The yellow Mini Moke is back, and it’s thanks to Greek Australian Jim Markos.
He’s just returned from a very fruitful trip to Thessaloniki for the International Trade Fair, and is in the process of writing up some distribution deals to see the canary yellow novelty car make it to the Mediterranean.
Holding the exclusive international licence to the new and improved Moke, Jim is finding demand is outweighing his production output.
Setting up shop at the Trade Fair alongside the Hellenic Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HACCI), Jim had brought over a Moke to show at the fair and was by far the most popular stall of the Australian contingent.
Many festivalgoers made a beeline to the stall the minute they saw the car, asking Jim all sorts of questions both out of curiosity and for business ventures.
“It was a huge audience that saw the vehicle and loved it,” he tells Neos Kosmos.
Some were very keen for a test drive, with a major Spanish firm flying in to the fair just to see the new Moke in person.
Jim says interest came from almost every industry.
“We met people in the hotel industry, in the car hire and car rental industry, we met people from government level and we met people from a manufacturing level,” he says. “Really the only person I didn’t meet was Antonis Samaras (the Greek prime minister).”
He says that we could be seeing Mokes in the sunny Greek islands by next year’s summer season.
Quite amazingly, Jim took the project on in 2009. Back then there was no car, no manufacturer and no distributor. The original Moke was released in 1964 and went out of production in 1992, after more than 25 years on the market.
He knew demand was there, having sold the most expensive British Moke in Australia for $28,000.
He has since re-imagined the car, found a Chinese manufacturer and created the first prototype. His cars are now on the road in sunny locations around the globe.
He’s reached the point where people are begging him to come visit and set up a distribution.
“We’ve been receiving a huge response from all the islands in Greece, and Cyprus and Turkey for this car,” he says.
Jim has already set up cars in Thailand, Vanuatu and the Caribbean, all with embedded beach cultures.
In the 1970s and ’80s, the Moke was a Bondi staple, when it came under the names of Austin Mini Moke, Morris Mini Moke and Leyland Moke.
From the start, Jim wanted to target the beach tourism industry, where Moke was active and much loved.
“We’re targeting all those countries that have a particular climate.”
Seeing the car in Australia is still a little way off, with about 500 pre-orders taken.
He hopes to open up more sales in 12 months, when the manufacturing line is more mature. “For us right now it’s about creating a good manufacturing line to produce lots of vehicles,” he says.
New ventures will be in Vanuatu, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Morocco and Algeria.
Although the new Moke looks just like the British design, not much else is the same. It’s been converted to meet more modern tastes, while also making it more safe and reliable.
“It’s got a modern driveline, four proper seating positions, there’s a lot more room internally than in the old one, the dimensions of the new Moke are bigger, it’s got modern brakes, modern suspension,” Jim says.
While a lot of energy has gone into making the car suitable for tourism businesses, Jim says the plan is to open up Moke to the wider public and get individual buyers driving around in them.
“The private sector is really warming to the car,” he says. “It’s the person that has two cars, has their holiday house and they’re looking for a cool car.”
The asking price for the new Moke in Australia is $22,999 and comes in six colours including black, yellow, red, white, orange and blue.