1981 Leyland Moke Standard from Australia and New Zealand - Comments

Blown head gasket at 54,000 Klm.

Broken diff at 60,000 Klm.

Vinyl hood fell apart costing $1,200 to be replaced.

This is the best car I have ever owned!

It is fun, reliable, cheap to run and gets looks where ever I go.

The body is galvanized so it should not rust.

All the running gear is straight off the Mini so parts are easy to come by.

It is great off road, but with only 6" ground clearance you are limited to where you can go. Sand is big enemy as the Moke bogs down straight away. The up side is with the weight being only 535 kg, with a few friends you can just lift it out of trouble.

A heater does come with most models, but rug up in winter because it's pretty ineffective when the winds come through the vinyl hood. In summer with the hood down, sunburn is an issue to consider as well.

A very sociable car, for no matter where you go, someone has got a story about a Moke.

Yep, Great fun, but can be frustrating when anything internal goes wrong, especially with gbox, clutch or diff, motor out for repairs. The Black hood is better that the denim in terms of longevity, but not as stylish (some would disagree. As for driving in sand, let the tyres down to 15 psi and have some fun!!

I had 100,000km of hastle free driving in mine before the motor started to cost more in oil than fuel, so a big 1275 motor and lots of hot-up bits (All interchangeable with Mini) and I have a fun mobile that sounds great and goes surprisingly well.

Hey isn't Leyland from England and didn't they used to own Jaguar back in the early 70's and 80's? Will someone help me out here.

Leyland Australia was the Aussie branch of British Leyland- They built Minis, Mokes, buses, trucks, and assembled completely knocked down versions of a number of BL cars, so yes, the same Leyland that built the Jaguar during the 70's.

The last year's production of Minis and Mokes in Australia used a number of parts sourced directly from England, including complete motor/gearbox units and steering racks as the Australian supplies of these parts ran out towards end of production.