About six years ago I bought a small bungalow in the province of Catalunya Spain close to the French border. After a year or so my next door neighbour told me that in his garage was a Californian Mini Moke that he had owned since 1982. I mentioned that I would be interested if he ever decided to sell.

Over the ensuing years I re-stated my interest several times and finally at the end of last summer he weakened and agreed to let me buy.

According to the paperwork the Moke was an Australian Californian 1100cc built in 1981 and shipped to the UK in 1982. My neighbour bought it in 1982 with under 500 miles on the clock and today it has still only covered 11,600 miles.

It is in squadron blue with denim seats and roof and came complete with side screens, Sunraysia wheels and roo bars.

The Moke had not moved in over ten years and I was prepared to replace all rubber items that would for sure have perished.

Overall the Moke is in very good condition with only very minor surface rust and no dents. The brakes however were another story, well seized and getting the drums off to get at them has been “interesting”.

New shoes, wheel cylinders, brake pipes and new oil and filters etc were sourced from Minispares in the UK and shipped to Spain with great speed and efficiency. 

On close inspection I discovered that the tyres were the original Australian Dunlop Weathermasters from 1981 and well beyond their use by date. Therefore  an priority job was to get some new rubber on the wheels and I sourced new Vredestein tyres from Germany.  They arrived in three working days at prices less than half the local Spanish tyre dealer, amazing.

We are fortunate to have a garage in our town, L’Escala, that is very service oriented and have good pricing, they fitted all five new tyres, with valves and balancing for 40 euros.

Whilst the old tyres were off, new paint went on the wheels and the roo bars were given a fresh look too. Some time they will be stripped and powder coated
when I can find a local firm to undertake the work.
 
The brakes are half completed as I await an impact driver to get the rear drum screws released and I am hopeful that we will hit the road in the next week or so.  I am truly looking forward to a summer of  “Mokin” and the weather here is ideal for the open Moke.

The plans for the coming months are to fit a roll cage, rear seats and rear seat belts and removal of the minor surface rust with a lick of paint here and a lick of paint there!!!

Sourcing roll cage here and suitable seat belts could be a challenge but shipping a roll cage doesn’t seem too practical.

This is my first foray in to the world of  “Mokin” although as an impoverished teenager I did many jobs on various ragged minis but my technical expertise is very rusty. My sincere thanks to all those at the Moke Club who have offered advice and assistance and shown great patience answering my  many questions.

The picture is my Moke on the day of purchase (notice that new headlights for European driving have to go on the list too!)

Article writen by Alan Ambridge.

Published in the Moke Club magazine April/May edition