1969 | Morris Minor 1000

83,000

• A faithful recreation of the Morris Fire Van (original in National Heritage Centre)
• All sign writing is hand painted

With Austin and Morris both being part of BMC, the Minor-based Morris commercials were also marketed as the Austin 6cwt and Austin 8cwt with a closed van and open pick-up versions. They were designed for commercial use with small businesses in mind, although many made their way to larger corporations. The van version was popular with the Post Office, with both the van and the pick-up differing from the monocoque construction of the Saloon and Traveller variant by having a separate chassis. They also differed in details such as telescopic rear dampers, stiffer rear leaf springs and lower ratio differentials to cope with the heavier loads.

This Morris Minor pick-up has been lovingly created as a copy of the fire vans that operated inside the Morris production facility, these pick-ups were used because they were small enough to fit between the production lines. The original Morris Motors fire engine is in the National Motor Heritage Centre at Gaydon. There is also a Corgi Classics model of the pick-up. This lovely Morris has been in a 'van and pick-up' museum in Europe for the past ten years. It comes with a fresh MoT test certificate, even though it is no longer required due to the age of the vehicle (and bear in mind that the road tax is also free). This is a faithful recreation which even comes complete with ladder, electrically operated bell, blue light, standpipe, fire extinguishers and hose etc. Interestingly, the sign writing is all hand painted - no vinyl! If you want to remove the fire items, you are left with a very sensibly priced Morris Minor pick-up, an appreciating item these days and tricky to find one in good condition. Consigned by James Good