Rescue of English Mini Moke Fleet

[Bodge]

After travelling over to America last month to finalise the deal, our container of 17 original Mini Mokes has just arrived.

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They were originally part of a fleet of 100 Mokes on Catalina Island, a rocky island off the coast of California. The island is tiny at only 22 miles long and 8 miles across and the speed limit on the island was 25mph. So to ensure no one broke the law, the Mokes were speed restricted by a simple but effective device. A metal plate was screwed to the floor to prevent engagement of fourth gear. Rumour has it that many of the American tourists who visited the island preferred to walk and it has been suggested that maybe they lacked the skill required to drive a "stick shift". But that's another story.

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They were all in a pretty sorry state by the late 1980s and the last 58 of the fleet were sold in September 1990 as a job lot. Over the years, the best of them were sold off by the new owner but the remainder were left out in a field where they stood for the next 20 years.

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Now 17 of them have returned home. We had to dismantle most of them to get them all in the container. However they are all very original except they are all very rusty. We have all the original factory panels in stock to restore these Mokes over the next few years.

Interestingly, 12 more of the original Catalina fleet have recently turned up in Minnesota along with several other interesting vehicles including some Coopers and a 1959 Mini. Click here for details.

Watch this space! Roger

[docka]

Superb story
I want one please!

[gs.davies]

Cracking story. I see there's a few mk3's there - didn't think they so common in the US?

[rich@minispares.com]

the us looks as if its the place to go for decent barn find stuff!!!

[goff]

Bodge that's great , I wish I had been there helping , I would have loved getting involved rescuing those mokes

Goff

[Highnumbers]

the us looks as if its the place to go for decent barn find stuff!!!

Nope, we're all out. Please turn away now.



Seriously though...it's getting hard for us to find a decent project Mini, Jag, Triumph etc in the States since dealers are loading up entire containers and sending them to the UK. Been happening for years now and we're pretty much picked clean of decent cars. Sellers here allowed it to happen!

This Moke story is a neat one though. I've been to Catalina many times and it's a strange place, there are no cars - everyone drives golf carts these days. Also, Hollywood movie producers used the island for filming Westerns in the early days and brought herds of buffalo over and left them there. They survived to this day and herds of buffaloes roam the interior of the island.

[Pete]

Sellers here allowed it to happen!

When I bought my S from So Cal some years ago it was advertised on MiniMania and only myself and a Portugese guy were that interested in it. Maybe we just prize or value them more. Having said that it's only the same as the situation here in the 90's when the Japanese were buying early Minis by the ship load, I sold a few to them myself! They just weren.t so highly valued here, now the tide's turned again there's people in the business of importing (late) Minis back from Japan.

[nippycars]

oooooh reimporting, which docks do i stand by???!!! southampton/liverpool or the high court?!?!?!

[62inCali]

the us looks as if its the place to go for decent barn find stuff!!!

Nope, we're all out. Please turn away now.



Seriously though...it's getting hard for us to find a decent project Mini, Jag, Triumph etc in the States since dealers are loading up entire containers and sending them to the UK. Been happening for years now and we're pretty much picked clean of decent cars. Sellers here allowed it to happen!

This Moke story is a neat one though. I've been to Catalina many times and it's a strange place, there are no cars - everyone drives golf carts these days. Also, Hollywood movie producers used the island for filming Westerns in the early days and brought herds of buffalo over and left them there. They survived to this day and herds of buffaloes roam the interior of the island.

When I went to Catalina a few months ago, I saw probably a half dozen Mini's there. I heard the residents register them as golf carts.

[JC T ONE]

Original bumper (s?) on the 59er

[Highnumbers]

the us looks as if its the place to go for decent barn find stuff!!!

Nope, we're all out. Please turn away now.



Seriously though...it's getting hard for us to find a decent project Mini, Jag, Triumph etc in the States since dealers are loading up entire containers and sending them to the UK. Been happening for years now and we're pretty much picked clean of decent cars. Sellers here allowed it to happen!

This Moke story is a neat one though. I've been to Catalina many times and it's a strange place, there are no cars - everyone drives golf carts these days. Also, Hollywood movie producers used the island for filming Westerns in the early days and brought herds of buffalo over and left them there. They survived to this day and herds of buffaloes roam the interior of the island.

When I went to Catalina a few months ago, I saw probably a half dozen Mini's there. I heard the residents register them as golf carts.

That's fantastic - I bet the average golf cart has about the same footprint as a Mini!

I'll have to keep an eye out next time I'm there.

[nick@dunsdale]

great story !! keep us posted on the progress