- Complete rotisserie restoration
- British Motor Heritge Cetificate
- Early (2nd year of production) English built Moke
- Excellent original body
- Spruce Green. Mk 1 Mokes were only available in this colour.
- 850cc
- LHD
- Everything new or rebuilt
SOLD
When Issigonis designed the Mini, he planned another vehicle to share the Mini's mechanical parts, but with a more rugged body shell. This was an attempt to take a portion of the military vehicle business from Land Rover. Issigonis had previously designed the Nuffield Guppy in a failed attempt to break into that market. By 1959, BMC had working prototypes of what was codenamed "The Buckboard", later to become the Mini Moke.
Eventually BMC gave up on the idea of selling the Moke to the military, and in 1963 the decision was made to build a civilian version, targeting farmers and light commercial applications. Several prototypes were built in 1963, one of which is still known to exist in Pinner just outside London, England. The Moke was launched onto the British market in 1964. The British Customs and Excise department decided that the Moke should be classified as a passenger car rather than as a commercial vehicle which meant that it attracted purchase tax, reducing sales in its intended commercial market.
The Moke attracted attention as a 'cult' vehicle as a result of the unprecedented success of the Mini and through media exposure in the popular television series The Prisoner, as well as in the Traffic song "Berkshire Poppies." [12] Despite this, of the 14,500 British Mokes sold only about a tenth of them stayed in Britain.[5] Mokes continued to be made in Britain until 1968.
British-made Mokes were fitted with a low-end 850 cc I4 engine, detuned to use low-octane fuel. They used the same suspension, gearbox and 10 inch wheels as the standard Mini.
In the initial offering, passenger seats, grab handles, heater, windscreen washer and a removable canvas top were all optional equipment delivered separately from the vehicle. Owners had to bolt these optional extras onto the vehicle themselves.
The 'Mk I' Mokes had a single windscreen wiper and a floor-mounted headlight dip switch, and the only colour available was "Spruce Green". In 1967, the 'Mk II' Moke added a passenger-side wiper.
Horn and headlight controls were moved onto the indicator stalk. These later British Mokes were also available in white.
