J-types from THREE continents were on display on the Register stand at Gaydon. From left to right in the photo: Gary Sumner’s Royal Mail van, the Pitchers’ ex Bobby and Co. of Leamington Spa J/B, the 1951 van imported from Kenya and the J/B that went from New Zealand to Australia and now has found its way back to the UK.

J-van owners in the main photo are, from left to right: Gary Sumner, Bill McMahon, Gray Southard, Harvey Pitcher, Ed Morgan, Steve Parkes and sons, and Valerie and Duncan McKay. Other J-owners in attendance but not around for the ‘photoshoot’ included Ken Bennett, Iain McKenzie and Dr Qu Li.

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.

In amongst all the Transits, Ivecos, new Citroen Dispatch (very nice…) – brand new vans and trucks of all sizes – was this beautiful Morris J/B owned by Hall’s Electrical. Absolutely made my day!

Morris J/B at the Commercial Vehicle Show at the NEC

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