When deciding which countries flag to appoint to
this page, one makes a difficult decision - for the "Moke" has
been manufactured in the UK, Australia and even as
far away as Portugal. But with the its birth place
being England, and having been designed by Sir Alec
Issigonis, the UK flag seems most appropriate.
And
the manufacturer?, take your pick from Morris-Austin,
BMC and Leyland Australia. But, contrary to popular
belief, they were never available in kit form, but
have always been factory produced using a steel monocoque
body pan mounted on Mini sub frames and powered by
an "A" series Mini engine/gearbox unit.
Be it England, Australia or Portugal, they have always
left the factory fully assembled.
The Mini Moke was
in fact designed by Sir Alec Issigonis at the same
time as the Mini Saloon, the first pre-production
prototype being produced in 1959, with a handful
of other prototype Mini Mokes being made up until
1964, including a couple of four wheel drive versions
with two engines! Fortunately some of these prototypes
are still in existence.
The first production Mini
Moke was manufactured in January 1964 at BMC's Longbridge
factory in Birmingham, England. Production continued
until late October 1968 when around 15,000 English
Mokes had been produced.
Production then switched
entirely to BMC's factory in Sydney, Australia, where
they had been producing the Moke since 1966. A number
of specification changes had been made to suit the
local conditions and the growing leisure vehicle
market.
As with the VW Beetle, Mini Moke owners would
swear by their cars durability in all types of catastrophes,
and for economical motoring year after year. Certainly
as a basic and utilitarian "Point A to Point
B" mode of transport, the Moke sure fitted
the bill, and over the years it garnered an ever
increasing allegiance of fans.
Powered by the tried
and true Mini “Series
A” transverse engine, the 1000cc engine produced
plenty of power for the nimble and feather-weight
Moke, even though 29 kW at 5200 rpm and 68 Nm torque
at 2500 rpm does not sound all that much on paper.
Best of the Moke’s was undoubtedly the “Californian”,
it being fitted with the larger 1275cc engine and
being good for 40 kW at 5250 rpm and 90 Nm at 2500
rpm.
The Californian didn’t exactly sprint to
100 km/h, rather it would take things a little more
leisurely, and even by the standards of the day 20.3
seconds was just plain slow. Still, the Moke afforded
a top speed of 130 km/h and, with fuel consumption
at a very respectable 7 liters per 100 kilometers
in city driving, it at least won over the pockets,
if not the hears, of those that drove one.
Steering
was by rack and pinion with a turning circle of 9.45
metres, and the Californian was even fitted with
front disc brakes, a much better option than the
all round drums fitted to the 998cc iterations. The
interior and dash layout was in keeping with the
exterior of the car, the instrument cluster including
a single-pack speedometer and odometer, fuel gauge
with warning lights for ignition, high beam and oil
pressure. Later models were fitted with dual speed
wipers, and a steering lock was standard on both
models.
Plans For A Four Wheel Drive Moke
Interestingly, Leyland even had plans of offering
a four-wheel-drive model, but production problems
would see the idea shelved. Nevertheless the front
wheel drive Moke was always good at what it was intended
to do, and never pretended to be something it wasn’t.
Even off-road, the Moke would be able to put in a
creditable performance, and with the addition of
an engine oil pressure pump the Moke could handle
sand dunes with relative ease, and the 20cm clearance
and steel sump guard even helped it traverse fairly
rugged terrain.
As you would imagine, few concessions
were made to creature comforts, and this included
the options list. You could get metallic paint on
the Californian, along with mesh head-lamp guards
and wider tires on both models. The Mini Moke continued
to be manufactured in Australia until early 1982.
In
1983 production restarted in Portugal with British
Leyland. Initially the final Australian specification
was used, but this was substantially revised in 1986,
and under the control of Austin Rover Portugal, continued
until mid 1989. The manufacturing rights for the
Moke were sold in 1990 to the Italian company Cagiva,
who produced practically identical Mokes in Portugal
from 1991 through to early 1993, when the last Mini
Moke was made.
This site receives quite a lot of hits from people
seeking out informaiton on the Moke, and while for
many years they have been considered anything but collectable,
one sences that things are starting to change. They
are cheap, rugged, fun and reliable. If you live in
a sea-side town we cannot think of a better way of
getting about, and others are catching onto that fact
too.
