So you’re looking around for a parts hauler. VW Caddy pickups and Type 2 DoKas, Chevrolet Corvair Rampsides, and Dodge D100 pickups are all too common for you. Have we found the car for you here at RustyButTrusty: this 1959 Morris J2 pickup, located in Eugene, OR with bidding around $1800 and the reserve not yet met!
The seller says it has a fair amount of rust, which it does, but unless the cab floors are completely gone, I’d spend my time focusing on the mechanical bits first. The stock engine was a 1489 or 1622cc B-series engine, which some of you may know from the MGA and other BMC cars. As such, parts should be easy to find, and you might actually be able to have a little fun hotrodding the thing. Ultimately, you’d want to get rid of the garish yellow paint, unless it turns out this was originally used by the AAA as a rescue vehicle or something. In fact, a bit of searching netted this gallery of pictures with a brief description suggesting this is the only known J2 pickup with a steel bed in the world. No doubt there are a couple squirreled away somewhere, but you certainly won’t see yourself coming and going.
While this could be a lot of work, the previous owner’s gallery page also says the engine runs quite well, and was pulled for inspection when he had it. This J2 seems fairly complete, so you’d probably want to find out what maintenance parts are hard to get and then jump on it! Picture it in BOAC livery at an airfield, or AA livery with an old Triumph in the back.
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