I just came across this discussion.  Years ago I had a LHD Moke with black California plates "VGX510".  A white car painted orange with a black and orange striped top, and lots of rust.  I was told that it was a Catalina Moke, but never had any way of knowing if this was true.  I am not sure what happened to this car, or if it ever was restored.  I also had at the time two of the BMC Technical Support Vehicles.  I sold the nicer one to Wayne Carini and I appeared briefly with Wayne on Chasing Classic Cars (he still has it and he always asks me if I'm ready to buy it back every time I see him at classic car events).  I sold the other to a buyer in London, and remember the shipping was very challenging as the coach was larger than a container!  I currently own a Fiat 600 Jolly that I purchased many years ago from a gentleman that swore it was also from Catalina and used as a taxi.  This one has California black plates "LYK747".  Does anyone have knowledge/photos about the Fiat Jollys on Catalina?  I tried to post some of my Moke and Jolly photos, but I can't figure out how to do it-

I was living in Australia (Sydney Area - in Manly to be specific) while on a trip, I saw the mokes on Magnetic Island. This was some 3 years ago. It took me a bit of effort to find them. I wanted to rent one - but they were all out of commission due to mechanical failures. They were not in bad shape - meaning they were not rust heaps  - at least not yet... But they were not in the best condition.

A couple of images of the Moke that I purchased from Tom Schramm, this was taken in his storage in MN. Somewhere between 1998& 2000.

Martin.

Please get bored soon Larry! I'd love to hear about the removal of my Moke from Catalina.

I bought my first US Moke off Tom S. in the late 90's. Going to do a second restoration on it next year.

Hey Bill, FAKE NEWS! Not true. I bought all the mokes from Catalina by myself, then sold some to Tom Schramm from Minn. I removed them all from the Island with the help of my friend Adam. Tom met me days later in Long Beach to pick his up. He actually had nothing to do with the removal, or the initial purchase of the MOKES. I sold some of the last ones I had to M parts when I fell ill from my exposure to the dust while volunteering at the WTC on 9/11 and rescuing the last 2 survivors. Any VIN plates they got were still attached to the cars they purchased from me. I believe they are just rebodying them, while salvaging most of the mechanicals and the firewall of the cars, as that was the only piece at the time they did not have available to rebuild a MK1 English Moke shell. I still have 3 Catalina Mokes w/ all the new metal to rebuild them and haven't decided what I'm going to do with them yet. As well as 4 other Mokes, 1 of which was purchased from the Competitons director of B/L and has never been titled! One day when I'm bored I'll write the whole story of when, how and what a task it was to rescue the Catalina Fleet.............Later LH......

This from Bill Cox:

 

"re. catalina moles.. the two guys that bought them.. all

"Larry Holloway.. in NJ.. now in SC and Tom Schrumm in Minn.. might add that to the MM thread..   I know bunch of them sold to M parts to the US titles and vin plates to created new mokes.. later bc"

 

Hi, I bought my Mokes from M parts here in the UK, I’ll try and upload some pictures, I’m not great with computers.  I run a restoration business, mainly pre war race cars but we have done many Moke’s over the years.

Hi Dr Mini, I went to a small town close by the twin cities MN (maybe Elgin) and met a guy who had over a dozen Mokes in a shed on his property, he said that he bought a semi truck piled up with Mokes from Catalina island, this was in 1996/7. I picked what I thought was the best one. The license plate was on the vehicle when I bought it.

I replaced most of the floor panels and all of the wheel covers (mudguards?) which is prob why it does not resemble an original Moke. I was working from memory of the one I had as a daily driver in England (1970-1974).

I do have a 3 ring binder of the restoration but for the life of me I can't find it. I will do some more digging as I want to look at the work that I did as well. (I've lived in four countries since then so I've no idea where to start looking!).

Best regards, Martin.

Looking to buy original Catalina Island license plates from Mini Mokes. If you have one for sale, let me know. Scott

@Manicmark Where did you buy a couple Catalina Mokes from? Who's restoring them? @Martin Greenbank You have any more pics of that Moke? Where did it come from? Because that's not a Catalina plate number and the car does not look like any of the Catalina Mokes.

Here is a pic of my 1965 Catalina Moke "VCL 355" CA, "7314" Idaho. It's about to undergo it's second restoration. I placed it in storage (a friends barn) for 16 years while I was travelling to Europe, S. Africa, Canada and Australia for work, now that I'm retired and my Mini pickup is about restored I plan to have another go at it. 

Martin.

Hi, I realise this post was a few years ago but hopefully it will still be seen.  I have bought a couple of the Catalina cars, I would be really interesting to find out some more of the history of individual cars, I own the moke that was registered WXR 295.  I would be more than happy to buy the old plate from you if you still had it or any other memorabilia associated with it.  The car is currently being restored to its original specification in the UK.

Hello, It's been a while. Hope you are doing well. I know you don't want to sell the licence plate I was looking for, but it would be great if you can take a picture of it and what ever else you might have relating to it. Take care.
Scott  Email to: [email protected]

in the hunt for a bonnet for my moke.  Any leads helpful. PM me from my profile please. thanks

So I went to read this, but looks like it's from 4 years ago........did you make a copy and can you post it here?
Thanks Bug AL,,
Peter

Hello Larry, I Haven't heard from you in a while. Did you ever find and paperwork on the moke with plate wxr 276 ? Still curious what has happened to the Moke and any history on it. Last I heard you were going to look for the plate and any paperwork and to see if you still had the Moke.  Hope to hear from you. Thanks.
Scott

I sold my restored Catalina Island Moke, a 1968, a few years ago. Forgot what license plate number that had.

I still have a 1967 Catalina Island Moke. Restoration has not progressed much but have all the panels for it.  That interestingly has plate number WXR 296.

Did you ever find the license plate or the moke? I am still interested?
Scott

I believe the previous owner had the decal, Catalina Island Patrol , placed onthe yellow moke, when l had it painted yellow, l left the decal-on there

it came to me with only 3 of the original U K seats

 Big AL

Don't see a blue moke on your profile. I see a white one but picture is really small to tell.
Are you interested in selling it? Let me know.

Scott