Buying Abroad: The best places to bag a Mini Moke

Buying a Mini Moke overseas is a good call, but the UK offers an alternative

More Mokes – the rufty-tufty Mini spinoff – were made in Australia than in the other two countries where it was made – Britain and Portugal. Most of those built in Britain were exported and considering their habit of crumbling into the earth at the first sign of a British winter, growing scarcity and creeping values, you might think that buying a rust-free model from sunny Australia is a no brainer. And you might have had a point a few years ago.

Today, however, complete Moke body shells are being made in the UK. Leo Jack of Moke Panels in Somerset (www.mokepanels.com, 01278 786993) used to import project Mokes from Australia to restore, before deciding to fabricate complete bodyshells here instead. Now, he says, buying from Australia is no longer necessary. After you’ve accounted for the time and expense of sourcing a good example from Australia – and the inherent risks of buying a vehicle that you haven’t seen – you might as well buy a new bodyshell (£5500 +VAT) from Moke Panels, in order to restore a shabby Moke that’s already here, or simply build one up using running gear from a standard Mini. Either way, you’ll end up with a vehicle that you know you can trust. You’ll also be supporting British enterprise too...

But if you value originality and right-hand drive, then there’s a fair selection of Mokes in the Australian classifieds, particularly in the £8000-12,000 bracket (excluding shipping and duty). Do beware dodgy restorations though; welded repairs and homemade panels are common. ‘They’re open vehicles, and are usually kept outside, so they do rust all over, even in Australia,’ warns Leo, who admits to having been caught out himself before.

Later European Mokes were made in Portugal, and are now scattered throughout Europe. Their price tags can be rather intimidating – especially in Germany, for some reason – but we reckon that finding a solid one and then driving it home would be a pretty decent idea for a summer holiday…