This 1965 Morris  Mini Moke [GJB 121C] has been owned by Simon's father Richard Crumbleholme since February 1968.

This section has been written by Richard Crumbleholme, the main body of the article starts on this page with links to the following :

First rebuild completed 1995;  Second rebuild completed 2017;  Moke Drivers Handbook ; Moke Club articles featuring GJB 121C; Cars owned by Richard since 1968.

How it all started :   My father Dick had a Willys jeep during WW2 and a Bristol garage owner friend of his told him about a jeep like "Mini Moke" that had just come into a nearby garage. My father was interested and so we set off in my mini van to view the Moke in Bristol on Saturday 3rd February 1968. 

It was duly bought and I recall a very cold trip home as some of the side screens fasteners were missing.  The car was hand painted in a bright tangerine colour with an additional spare wheel on the bonnet. It had a wood rimmed steering wheel and a timber rear bench seat made by a previous owner.  

My father was very generous in buying this car for me - I am sure that he would smile if he knew that I still have the car in my 70's - after 50+ years.

Moke History :

Very early prototype Mokes :       (photos from Mini Moke Club's  "Moke The History" Roy Scott June 2014)

The Mini's designer (Sir) Alec Issigonis (1906-1988) had sketched a Moke like vehicle in the mid 1950's. In 1956, after the Suez Crisis, the Austin Motor Company (part of British Motor Corporation [BMC]) started designing the famous Mini in response to the resulting fuel shortages and the emergence of cheap bubble cars from Germany. The saloon Mini was launched in 1959 incorporating the groundbreaking idea of mounting the engine with integral gearbox transversely and using two sub frames bolted to a light body shell. 

In September 1958, the British military invited tenders from BMC for a lightweight all terrain vehicle that could carry 4 soldiers  with light arms up to a speed of 60mph. The use of 12" wheels for better ground clearance was vetoed by management but Issigonis used his revolutionary idea of front and rear subframes. The first pre-production Moke had been hand made and even the subframes were hand made as the Mini production had not yet started. The Moke had been designed with a folding screen and its body shape to allow stacking storage. There were various military trials including a short lived twin engined version but ground clearance was the biggest problem. Although used by the Navy and Air force in small numbers, it was never a success. Police and Fire services also used Mokes. 

The Moke was first put on the open market in late 1964. A new Moke was very basic as it came with no side screens, a driver's seat only and cost £335.00 It came in only one colour : spruce green. A passenger seat cost £8 9s and the two rear seats £16 8s. A set of four side screens cost £30. A standard Mini saloon at the time cost £497. 

By the end of 1964, (mine Morris Moke was built in Nov 1964) a total of 965 Mokes had been built (527 Austins & 438 Morrises). So my Moke is a relatively early one. About 50% of these 1964 had been exported.

Film crews started to use Mokes to mount film cameras and various pop groups also took to the unusual car. It became a "trendy car" of the late swinging 1960's with Patrick McGoohan's cult TV series "The Prisoner" giving the car great coverage as the taxi in "The Village" (Portmeirion). Four James Bond films also used Mokes. Brigitte Bardot owned a Moke for many years.

By 1967, the HM Government re-classified the Moke as a private vehicle and this added purchase tax (an additional £78 9s 10d). This effectively made it non viable to make in the UK for BMC (British Motor Corporation) and production was moved solely to Australia, where production had started earlier in 1966. Another reason was probably that it made more sense to produce Mokes in Australia than in the UK. There were 14,518 "English" Mokes produced in the UK with about 90% exported abroad - 1467 having been purchased in the UK.

The English Moke was made initially but soon an "Australian" Moke was produced with a larger engine (998 - 1098cc) and 13" wheels in place of 10". There were various modifications with the Californian model produced from 1971. Australian Mokes were produced until 1982 with about 26,000 having been made. They were used by their postal service and various pick up versions were produced. Production was finally moved to Portugal in 1983 and these Mokes were made by a British Leyland subsidary there until 1989 (about 10,000 made). 

Cagiva (an Italian company) bought the whole operation in 1991 and maintained production in Portugal until 1993. All parts etc were then moved to Italy and were not accessed until the Moke Club managed to sell off these in the Big Clear out of 2003.  

Overall about 50,000 Mokes (of all types) were produced.  (excluding present day Chinese or electric) 

A Moke was produced in China (I hired one in the Seychelles in 2018 - see below) with a Nissan engine - the bodyshell was different in a few ways and it was poorly made. This company, Moke International has, from 2022, moved production to the UK with an all electric Moke in limited production to avoid strict build standards. The vehicle has been updated and in the UK is sold in Poole, Dorset (see link etc below). Other outlets around the world are being set up.

Moke Statistics : Here's a link to an internet site listing numbers of classic cars on the DVLA database in the UK https://www.howmanyleft.co.uk/vehicle/austin_mini_moke   

From the table extract below at December 2025, there are 129 Mokes Licensed and a further 59 with SORN (Off road). [Total 188]. Only Austin Mokes are listed but this includes all Mokes with Morris and later (non UK) Mokes not separately listed. Some UK owners of later (non "historic vehicle" - ie less than 40 years old) Mokes SORN their vehicles during the winter. 

In 2022, there were 114 No Mokes with road tax and a further 62 No with SORN so (apart from some new electric Mokes) hopefully, it means that some "barn find" mokes have been restored or imported from abroad.

Original (non electric) Moke production had started in 1964 and ended in 1993 = 29 years !

Fortunately, mechanical parts are readily available via classic Mini parts stockists and there is an excellent company Moke Panels (based in Somerset) that have body panels and other specific Moke items for sale (they sell worldwide). I bought panels and parts from this company during the second rebuild.  Link :  https://mokepanels.com/

Mini Moke Club : I joined the Mini Moke Club in June 1992 after the then SW club representative Peter Jones (who lived in Sutton Poytnz) parked his Moke outside my office in Weymouth.

The Moke Club's magazine "Moking" in 2023 noted that their register had 262 Mokes worldwide and a club membership of 560. The Mini Moke Club was started by Paul Beard in 1983 in the UK and celebrated it's 40th Birthday in 2023. 

In 2023, the membership is UK 69%; EU 11%; Australasia 9%; N.America 7% and rest of world 4%.

Here's a link to the general public website : https://www.mokeclub.org/

Below : A selection of Moke types.and models :

My Morris Mini Moke [GJB 121C] :   Now 60 + years old !

Built on 4th November 1964 for the home market at the British Motor Company (BMC) 's car plant at Longbridge, Birmingham and it was dispatched to Morris Garages Ltd, Oxford on 12th November 1964 (inv No 89457). Original colour : Spruce Green (only colour available); The Heritage certificate below says that the Moke was dispatched from the factory with two front and rear seats (driver's seat only was standard). When I bought the car in 1968, the factory fitted rear seats had been removed and a home made double plywood seat fitted instead. It had an additional spare wheel mounted on the bonnet. No English Mokes were supplied with a heater ! However, a heater had been installed when I bought it in 1968.  

From the factory, this Moke was dispatched to Morris Garages Ltd. There seems to have then been a period between November 1964 and its first registration in October 1965 that this Moke was perhaps used as a "run around" or demonstrator by Morris Garages Ltd  or Coster Garages Ltd who actually first registered it.

1st Registered 19th October 1965; Chassis No : MABI 653707. Commission No : M15B000354L ;  Body No 354;   Mk 1 Moke ("buckboard" : 1963-1967). Petrol : 4 cylinder in line with overhead valves - "A" series with capacity of 848cc transverse mounted with integral 4 speed gearbox (no synchromesh on first gear). Front wheel drive with 10" wheels. Dimensions : wheelbase 80" (2.03m); Length 120" (3.05m); Width 51.5" (1.36m); Height 56' (1.42m); Dry weight : 10.5 cwt ( 534kg).

Below : The English Mini Moke - a cutaway sketch showing the basic construction with front & rear sub frames. 

( Source : a superb drawing from "Mini Moke - small car, big fun" by John Christopher (published 2013)

My Early Photographs : The photographs below all date from 1968 / 1969 when I was 17 / 18 years old. I had the Moke in my last year at Weymouth Grammar School when taking "A" levels and then went to college in London using the Moke to travel there and back on a regular basis.  My yellow oilskin was my standard wear in the Moke. I recall that I also had a very good and warm German submarine Officer's jacket which I bought in Moto Sails (military surplus) in Weymouth. I even had a pair of WW2 pilot's heated gloves that could plug into 12v system. Wish I still had them !

When I became the third owner, the Moke had been hand painted a bright tangerine colour and had a mini saloon grille very crudely fitted to the front panel. At least, this gave good access to the distributor and oil filter etc. There was a wood rimmed steering wheel, wing mirrors and an additional spare wheel mounted on the bonnet. 

I did repaint the Moke once using a brushing cellulose paint. I added a couple of spotlights and had a couple of different instrument panels with more gauges and even a radio. The front seats were replaced with bucket seats in 1969 and I replaced the wood rimmed steering wheel with a smaller Moto Lita one in about 1970. The bucket seats, steering wheel and battery condition gauge + rev counter are still in the car. As can be seen below, a surf board rack was bolted on later.

The present roll bar was added during the first rebuild in 1995 - this allowed modern seat belts and mountings to be installed in place of the original lap belts. In 2018, after having owned the Moke for 50 years, I wrote an article for the Moke magazine (use this link). 

History  - Previous Owners (from original log book & Heritage cert)

Dispatched from Longbridge factory in Birmingham to Morris Garages Ltd, Oxford on 12th November 1964 (inv No 89457).

It is not known when the Moke was transferred to Costers Garage (nr Newbury) (see below)

19th October 1965 - First registered by Costers Garage Ltd of Speen near Newbury, Berkshire. First road tax was £17 10s 0d.  Colour : Green.

11th December 1965 - First owner Mr A A J Baker of Crossways Hoe, Denham, Newbury

23rd November 1966 - Kingsway Motors, 189 Two Mile Hill, Bristol

6th February 1967 - Second owner Mr Raymond J Marsh, 17 Yew Tree Drive, Kingswood, Bristol 

My father wrote to the previous owner Mr Marsh who kindly wrote back (see below) and amongst other things said that he sold the Moke in September 1967 with a mileage of approx 12,000 miles. It was presumably part exchanged or bought by Edward Wallace of Bristol (see invoice above) a car dealer / garage owner who appears to have run the car on trade plates having clocked up another 3000 miles (Sept 1967 - Feb 1968)

September 1967 - Edward Wallace, (Car Sales) Hampton Road, Redland, Bristol 6 

3rd February 1968 - Third owner Richard Crumbleholme, 23 Greenhill, Weymouth, Dorset.  Mileage 15,300 (see sale invoice above)

Summary of maintenance, MOT's and mileages (1968-1977)

3/2/1968 - Purchased in Bristol : Mileage 15300

12/3/1968 - First Service : mileage 15414

17/6/68 - 2 No 520x10 Dunlop Weathermaster tyres supplied & fitted £11. 15s. 0d;  (over £200 each now !)   1 No Crompton 6LM7R Battery : £8 7s 0d. (Guy Toone Ltd - Weymouth)

1968 - June - Trip around Southern Ireland.

11/6/1969 - Service : mileage 26478

1969 - 1971 - I used the Moke to travel to and from London - Weymouth. In those days you could park in many places in london free of charge !

15/7/1969 - Runamoke Ltd 73-77 Battersea Church Rd London SW11 - 2 No Moke bucket seats : £25. 4s. 0d. (still in the car !)

2/8/1969  - 3000 service : mileage 30128

1969 - September - Trip to Switzerland (note mileage difference between service and MOT below (5000+)

4/10/1969. Mileage 35612.   MOT test £1 5s 0d (Parkway Garage Dorchester)

18/12/1969. - Service : mileage 39185

10/10/1970 - MOT (Guy Toone) : mileage 49179

15/10/1971 - MOT : mileage 60983

25/11/1971 - Bells Garages Ltd, Richmond Surrey - remedy of electrical fault on the ignition switch, loose wire on coil and replace distributor wire and connector. For the sum of £5.62 (money now metric!). I had met a lovely girl at a party that weekend and had to stay in London for a few days due to the Moke refusing to start !  Did the Moke do this on purpose !  The girl has been my wife for over 50 years now.

12/10/1972 - MOT : mileage 71165

25/6/1973 - Jubilee Garage (Weymouth) Short Engine (£35) with new clutch, valves, filters plugs oil etc all fitted £115.95

17/9/1973  - MOT : mileage 78835

29/8/1974 - Welded in plates to floor

1/10/1975 - MOT : mileage 97685

1/3/1976 - New rear sub frame (still in car)

29/9/1976 - MOT : mileage 103151

8/10/1977 - Last bill from Gerry's Autos preparing for MOT - MOT passed on 28/10/1977 Mileage 107347.

28/10/1977 - Taken off the road and stored in my grandmother's garage in 12 Brunel Drive, Preston, Weymouth 

Mileage 107,351. It stayed there some 14 years until 1991 when we moved to our house in Upwey to begin the first rebuild.

From the Mileage Graph 1968 - 1977 the average annual mileage works out as 10,228 miles.

Long Distance Trips before taken off road in 1977.

June 1968 - Trip around Southern Ireland with my school friend Keith Wright during the summer of 1968. During the previous summer, we toured Wales on our Lambretta scooters with a very small tent. We bought a bigger tent for this trip. Sadly, I do not have any records or photos of the trip but the insurance documents and green card that I do have are dated to cover 24th June to 24th July 1968 so we obviously went after having finished our "A" levels. We drove to Fishguard to catch the ferry to Rosslare near Cork in Southern Ireland. I can remember some rather over zealous customs officers taking everything out of the Moke including the side panniers and then leaving us to repack it all. We had removed the rear seat and had an orange canvas sheet which secured our tent and belongings.

My mum and grandmother had kept several postcards that I had sent home - these were sent quite frequently unlike most teenagers ! . Tuesday 25th June : (310 miles) arrived at Waterford and in addition to our adventures with the Customs had to ditch all our food due to Foot & Mouth restrictions. Some trouble with fan hitting cowling.  Wednesday 26th June : (402 miles) engine mounting found broken and paid £5 5s 9d to get it fixed. Thursday 27th June (550 miles) - visited the Blarney Stone with heavy rain ! Moke running well. Friday 28th June (613 miles) - At Killarney in the west - car running well. Sunday 30th June (873 miles) - Ran out of fuel at extreme western point - calculated that moke was doing 48-49 mpg. Tuesday 2nd July (1235 miles) - Near Limerick all well apart very some very rain. Saturday 6th July (1734 miles) In Galway and then to Dublin to cross to Holyhead on Tuesday. Monday 8th July - (2082 miles) Arrived in Dublin after 250mile drive. Tuesday 9th July - crossed to Wales and travelled to Liverpool and stayed with a relative of Keith's until we travelled down to London to a cousins wedding. on 11th July.

We travelled around Southern Ireland in a clockwise direction across the south coast and then up the beautiful west coast. We ran out of petrol on the most westerly tip (the Dingle peninsula I think) - I had to hitch a lift to the nearest filling station. I can remember giving two American girls a lift in this area. Southern Ireland in those days was quite primitive with small roads and villages. I can remember real Guinness which was levelled off with a wooden spatula prior to you being allowed to drink it. We ate a lot of soda bread and I can remember the locals being very friendly and interested in the Moke. One postcard noted that food was cheap with petrol being our main expense. We travelled back via Dublin to Holyhead. 

Below : Two postcards that I had sent home. 

September 1969 - Trip to Switzerland - again with my friend Keith Wright during the September 1969. (aged 19). Having suffered with the standard Moke seats during our Southern Ireland trip, I purchased two Moke bucket seats from Runamoke Ltd (Ron Smith) when he was in Battersea, London - my college in London was quite close and I often called there for bits and pieces. These seats (they are still in the car) made the trip far more comfortable and as they could also be removed quite easily, we could sleep in the car if necessary. Sadly again, I have no photo records of the trip and having taken a film on an 8mm cine camera do not have this either. However, I do have some postcards that I had sent my parents and grandparents during the trip and that my late mother luckily had kept. I have managed to largely reconstruct the trip from these. 

We set off from home on 4th September 1969. Having reached Dover, it was lucky that we had plenty of time as Keith had forgotten his passport and we had to drive back to Weymouth to get it before boarding the cross channel ferry on Friday 5th. Once off the ferry in Ostend, we got to Leige by nightfall. We drove into Germany and got on the autobahn and travelled south via Cologne, Frankfurt & Strasbourg.  

Looking at the map now, I wonder why we went this rather long way around - it would have been far more direct to go via the Luxembourg area (even this route would have been some 520 miles) The autobahns were made of large concrete panels and I remember the constant tyre noise going over the joints. Without any speed limits, it was quite hairy being overtaken by fast cars and huge trucks. I recall the Rhine river being near the autobahn most of the way. 

We entered Switzerland via Basel on Saturday 6th and then went down to Lake Geneva staying at the east end at Montreux on Sunday 7th. We then travelled north towards Interlaken and stayed just to the south at Wildersill from Monday 8th for a few days.  We were climbing the long pass to get to Interlaken and having reached the top of the summit, it started to rain. I turned the wiper on and the engine promptly stopped ! We managed to drive down around the numerous bends to get down into the valley below. 

Fortunately for us, we soon came across a garage in Wildersill and although the owner spoke no English, he soon found that the voltage regulator and dynamo had failed resulting in a flat battery. He declared "I have one" and soon returned from his store with a new regulator which he fitted in a matter of minutes. He cleaned up the dynamo and recharged the battery at a cost of £10 and we were on the road again in a matter of hours. Whilst in this Interlaken area, where there were several BMC garages, we also had a new front OS wheel bearing fitted (for £7) as it had become noisy.

On Saturday 13th, from Interlaken we travelled up to Lucerne and then on to Basle. We travelled back the same way up the Rhine valley although we went further north into Holland visiting Amsterdam and Rotterdam for a few days before travelling down to the ferry at Ostend. We boarded the ferry on Wednesday 17th and got back to Dorset later that day.  

From my service records - the Moke had a service on 2nd August at 30,128 miles and then another one on 4th October at 35,612 miles. having done 5484 miles.

Below : Two postcards of the Interlaken area that I had sent home.

Trip to Biarritz, France (Bill Crumbleholme - my brother)

Details awaited

First Rebuild - Completed 1995. - please use this link   

Long Distance Trips after 1st rebuild (1995)

15th September 1995 - 1st Moke Club Welsh Weekend

Started 15/9/1995 and after 10.5hrs and 274miles arrived Tal y bont north Wales . Overall trip 712 miles average MPG : 45.6. 

19th September 1996 - Moke Club Welsh Weekend

Overall trip 762 miles

19th September 1997 - Moke Club Welsh Weekend

Visited Portmeiron village (took Moke into it). Overall trip 688 miles 

14th September 1998 - Moke Club Welsh Weekend

Overall trip 648 miles

1996 ?? - Trip to French Alps (Simon Crumbleholme - my son) 

After the first rebuild, my son Simon learnt to drive in the Moke (with lessons as well) and then drove it to college in Weymouth and later to university in South Wales.  Being a keen mountain biker, he designed a bike rack for the moke.

Summer 1996 ??  - Together with his friend Scott, he drove down to the French Alps with snowboards and two mountain bikes on the rear rack. Having got off the ferry in France, unfortunately the windscreen was smashed so they drove the whole trip without a screen using their snowboard goggles.    

2000 - 2014 :

Having moved to Winterbourne Steepleton in 2000 (about 4 miles west of Dorchester),  

2nd Rebuild Completed 2017 

please use this link

Summary of trips, maintenance, MOT's & mileages since 2nd rebuild (2017 - to date)

19/04/2017 - First MOT after rebuild mileage 127351

9/10/2017 - Cylinder head gasket - faulty replaced 

9/04/2018 - MOT (Bartletts) mileage 128419

29/09/2018 - Oil change mileage mileage 129590

9/04/2019 -  MOT (Bartletts) mileage 129836

2020 March-June  - Covid lockdown !  I made a detachable frame for the side screens and modified them to fit the "new" hood. This prevents damage to body/paint.

August 2020 - Made lockable hinged rear cover to boot behind rear seats (see photo above)

4/9/2020 - Welsh Trip  Voltage regulator fault - auto electrician adjusted & fitted new battery. Total trip 881 miles avearge 44 mpg. This was my first Moke Club Welsh weekend since 1998.

2021 - May - Replaced clutch and oil seals Mileage 131702

6/7/2021 -  MOT (Bartletts) mileage 131779

Sept 2021 - Welsh Trip Overall mileage : 907 average 43.68mpg

Here's a link to great video which features quite a bit of my Moke GJB 121C (I was in front of the camera guy a lot)

2021 Welsh Weekend : https://drive.google.com/file/d/17IP4qR3TPVnbQScI82zsPIs88TNOu-Yd/view?t=29s

16/9/2021 - Fitted additional n/s engine stabiliser - this was another great improvement.

2022 - 5th July /2022 -  MOT (Bartletts) mileage 133389

Sept 2022 - Welsh Weekend trip  overall mileage 844 

December 2022 - New temp gauge and new internal circuit to rev counter. 

2023 - March : Fitted no shim balljoints (Bottletop Racing - Japanese) to front wheels - stiff until about 1500 miles after fitting. Got a new set due to this but not fitted (spares!)

March 2023 : Fitted adjustable Hi-Lo suspension struts to front suspension. Adjusted to 32mm o/a which gave 9.5" ground clearance under front panel.

April 2023 : Removed cylinder head and corroded bypass hose stub. Renewed with SS stub and silicone hose. New antifreeze.

May 2023 - Trip to Lutterworth (nr Leicester) for the Moke Club 40th Birthday Party. Broke down on way home ! (fuel pump failed - Simon got me back)

June 2023 - New fuel pump, new battery/alternator and converted to negative earth. Reasonably straighforward and a great improvement 

June 2023 - Fitted ex British Army Military Land Rover Radio base antenna support (Thales No 31 mk 6 plus fibreglass 2 part antenna) from a Moke member Robin W at Lutterworth.

Sept 2023 - MOT (Bartletts) mileage 35088 no issues.

Sept 2023 - Moke Club Welsh Weekend at Devil's Bridge (mid Wales).  715 miles 

Oct 2023 - Replaced front shock absorber rubber bushes.

2024 - July : New plugs & leads, oil change plus filter, new points.

August 2024 - MOT (no advisories)

September 2024 - Welsh Weekend (Snowdonia). Total 811 miles

October 2024 - Heater matrix leak. Replaced matrix renewed antifreeze.

2025 - January to May : Modified front side screens with an additional vertical zip near the windscreen / side lights. This allows easier access and also permits the central part between the existing and new zips to be rolled up.

April -May 2025 :  All brake shoes, springs, flexible hoses and wheel cylinders renewed along with brake / clutch fluid. Wheels resprayed black and swapped around to even tyre wear.

July 2025 - Replaced rear wheel bearings and adjusted clutch stop. Replaced steering rack gaiters & re-tracked after.

August 2025 - MOT (no advisories) Bartletts .(37428mls) [1178 mls since 2024 MOT]

August 2025 - Inserted packing piece to rear of o/s rear subframe to prevent subframe rubbing against rear floor. N/S okay. Inserted neoprene rubber strips to prevent stones getting between front of subframe and body - Bartletts removed a stone during MOT that had been causing a very annoying noise !

29th August 2025: Tightened fan belt and checked points. Tested side screens with new front zips. Had to resite the turn buttons on the front sections.**

4th - 8th September 2025: My granddaughter Freya travelled with me for the annual Moke Club Welsh Weekend to Snowdonia. We had a great time with the long trips up from home and back again. Three days of trips out with 14 Mokes. See Freya's account of this trip which was published in the Nov 2025 Moking magazine.

A total of 852 miles covered. (38,308 mls) The Moke ran well not missing a beat !

Late September 2025 - took a small "V" section out of each front side screen and sewed/glued up in order to tighten the screens against the sides. The zip insertions had created this slackness. ** Had to refit the turn buttons back to original positions - repainted sections of the screen frames. Resprayed the front grille. 

2026 - 1st January Mileage 138,379 

Below :  The Moke by Freya Bellamy, my grand daughter August 2023

Below : Wiring digram after conversion to negative earth (May 2023)