RESTORATION RE-ENGINEERING
As regular readers will know, Ray and Ken Walsh turn out restorations – invariably of more interesting vehicle types – at a rate that’s hard to keep up with.
“We’re suckers for lost causes too,” admits Ken Walsh, talking about what he describes as their Wuhan Plague holiday project.
“As a commercial vehicle, the 1960s Morris FJ was a lost cause from the moment it first went into service. Of course, we thought we knew better than the British Motor Corporation engineers. After 35 modifications, they still couldn’t fix persistent problems with cooling system. They were sending engineers all over the world responding to warranty claims. The FJ lost BMC millions.”
Austin and Morris FJs are indistinguishable apart from the nameplate. The model was introduced in 1964 and built at BMC’s newly opened plant in Bathgate, West Lothian. FJs were the first – and last, as it happened – Austin/ Morris tilt-cabs. The type eventually morphed into a range topped by the Leyland Clydesdale 14-16 tonner, with the cab raised to accommodate the Leyland 402 diesel, which was mounted upright, unlike the sideways slanted installation of the FJ’s 5.7-litre.
The diesel’s proneness to overheating proved so deep-seated that, despite the Walshes clever reworking of the cooling system, this Spring, the engine decided it had had enough. It expired on the delivery run to Wales with their newly completed restoration of the Owen family’s 1955 Thornycroft
