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Thanks to Roland Turner for use of OBL photo

A couple of photos of Mac Fisheries J-types in Birmingham. We have photos of vans in the fleet working in other cities, it’s just a coincidence that these two came to light at the same time.

Two Mac Fisheries J-types are known to survive, VOR 390 and 7148 WJ. Both are in the J/B gallery under the MORRIS badge.

Mac Fisheries J-type van in Broad Street Birmingham in 1957

Mac Fisheries J-type van in Birmingham in 1958

Peter Bateman sends this taster, with the promise of more details to follow. It shows a V6-powered J currently in the final stages of build. Looks like it’s going to be a fantastic ambassador for the J-type cause!

A week from now the Register stand at the NEC Classic Motor Show should be in place, we’ll put a photo on the blog…

Searching the internet for more info on the Australian book ‘I’ve an Uncle Ivan’ by Ben Sanders, I came across this photo of balloons at a Press Launch for the book. Great, eh!

Not content with taking over London’s ‘tourist’y places, Whitby Engineering’s modern-day recreations are getting on the telly too! This van appeared on ITV’s This Morning programme, starring Philip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, over the summer.

Whilst in London recently we came across this ice cream van working for a living. It was parked up in St James’ Park near to Buckingham Palace, and appears to have been there every day over the summer. This is another of Whitby Engineering’s modern-day recreations that seem to be cropping up in all sorts of touristy places, such as the Embankment.

In its previous life 942 BYY was a GPO Planning van, which appeared on Ebay in reasonably sound condition but with its side windows panelled in.

Another piece of artwork that seems to be modelled on KFL 954 (see J/B gallery by clicking MORRIS badge button)

How has this been and gone from somebody’s clothing range without us knowing about it?

I found this Monsoon child’s jumper – complete with patchwork J-type – on Ebay, rather by accident. Checking Monsoon’s own website shows that it is not currently in their range.

Two more jigsaws featuring J-types have come to light; there seems to be quite a following for the J among the jigsaw manufacturers, although it seems quite likely that their illustrators may never have seen a real one. Working from photos often brings up scale and perspective problems.

The J-type serving ice cream on the seafront seems to be modelled on KFL 954 (see J/B gallery by clicking MORRIS badge button)

Less than a fortnight until the NEC opens its doors to the Classic Motor Show…

Oxford Diecast have introduced another 3 J-type models into their range, to accompany the Facchino’s model already seen in a previous blog post.

These are:

76MJ002: Ministry of Food minibus, LYM 295

76MJ003: Rossi’s ice cream van, YHT 511

76MJ004: Royal Mail, MLH 592

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Exactly a fortnight until the NEC opens its doors to the Classic Motor Show…

Andrew Trollope, back in Australia after visiting the UK and attending the 65th Anniversary, recently sent a copy of ‘I’ve an Uncle Ivan’ by Ben Sanders. Published in Australia in April this year, the hardback book has lovely illustrations with a very retro feel, plus the bonus of a 3D paper template/print which makes up into a J-type pie van! ISBN no: 978-0500500361, Thames and Hudson (Australia).