bugly the van in Australia.

Bugly has changed hands but Im glad to say his new owners are keeping us all updated with its current restoration.
I understand they are up against a tight time table.
I cannot say who the new owners are but I will say Chocolate and have a look at the colour of the wheels, that should give you a clue.

The GPO rally 15th September.

A good turn out of vehicles but few people.
Here are a selection of pictures of the J type mail vans that were there and also the Telephone van within the cramped museum.
Enjoy.

Part 3 of the co-editors story.

Pt3

Oh heck,

Where do I start with this one? This epic was originally penned on 12^th Dec 2006, I edited it somewhat and changed it to past tense as it was written at the time, in the present. So, on with the show!

At the beginning of July 2006 I decided to start accumulating tools parts and materials in order to carry out the restoration of my Morris Six YSJ 342 during the winter. I had taken out a €5,000 loan in September 2004 in order to buy the car and by July 2006 had just two payments to go so I decided it wouldn’t hurt to see if the bank would either extend the loan I already had, or maybe give me another.

No problem. €8,000 (around £5,000) was mine at the touch of a computer key and no re-payments due until Feb 2007. Good terms, great stuff! I bought a mig-welder, a new compressor and spray gun (I often spray finish the guitars that I make and my old stuff had seen better days) some air tools, 2 pack paint, screen rubbers, new tyres, suspension bushes, carpets, door rubbers, new wiring loom, an air conditioning kit (I had grand ideas…), replacement gearbox, s/h rear wings, s/h steering wheel, replacement steering transfer box, wing piping, door mirrors, electric cooling fan, seat belts and an Eaton M45 supercharger to boot, you name it I bought it!

To read the rest of part 3 click here.

Could any J van owners who are going to the GPO rally next weekend please contact me. I would like you to take pictures of any J vans and confirm the chassis numbers of the vans. I would like to attend but as normal, its not convenient with SWMBO.  Also could Mr T Russ (events) please make contact.

GPO window parts.

The summer has ended, the nights are drawing in, what a year this has been. Well this year has been a wash out, the wettest for 100 years, I think we all knew this, I have never known so many vehicle rallies and shows to be cancelled.
For me these last few weeks have been a "butter side down" time, I will not dwell on this. On to the
Good news, a fellow J type owner remembered he had a spare GPO windscreen, its been in the loft for about 30 years and needed some finding, well done that man for offering it up as parts/ pattern.
Pictures enclosed of the complete GPO screen. It is amazing what is still out there.

This has helped restore my faith in other J type owners.
Thanks again for helping a fellow J type owner out.

GPO parts and a rally.

The recent request for some GPO J van parts has it seems fallen on deaf ears, anyway this may well be due to "its holiday time".
The owner of the van had hoped to have it ready for a special rally for GPO vehicles, to be held at the Royal Mail archive and museum in Debden on the 15th September.
It now looks like the van will be trailered down for the rally. At least the owner will be able to see some other GPO  J type vans and may well be able to photograph and measure the brackets he requires.

If you have NOT booked for this event your too late to enter, also it is for GPO vehicles ONLY as parking is very limited and is by invitation only. Organized by the POVC group to celebrate 50 years since its foundation.

Please also Note, if you need to e-mail me use Fiftiesvehicles@mail.com do not use any other e-mail address you might have for me, they are not in use anymore.
As some of you will remember, I changed the rear axle ratio of my JB some weeks ago. All is going well, many short trips have been undertaken but I have yet to give it a proper run.
I'm very pleased with the results so far.
The list below has been taken from the latest Wolseley owners club magazine, a car owner in Australia has just under taken the same thing and has produced a fine artical and list of axles and their ratio's.