Scouts are rare here because they were not all that good... I have an old video from 1986 of a Scout attempting to cross a river in Queensland. It died in the middle and was rescued by a Hilux. When the doors were opened water just flowed out. It must have been six inches deep in there. An hour later five Mini…

Thanks, I'm pretty happy with what I have. :) Maybe I'd like to add a mid 90's Cabrio one day, but that's about it. A mate and I do the Shitbox Rally (it's a charity rally, raising money for Cancer research) in this abused Mini van. It was rusty as hell and about to be scrapped. Basically the bottom six inches of…

My grandfather had one from almost new for a few years. They are still around in decent numbers, although very much in the cheapish performance beater category these days. http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/clayton-s…

The Mazda 323 GTX was never sold in Aus. The top model was the SS which was basically the same as the non-turbo TX3. There are hundreds of grey import GTX floating around though.

Yes, I suppose I should. It's fantastic fun. It's spring here and I've driven it to work twice this week already. :)

Try one. It will have you giggling like a 12 year old by the second curve.

Yes, I probably should. It is the most fun thing ever. It's spring where I live (Melbourne Australia) and I have driven the Moke to work twice this week already. :D

Hi! Yes, I did enjoy the video. It made me want to leave work and go for a drive right then! Minis have a way of getting under your skin. I've been playing with them for over 20 years now and I still can't get enough of them. I've even driven right across Australia and back in them. My Moke is my favorite. That…

Yes, very true. It could be an engine from a 90's Mini. :)

The MG Metro (and 1990 RSP Cooper) engine had 72hp at the flywheel from the factory. It's not hard to find 4hp with a few mods. :) If you are talking hp at the wheels, 76 hp is a pretty hot engine. This is my much-modified Moke and my wife's stock 66 Austin Mini. I also have a 65 Woody Traveller under long term…

This guy clearly understands and loves Minis. It's great to see he accepts the drawbacks and sees them as part of the charm. I hate to sound like a nitpicker, but his engine is not a Cooper S engine. It's a late model A+ 1275 engine from a Metro, the Mini's hatchback cousin. Probably the faster MG Metro engine…

Thanks for your advice. It might be just a centre diff lock. It's the factory position on the hi-lo range selector. That Defender is completely stock Aussie specs with no ARB bits. Even my mate who is a LR nut suggested the Wrangler is more suited to what I want. I prefer a SWB as we already have a 2009…

I spent some time a couple of weeks ago driving a mate's 2012 Defender 110 around his bush property. Low range, diff locks and it went up anything. I'm still undecided whether to go for a Wrangler Diesel or a Defender 90. They are about the same money here. The Defender definitely has more charm and character and…

That guy feels about his Land Rover the way I feel about my Moke. Now rather than a new Defender I think I want an old Series....

Come to Aus, steal the soon-to-be-redundant tooling, re-engineer for LHD. Job done.

Try passing something in an old VW Bug. Same story. Yes, my 60hp 71 Beetle will do the legal limit of 110kph. Yes, I will pull out to pass your 400hp Commodore doing 102kph. Yes, you will accelerate to 130kph just to keep me behind you. Yes, this confirms you are a dickhead.

The Moke is great fun to drive. People want to talk about it or even buy it off me every time I drive it. But I will never sell it. :)

These cars were not bad at all. If they had been released before the Miata they would have been lauded by the press as the first affordable convertible in years. Sure the top leaked, but that was about the worst of it. The general quality of the Capri was not bad and the mechanicals are bulletproof when looked…

These are mine. My well travelled and battle scarred 1971 Mini Moke with 1275cc on the left and a stock and very original 1966 Mk1 Austin Mini Super-Deluxe 850cc on the right. I also have a Mini Traveller (woody) under restoration and a half share in the 1969 Mini Van we use for Shitbox Rally.

In Australia we receive a lot of used Japanese Imports. Late model Skylines, EVO's etc. It's difficult to cover up an odometer roll back once the car is registered in Australia. However, an anwful lot of imports seems to mysteriously shed kilometers between the auction in Japan and the dealer's lot in our cities. …