4x4 Morris J type van.

As many J van owners will know, a couple of pictures of YLH 799 have been about on the web for many years. The owner at the time who did the splendid conversion has recently published on his flickr site a full set of pictures of "the van".

I have copied his captions and these are shown in red type.

These were basically single seat delivery vans that were widely used by the GPO and other utility services. The front and rear wings of the GPO models were made of rubber, and the 'dent' on the N/S front wing would just 'boing' back into
shape.

This old van was fairly unique in 4x4 guise, and it performed well enough off-road.
This ex GPO van was mine back in the 1970's. For an experiment I decided to convert it to four wheel drive.

The 4x4 experiment resulted in one wierd looking van ! I added the Turner winch to complete the conversion.
Both BMC marques, Austin and Morris, produced these J series vans. Fundamentally they both looked the same but mechanically the Morris had a side valve engine and the Austin an OHV 'B' series engine.

I sold it to a landscape gardener named Simon who used it for his work. I was living in Birmingham at the time and he was located in London. A mutual acquaintance tells me that when he sold it he regretted it and in fact tried to buy it back. I lost his contact details so hopefully someone will see it and give him a nudge.

Mostly Austin Gipsy stuff used in the conversion, the ratio's matched which meant less faffing about and I had the parts around the place.

When I was running this one my mate had the Morris version, great vans and great fun.
I used an Austin Gipsy front axle, ideal because the 5.125 diff matched the vans own rear axle. I just had to fit some spacers between spring and rear axle to make up the difference in height. I originally used a single speed Dodge WC52 transfer case mounted independantly, this allowed me to retain the vans original 1600 cc engine and gearbox. It soon became obvious that it needed more 'grunt' so I later replaced the lot with a Gipsy engine, gearbox with integral 2 spd transfer case. Thanks for your interest.

Check out his set of pictures here http://www.flickr.com/photos/66663687@N04/8619131060/in/photostream/

Can you add any information about this van, does it still exist?

NGY 953

I mentioned in the last posting that NGY had rather changed since I last saw it.
Here is a copy of the posting I did on the van in 2010.
A rather fetching 1955 Hi Top van. First seen 30 years ago in Hereford.


According to the DVLA web site this is a September 1955 vehicle, un-taxed but with a recent owner change and fitted with a 1489cc engine, colour Brown.

Looking just the same as it did 30 years ago it re-surfaced and was for sale with a classic car dealer and restorer.

As you can see it is ex-Ministry of Defence, Army Transport. Dating from 1955 it's actual use within the Army can only be guessed at, maybe a NAFFI wagon?

Needing a bit of work but on the whole all there. It was advertised for £950 and I assume it sold very quickly.

The new owner has left it with the vehicle restorers David Wall of Wroham Nr Norwich to be restored!!

Also out and about, spotted recently are the Pickford's van and the well known Royal Mail van.

I understand the Pickford's van is currently for sale at an asking price of £15K.

Latest J news.

NGY 953 J/R27411, registered 1st September 1955, its had a re-paint since I last saw it.

Now if your off to Brazil for a spring break to get away from the cold and damp, pop into a bookshop and buy this.

RARÍSSIMO CATALOGO DE PEÇAS DO MORRIS JB (EDIÇÃO DE 08/1957)
CATALOGO ORIGINAL (ESTA NUMA PASTA NÃO ORIGINAL)
ORIGINAL MORRIS - (NÃO TRABALHO COM CÓPIAS)
ESTA EM PERFEITO ESTADO E EM INGLÊS
POSSUI A DESCRIÇÃO E ILUSTRAÇÃO DE TODAS AS PEÇAS DO VEICULO REFERENCIADO COM OS CODIGOS ORIGINAIS MORRIS DA ÉPOCA
ESCLAREÇO TODAS DUVIDAS
POSSUO DIVERSOS ITENS RELACIONADOS A LITERATURA DE CARROS ANTIGOS EM MEU E-SHOP DÊ UMA VISITADA, É SÓ CLICAR NO LINK ABAIXO:
Located
SAO PAULO.

Price is very good, R$ 750.00

I wonder how much the postage would be? I also wonder if there is a JB van located nearby?

Fancy lending a hand?

One or two old vehicle nuts are thinking about helping out the owner of the famous London knife grinders van.
Its been off the road for the last 12-14 years, due to a blown side valve engine.
How did it happen?, I understand the van was stolen and thrashed and when it died at the side of the road the louts vandalised it a bit.
Dragged home, there it has sat.
Some glass needs replacing and as I say the engine needs sorting out, a spare is supplied.
What is needed are some willing volunteers to get the van running and an offer of transport to the 65th J van bash in Birmingham can then be taken up.
It would be nice to see it, maybe the museum could give it an under cover home?

A nice mid 1955 Morris Commercial. Thanks to M.C. for the pictures taken today.