1:76 Scale

Post Office Morris Minor. 

Hello,

I am a regular customer and enjoy reading through Globe each month. My Father -in- Law saw some of the vans I've purchased from you and told me about his old BT vans - one of which might be another livery for you to produce.

He told me that when he joined the GPO (as it was at the time) he didn't have a driving licence. When he passed his test the GPO gave him a green Minor van to drive, albeit a very old one (about nine years old at least, and this was the very early '70s). The livery of this was the green livery on your 1:76 model of the van. He told me though that for a short time he ran round in this van with the later yellow livery that your 1:43 HA van has. Apparently, having recently passed his test he was still 'on probation' with regard to driving and wasn't given a new van - the green livery was just sprayed over (with the exposed metal inside and under the bonnet still green). He was told that his Minor van with the new yellow livery was very rare - rather than re-spraying vans, most engineers were issued with a new HA van when the liveries changed over. So if you made a model of this it would be of a very rare vehicle.

Eventually my Father - in - Law was trusted with a new van, and he got his HA sometime in the early '70s. He thought it was awful and his suspicions about the van's lack of oomph were confirmed when he was overtaken on a steep hill near his home by a Reliant Robin, despite having his foot to the floor. Although he did have to carry a lot of equipment round in it, which will probably have added a lot of weight.

The vehicles he remembers having as works 'vans' are:

The Minor (in two liveries - as mentioned)
Several HA vans
Bedford Chevannes (the van version of the Vauxhall Chevette)
Commer/Dodge forward control vans (not sure of the model name, but the one with the engine under the cab and the wheels that looked tucked under the body)
Escort Estates in the late 80s and early 90s with the yellow and grey liveries
Various Escort Vans in the grey and white liveries from the mid 90s onwards
and his current van, an '04 reg Corsa Van with 'exploding football' livery on a white background

I don't know if this info. is any use to you in creating new models, but I thought I would pass it on anyhow.

Regards

John in Cumbria