Just bought a Moke - a plan 49 years in the achievement.

[Halfpint]

I enjoy a good story about where these Mini's and Mokes have been taken.
Many of the long distances are now tarred, but there are still some amazing places out there, like where Moemoke and the group went earlier in the year.
The SA Moke Club and the Moke Owners Association of Victoria( MOA) regularly organize big drives, so the adventures continue  .
Cheers
HP

[Peter_n_Margaret]

Well, the '63 850 (rego SA 174-171) was traded on a 1968 Mini Deluxe (rego SA RSN-278). Great car that.
We did lots of bush trips and camping in it and had the seats converted to lay back for sleeping. The blow-up mattress over the seats had a hole in it to accommodate the gear stick.

We also messed about with it a bit to try and make it better in the bush. One mod was to fit 12"Hilman Imp wheels to the front to give some better ground clearance. That worked well in conjunction with replacing the balls in the end of the front hydrolastic units with threaded versions to allow quick height adjustment of the front end. Lowering the balls by 1/8th of an inch raised the suspension by 1".
Then for one trip we bolted a second 12"wheel to the outside of the first to give us dual wheels on the front. I thought that would be good for sand. It wasn't. And it was a pig to steer on any rough stuff.

This trip was Easter 1970.
We drove via Marree to Coward Springs on the Oodnadatta Track. That is the old Coward Springs railway siding with the Ghan train going past. Looks nothing like this now and the commercial camp ground there is covered in trees watered from the artesian spring.
You can see the 12" front wheels.



There were 3 of us on board for this trip. The rear seat was taken out and the back seat passenger sat on the bedding.
We called into see the policeman at Marree to tell him we wanted to drive west from Coward Springs to Billa Kalina homestead. He told us we were mad and he would not let us go, but his dolly-bird wife convinced him to change his mind because she wanted to go into that country to find us later. He eventually agreed. The deal was we needed to call into the Kingoonya Police Station when we got there and if he had not heard from us in 4 days, he would come looking. We had absolutely no form of communication.
These pics are a little way west of Coward Springs.





The track we headed west on soon petered out and we proceeded on the southern side of the Margaret River by compass bearing until we found station tracks again as we got closer to Billa Kalina. It was a tough drive, particularly crossing some of the dry sandy creeks along the way. The Greenfields at Billa Kalina did not believe we had driven from Coward Springs until we described some of the features we had seen. When they saw the Mini, they went into denial I think.

We tried to repeat this drive in reverse exactly 25 years later in a 4WD and failed. There was still no track but there were also extra fences and some of it was wet.
Must try again sometime in the Moke?
Cheers,
Peter

[Terry]

Pete,

you realise all this early Mini stuff was just leading up to buying a Moke.

Thanks for sharing.

Terry

[Bigmorgs]

Great Read.

Thanks for sharing Pete

[Peter_n_Margaret]

Thanks guys...
After the Billa Kalina trip, we reported to our friendly BMC dealer and he reckoned we had given the Deluxe such a hard time that we should trade it in on a new one, so I jokingly asked "How much?" The answer was not what I expected and I said "Yes" on the spot, so we became the proud owners of a new 1970 1098cc Mini K. I could not believe how much difference that 100cc made!
We transferred the lay back seats from the Deluxe (swapping the upholstery) so we could continue to camp inside the vehicle in the bush.

One if its first trips was a quick (Easter) trip to Yalara and back. We always tried to go via a different route, so asked the RAA how long it would take to drive to Kingoonya via the west side of Lake Gairdner. They said "About 4 days". There was no bitumen north of Port Augusta in those days. We left home before dawn on Easter Friday, had lunch in Kingoonya and arrived in Yalara to meet some friends on the Saturday. Spent 24 hours there and were back in Adelaide for work on the Tuesday morning. Young and stupid.

Driving up the western side of Lake Gairdner.


We did some pretty terrible things to those Minis. One canoe was probably enough. This one regularly carried three!


Cheers,
Peter

[Peter_n_Margaret]

Late in 1970, we decided that the next car would be a Moke.
Then, before that happened, we fostered a 2 year old and Margaret got pregnant, so the Moke plan went into the "later" basket and we traded the Mini K in on a second hand Austin 1800 Mk2.

Bush travel continued but now with 2 small/tiny kids. The lay back seats in the Austin maintained our "sleep in the car" tradition with the little one in a carry cot on the front passenger floor and the 2/3 year old in a hammock strung from the roof gutters through the front doors.
We had trips like this to Andamooka, the snow country and to Brisbane & back amongst others.
Front wheel drive and chains work a treat.



The Austin was another great car and we kept it until an employer insisted I drove a Valiant.
A few years later, Margaret got a Deluxe as a shopping trolley for a few years.


Then years later, our son needed a car to go to Uni and I bought a Mini for him that had the motor in pieces in the boot. I told him that if he could get it going it was his. He did, and it taught him to look after his cars.

But still no Moke.
Until now   49 years after the original decision.


Cheers,
Peter

[Terry]

Hi,

what are your plans for the Moke now, lay back seats so you can keep travelling.
 
Is the Moke is in your shed now?

The seat laying on its back to the left of the Moke is an original seat for your vintage of Moke.

Terry

[Peter_n_Margaret]

Not really developed any firm plan yet beyond tending to not change too much, but if I do to tend towards original.
The seats loose in the back were blue, so I don't know where they come from because the vehicle was originally the yellow it is now.
I did find a couple of freshly upholstered sling black rear seats (with head rests) for it the other day and I can get a pair of new black tombstones for it in Adelaide if necessary. We will wait and see.
Layback seats for it would be a challenge, but I don't anticipate any long bush trips in it, we have the OKA for that, but some shorter trips may well be on the cards.
First challenge is to get it through the SA inspection and get it registered in SA so I can at least drive it.
It is still in Queensland and will be shipped to Adelaide by truck departing in about 2 weeks so we are home when it arrives.
Cheers,
Peter

[Terry]

Hi,

The blue seats are trimmed in what is called Denim which is no longer available. If those seats are in good condition some people will pay decent money for a set of usable original Blue Denims.

Terry

[Peter_n_Margaret]

Bugga. Didn't know that. Might have to retrieve them.
Cheers,
Peter

[Moke 71]

First challenge is to get it through the SA inspection and get it registered in SA so I can at least drive it.

Hi peter,

Thanks for your stories.

I’ve put a few cars through SA rego and historic rego so if you have any questions happy to chat. I’ve also got a trailer here if you need to borrow it to get it to Lonsdale or regency. I have found Lonsdale a little easier although their hours of opening are a little limited.

Cheers
Dave

[Peter_n_Margaret]

Thanks very much Dave.
Lonsdale would certainly suit better than Regency.
I hope it does not take too long to get it ready for an inspection. In any case it has plenty of Queensland rego left so I should be able to drive it down? Any problem doing that?
I plan on conventional rego for the first year and then see how much I drive it.
Cheers,
Peter

[Pete Power]

Great story Pete, gotta love another Yellow moke in Adelaide.

[Peter_n_Margaret]

Well, Lonsdale was easy for the ID check, but they cringed at the non standard seats and sent me to Regency for those to be checked.
I chose to get them approved by an engineer first, to save any arguments with them.
Suffice to say, we are now through all the b.b.b.bureaucracy and are fully registered in South Australia.
I have ordered some personalised plates so it will be known as "MOOCH-6", in green on gold plates. "Mini Mooch" is the name one of our kids gave to Mokes when a toddler and this is the 6th Mini in the family.
Cheers,
Peter

[Halfpint]

Well done Peter,
Hope it wasnt too much drama on the engineering side of things, though it would be interesting to hear what sort of things they require, and equally, the things they frown on.

Looking forward to seeing you " Mooching Around" 

HP