When we first featured this 1966 Morris FG recovery truck before auction day at Anglia Car Auctions, it brought back an extraordinary number of memories.
For many people, that distinctive cab was once a familiar sight. FGs worked as delivery lorries, recovery trucks and countless other commercial vehicles, earning their keep rather than being tucked away as cherished classics.
This maroon recovery truck certainly struck a chord.
So when auction day arrived, we were keen to see what someone would actually pay for it.
A Morris FG that got people reminiscing
There’s something instantly recognisable about a Morris FG.
The unusual cab design, with its distinctive angled lower sections to the doors, gave drivers excellent access in a vehicle designed first and foremost for work.
Today, seeing an FG at all is unusual. Finding one still wearing recovery equipment makes this example even more evocative.
It doesn’t take much imagination to picture a truck like this heading out to rescue a stranded car decades ago.
Stored away in a shed
According to Anglia Car Auctions, the Morris had been registered to its latest keeper since 2014 and had spent time stored in a shed.
The odometer showed 19,431 miles, although with an old commercial vehicle like this we’d treat that simply as the displayed reading rather than making any assumptions about its total lifetime mileage.
Its paperwork included previous and current V5Cs, which recorded seven former keepers since the Morris was re-registered in 1984.
There was also a typed list detailing the first five of those keepers, together with several old tax discs dating from 2009 to 2013.
Interestingly, the engine capacity isn’t recorded on the V5C.
Then came the auction
Anglia Car Auctions placed a £4,000-£6,000 estimate on the Morris.
But an estimate is only an estimate.
Once several people decide they’d quite like the same wonderfully characterful old recovery truck, things can become rather more interesting.
We filmed the FG going under the hammer, and this wasn’t an auction that was over in a handful of bids.
The bidding became surprisingly tense as buyers edged towards the point where somebody eventually had to give in.
Before reading any further, have a figure in mind and watch what happened.
Sold for £5,832
The hammer eventually came down with the Morris selling for £5,832 including buyer’s premium.
That put it neatly towards the upper end of ACA’s £4,000-£6,000 estimate.
And for something this unusual, how do you decide whether that’s expensive or cheap?
This isn’t simply an old commercial vehicle anymore.
It’s a surviving piece of Britain’s working-vehicle history, and judging by the reaction when we first featured it, the Morris FG still means an awful lot to people who remember seeing them earning their living.
What happens to it next?
That’s perhaps the most interesting question.
Would you restore it?
Preserve as much of its aged appearance as possible?
Or recommission it and put the recovery body back to work carrying an equally interesting classic?
We’d love to see it retain the character that made so many people stop and reminisce when we first shared it.
Hopefully its new owner has something interesting planned.
You can still see the original description and extensive gallery of photographs on the Anglia Car Auctions website:
And if you remember Morris FGs working for a living, we’d love to hear where and when you last saw one.
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