1948 Driving 6/80 Pick-up

From the files of Mr. Noticeboard Oddities...

This is quite a famous 'oddity'. It's a Wolseley 6/80 pick-up - the only one, as far as we know, that was ever so converted. More interestingly, it still exists today, a remarkable feat for a one-off commercial vehicle, particularly one that seems to have been well-used in its intended role until fairly recently.

The Wolseley 6/80 & Morris MO Club has known of the pick-up for many years without ever having any firm information on it, for the vehicle has always been in South Africa until now. It is known that it started life as a saloon in November 1951 and that less than a year later it was registered in Salisbury, Rhodesia as a pick-up. The conversion was done by simply removing the rear half of the saloon and grafting on the chassis and pick-up bed of a Morris MCV, an already-existing model in the contemporary Nuffield range whose construction is closely related to the 6/80 in a number of respects. Since a brand-new 6/80 was not cheap, it is very likely that the conversion was done by Nuffield itself, though it's anyone's guess if this was done in the UK or after the vehicle was sent out to South Africa.

After many years of uncertainty about the pick-up, the Wolseley 6/80 & Morris MO Club is pleased to report that the pick-up is in the UK in the ownership of Geoff Surgenor of Belfast, who put in six months of very extensive refurbishment work to return the vehicle to splendid condition.