Honey Springs 150th Anniversary, Going Home – Part 3 (Post #412) 11/13/2013

Having thoroughly enjoyed the weekend and after bidding adieu to my friends it was time to turn the Range Rover west out of Rentiesville (Wikipedia) and get home to my 21st century life. It was the day of the 238th Marine Corps’ Birthday and Mrs. Okierover told me she had baked me a cake. What an awesome wife.

I told her I was going to take the long way home. I new the leaves were turning and I wanted to see Dripping Springs State Park with the leaves changing. But before I could get out of the Honey Springs National Battlefield site a quite unexpected surprise made me stop.

Across the street from the park a gentleman was selling honey from his driveway. As I looked up the drive I saw the rear end of a Land Rover. I was very surprised and immediately backed up to see if what I saw was in fact a Land Rover.

I got out and the gentleman who was previously at the street was no where to be seen. I walked up the drive to the house and is the custom in the rural parts of the state I called out to the house.

Pro Tip: people who live in the country don’t like strangers walking around their property. If you don’t want to meet a homeowner with a shot gun in their hands it’s best to call out and be ready to state your intentions. I’ve been there before, didn’t enjoy it.

He came out, he was dressed in period clothes and said something to the affect that he knew if he went inside someone would come by to buy some honey. I told him I saw his Land Rover from the street and wanted to know if I could take a look at it.

He acquiesced, and stated this was one of 6 car projects he had in progress in one way or another. He described his rat rod project that he was Frankensteining together an Austin-Jensen engine with a Volvo transmission on a something or else frame with a 1924 Ford carriage. I couldn’t keep he the details straight.

He had several others out in the yard and was working on a 1908 car that I am sorry I cannot recall the name of the wooden frame maker. He said only 78 were made. It was indeed rare.

So I asked about the Series. He told me he was the second owner. It was a 1960 model. He mentioned something about the top speed being 35 due to the special gearing in the transmission. I can’t find anything about that online. The pickup cab was also an add-on as well.

He talked about how he wanted to do the project. He mentioned the engine was seized up and he took it out to sort it but never did. He also mentioned a friend and he had taken it to wash it off and failed to secure the roof and it flew off the back of the truck on the way home due to some jackassery on the part of his friend.

What I did see was a Land Rover is serious trouble.
It was missing the floor boards.
The bulkhead seemed solid.
No seats.
The roof was damaged and the glass was a loss.
There was surface rust on the frame.
Engine was out and possibly a total loss.
I’m sure it would need to be totally rewired.
The brakes were certainly gone.

I’m sure it would be a fun rebuild but I’m also sure it would probably take some serious coin to get her back on the trail. I asked him if he was interested in selling it. I left him an out on that. I know how people are about their stuff and gently offered if he was interested in parting with it to give me a call. He was not a computer user so he didn’t know anything about OkieRover.com, but he had a friend who was a computer user.

I left my contact info and told him to call if he ever thought of selling it. If he hasn’t called by the time the next Honey Springs Battle comes around in two years. We’ll know he lost my number.

To be frank this is not the model I wanted to rebuild. But if he calls I’ll post the details again and help him get it into someone’s hands.

This is Part 3 of 4.
Part 1.
Part 2.
Part 4.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.