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Mokes

To: british-cars%encore.com@munnari.OZ.AU
Subject: Mokes
From: s883351@minyos.xx.rmit.OZ.AU (John Taylor [The Banshee])
Date: Tue, 15 Jan 91 13:20:39 +1100
In case you don't know what a Moke is (I've had several messages so far), I'll
try to describe it.
The Moke is a derivative of the ordinary Austin/Morris/BMC/Leyland Mini and
uses the same mechanical components (ie. both subframe assemblies).  It was 
originally designed as a military vehicle (but failed) and is jeep-like, being
completely open when the roof is lowered (it has a vinyl roof and 4 removable
vinyl doors).  In fact, about the only thing keeping you inside the car around
sharp, fast bends is the seat-belt as the metal body ends below knee-height
when you sit in the car!  (unlike MGBs which end at about shoulder-height).
The body is virtually like a bathtub, and there are almost no curves.  The   
interior (if it can be called that) is best described as sparse - everything
is metal, and the only instrument is a speedo/fuel guage/warning lights unit  
(there's also a couple of extra warning lights on later models).  Early Mokes
had 10" Mini wheels, later (Australian only?) models had 13" wheels.  The
"luxury" version produced in Austrlia was the Californian model which had 
bull-bars (or roo-bars if you prefer), Sunraysia type off-road wheels, usually
better seats (high-back), rubber tube-tread floor covering, and some had
disc-brakes.
The Moke is a great summer car, having it built in air-conditioning (one of the
standard comments made by non-Mokees...)  Much better than "hot-bricks".

I hope this description has helped.  If you want to see a picture of a Moke,
most decent Mini books ("Mini - 30 years on", etc) have a few photos, as do
some books on 60s cars.



+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|   John Taylor  [The Banshee]         Victoria University of Technology     |
|  s883351@minyos.xx.rmit.oz.au    (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) |
|   MOKING IS A HEALTH HAZARD.          Melbourne, Victoria, AUSTRALIA       |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+


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