It is with great sadness that we report the passing of Ray Binelli, a long-time Register member.

Ray, like his father before him, was a knife grinder. His van was an ex-grocer’s van, with the high-roof conversion being carried out by Ray and his father Lino. The van was on the road from 1955 through to 2001 – 46 years! Lino and Ray had prestigious customers such as The Grosvenor House Hotel, The Dorchester Park Lane, The Mayfair and The Ritz.

Between 1956 and 1970 Ray was also working as a European tour guide in the summer seasons. He spoke Italian, French, Spanish, German and Portuguese as well as English!

Aged 39 he graduated as an IEE engineer at the Polytechnic of Central London. It took him nine years as a mature evening student, as he was still grinding knives during the day. The Polytechnic had a special celebration as no one else had obtained this degree on a part-time basis.

In 2011 Ray was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and recently was also in constant pain from Rheumatoid Arthritis. He passed away on 27th June, and his funeral service was held at St Peter’s Italian Church in Clerkenwell, on 12th July.

He will be missed by all who knew him.

Gray Southard adds: Sad news about Ray. Very fond memories of seeing the van out and about the back streets of the West End, Holborn and even Camden Town.

A few photos to show what has been happening J-typewise!

This J-type was mentioned on Roland’s blog a couple of months ago, as being for sale in Kenya of all places. It has now arrived in the UK, and is a little gem. It is very complete and has no major rust issues, and also has a steel floor, common on exported vans but which was only fitted to very few early UK deliveries. Everything points to this being a 1951 van, but we don’t yet know whether it spent time in the UK before being exported to Nairobi. We only know of four older vans in the UK, three of which are ice cream vans and the other is a minibus.

Steve, its new owner does need 3 16″ wheels, as the van is sitting on one correct rim and three rims that look like 3-stud Citroen ones that have been drilled to take 5 studs. Might be ok on Kenyan roads… If you can help Steve in his search, contact him on 07973 405 119.

Please note: Photographs on this website have been watermarked, not to imply ownership in any way but to indicate this website as the source.  The copyright of any photograph supplied for use by the Register on this website or in the Club Newsletter will remain with its owner. With a website as comprehensive as we intend this to be, it is not easy to attribute ownership of any individual photo, but where possible we will indicate such.

Stop Press: FOR SALE: FOR SALE: FOR SALE: FOR SALE: FOR SALE: FOR SALE:

A pot-pourri of items that have surfaced over the last few weeks.

A bit of a catch-up of what is happening around the globe. J-type progress on more than one continent!

It is with great sadness that we pass on the news that long-time Register member Dennis Bradley passed away on the 27th January after a long illness.

Always a gentleman, Dennis was a man with a passion for his J. He kept his J tipper truck in immaculate condition and attended many Register get-togethers in it. It also graced our stand at the NEC Classic Car Show more than once!

He will be sorely missed on the Rally scene.

On the day that we hear of the sad loss of David Bowie, one of the most influential musicians of his era, we felt it appropriate, as a tribute, to publish this photo taken in Melbourne last October. Odd to think that Bowie was one year old when the J-type was announced at the 1948 Show!