Ask any plumber and he’ll tell you they stumble across all sorts of things as they visit their customers. That’s how Darren Clancy came up with the idea of restoring a J Van and using it to market his plumbing business.

Darren was doing some plumbing work for Newtown car photographer, Peter Bateman, when he set eyes on the photographer’s Morris J-Type van. It was love at first sight – but the van was definitely not for sale.

“I decided there and then we’d have to get one,” recalls Darren. “Apart from anything else, a vintage van looked like a fun way to help promote our expertise in plumbing for vintage houses.”

J-Type vans don’t come on the market that often, but pretty soon Darren and partner Alayne had tracked one down near Cairns and a deal was done.

A van that earned its crust
Like most J Vans (as they are known), the Pipe Perfection van was put to work as soon as it was ready for the road in 1958. After arriving in Australia in CKD (Completely Knocked Down) form, it was assembled at the BMC plant in Rosebery in Sydney.

First delivered to Guest’s Bakery in Wangaratta, it was soon sporting the Sunnycrest livery after Guest’s was taken over. After long service – perhaps 20 years – ownership passed to the ‘Wang Rovers’ footie club, which used it as a their party van and mobile Esky. Worse still, it was painted in a glittering purple!

Luckily, the van was then purchased by J Van enthusiast Steve Hartnell, who took it to Queensland and commenced restoration. Sanding back the hideous purple paint revealed the Sunnycrest red – and the van’s history literally came to light. While restoration stalled, Steve had painted the van the green it is today before putting it on the market in 2011.

Missing in action
After finding the van, the next hurdle was transporting it 2,500kms back to Sydney.

You might think that sending a truck to bring a small van back to Sydney would be pretty straight forward. Not so, as it turned out. The first truck driver refused to load the van because it had some parts in the back. The next trucking company subcontracted the job – and then the fun really began. “The van was collected as planned, but the trucking company lost track of it,” says Darren. “This went on for about three weeks, at which stage we asked them whether we should report it stolen from their yard – but with a little help from the J Van network, it was found!”

Getting stuck into restoration
By now it was January 2012. Luckily, the local mechanic who services Pipe Perfection’s vans had done his apprenticeship on Morris vehicles and was able to get the engine running again. The radiator was full of rust and mud and had to be rebuilt.

“I’ve seen some blocked drains in my life, but this rivalled any of them,” says Darren. Meanwhile, Darren and Alayne were busy sourcing parts from the UK, New Zealand and Australia – and where they couldn’t be found, had them custom made.

Replacement drum brakes turned out to be the hardest parts to find. Darren recalls, “We called, emailed and hassled people from Campbelltown to the UK with no luck, but the Peter Bateman located what we needed in the roof of a home in the northern beaches.”

Another challenge was rewiring the old girl. Unable to find an auto electrician who was interested in the task, Darren spent 30 hours rewiring the van, using some 20 metres of wiring in the process. “It was a bit like restoring the plumbing of an old house,” comments Darren, “If you can’t get what you need ‘off-the-shelf’, you have to use a little ingenuity to solve the problems that arise.”

Then it was time get a ‘Blue Slip’ – and after a minor setback on the first attempt, the Pipe Perfection J Van – by now named ‘Pippy’ by Darren and Alayne’s kids – was back on the road after a rest of nearly 30 years!

The finishing touch
There was one last thing to do before the J Van could start earning her keep as a mobile billboard. “We wanted to signwrite her for the business,” says Alayne Clancy, “But the modern livery of our other vehicles didn’t seem right. So we came up with the idea of using the old plumber’s wrench as a symbol and the slogan ‘Have a happy day’. And you know, that’s what our little van does. She puts a smile on the face of every one who sees her.”

About Morris J Vans
The Morris J-Type Van is a 10cwt (half ton) van launched by the Morris in England in 1949 and produced until 1961. The van followed the emerging trend of having forward controls and sliding doors. Some were fitted with extra side windows and were used for carrying extra passengers, but the J Van’s role was usually commercial. Many were bought by the British Post Office, for whom the J Van was fitted with rubber front and rear wings – hardly a statement of confidence in their employees’ driving standards! Until 1957, J Vans used a 1476cc side-valve engine similar to those used in contemporary Morris Oxfords. The 1957 update saw the arrival of the 1489c BMC B-Series engine, which was used in a variety of passenger cars seen on Australian roads from the Morris Major to the sporty MGA.

If you’d like to know more about these most practical of classics, go to www.jytpevan.com.