"Chassis broken in half & braced with timber"?! That's a quality machine.
A Moggy Minor van converted into a pick-up. I had one like that about 20 years ago, though I built a steel bed for mine & fitted a 1600 Fiat twin cam engine. My Ford Pop project uses a steel Moggy pick-up cab back, bought from a guy in Wales for 20 quid.
Moggy pick-ups are great fun but the cabs are very cramped -cramming my wife, me & our Labrador in there used to be a bit of a squeeze!