First a message from John Brooksmith for all Australian readers of our Register Blog:

Gooday Boys
Next Sunday is the Historic Commercial Vehicle show again. We are looking for a better than last year’s 7-vehicle show. If we all turn up we will make it – so here is the call to arms!
The show opens 9.00 am, so if we all make it around that time or soon after, and see if we can get the same spot as last year, we can make history: THE BIGGEST J VAN DISPLAY OUTSIDE THE UK…
That should also get us a front page on the J-Register website, so we will be world famous.
It is also the 65th Anniversary of the J Van so it will be a fitting culmination for the year.
Well done for last year – we will get some better pictures of a bigger display this year
See you there, John Brooksmith

And now to the Classic Motor Show…

We had four vans on display; Gary Sumner’s SLO 234, Gordon Wilson’s YLH 449, Ray Herritt’s 495 YUB and show regular – and club ‘office’ on such occasions – 5003 NX. We had also created some photo ind information boards which were well received. We had large photos of the Wythall, Melbourne and Sydney 65th Anniversary displays which many show-goers scrutinised.

Our thanks to those who managed to get their vans to the show, and to those Register members and friends who were able to attend. We were sorry to hear of Ray King’s ill health, his GPO Planning van was missed. Maybe next year. Get well soon Ray.

One man at the show who had talked to us at the 2011 show brought a print of a photo of his father’s Austin 101 milk float, we’ll put it on the blog over the next few days. Bill McMahon brought an interesting J-type clock to show us, which we had not seen before.

Gary (Sumner) brought along a few examples of personalised mugs and keyrings that his wife Heather makes, we will show examples of these in a blog post tomorrow.

It was a great show and we look forward to doing it all again next year.

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

Click ‘BLOG’ button, on bar underneath the animation above, to see all previous posts

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).

Peter Bateman writes: From the Great Southern Land comes a tale of restoration and renewal. Where there are bush fires around every pocket of undergrowth Will Hughes is making progress on J/B 41298. As can be seen from the photographs the van has not ventured too far from the original colours when it was a Bakers Crust van in Goulburn NSW.  Will expects to bring the van to Sydney for next year’s Australia Day CARnivale.  2014, to the best of my knowledge marks the 65th anniversary of the J type coming to Australia.  Let’s aim for ten J types at Macquarie Street Sydney. Even UK J-typers are invited.

It has been a struggle to find time to post things recently, so I’m going to try and post something every day for the next couple of weeks, leading up to the Classic Car Show at the NEC – 15/16/17 November 2013. We’re aiming for FIVE vans to be on our stand, more details to follow!

Iain Booth in New Zealand has unearthed a van previously unknown to us. It becomes the 303rd J survivor known to the Register. He was contacted by its owner, and has sent this photo. It is fitted with a Mark II Zephyr engine but the original engine, rear axle and gearbox are with it. At least it seems that the bodywork is reasonably intact, albeit rusty in all the usual places. A great restoration project.

Oxford Diecast’s range of OO gauge models has been increased by the addition of this lovely model of the Facchino’s J-type Ice Cream van, YHT 511,  in Whitby Engineering’s collection of preserved vehicles.

At approximately 2 inches long, this is a little model with some amazingly accurate detail – for instance, the word MORRIS can be read on the tiny grille badge! It has also been correctly modelled with only the passenger side door, a modification made by previous owner Gary Sutton when he rebuilt this ex-Verrechia’s of Bristol ice cream van.

A GPO planning van previously unknown to the Register has turned up near Manchester. SXH 241 has been acquired by a Register member and will be restored in its original livery. It is remarkably complete, but suffering some rot on the drivers side having been stored badly at some point in the past. It has languished only a few miles from Tatton Park for 30 years or so. Amazing that in all the time we were attending the Classic Car Show there nobody ever mentioned that they knew about it.

Adding it to the website passes a milestone, too. It is the 300th surviving van to feature on this website.

Roly Turner’s van OBL 432 is on display at Buckingham Palace! For the full story go to Roly’s blog at http://morrisjtypes.blogspot.co.uk/

A lovely shot found by Register member Eddie Doig. Great to see a J still in use in the late ’60s and near to the camera, rather than being hidden by other vehicles.

A panoramic view of Saturday’s line-up of J-vans. Photo by Annette Pijpstra

The 65th Anniversary Rally is over, and there are already those who are talking about the 70th!

A really impressive display of vans was achieved. A mixture of J-types, J/Bs and an Austin 101. We had a GPO Planning van or three, a Royal Mail van, an ex-Australian van, an ex-New Zealand van, a coachbuilt pick-up, a van driven over from Sweden, a van attending a rally for the first time in probably 30 years, and more.

It was also a chance for owners to meet and greet. And marvellous to see the signs of another generation of J-enthusiasts coming through. Ken Cookes’s daughter Debbie’s enthusiasm for the van shows that she’s a ‘chip off the old block’. MYH 238 would perhaps not have made it to the Rally were it not for the help that Will Southard gave his father Graham over the months leading up to the event, and Abi Pitcher created the J-type cake for the occasion, and insists that 5003 NX will be hers one day!

It was wonderful to see J-owners Andrew and Susan Trollope and John Brooksmith and partner Annette, all four over from Melbourne Australia and able to attend the event.

Our thanks to the BaMMOT museum staff who helped make the Rally as enjoyable as it was, and who went out of their way to make sure everything ran smoothly.

More photos can be seen at http://www.jtypevan.com/home/65th-anniversary-rally-wythall-2013/