Osborn’s Radiator (Post #270) 10/8/2011

I pulled up to Osborn’s on Friday afternoon in my Civic after schlepping it through the Capitol Hill neighborhood on Oklahoma City’s south side during rush hour. This part of town is also known as “Little Mexico” as a good portion of the city’s Hispanic population live and have businesses here. I remember cruising around this part of town with some of my “city friends” back in the day (1980-1981). There were no Hispanics then, only the Czechs who had settle this part of OKC. Se han ido todos.

I took the Range Rover’s radiator out of the boot and carried in. The first thing Terry said was, “That’s off a Range Rover.”
I was stunned!
I said, “How did you know that?”
He replied, “I’ve seen three of them before.”
I countered with, “I’m impressed. Really impressed.”

I showed him the leak and the failed brass fill plug. He said, “No problem, the earliest I can get it for you is tomorrow morning.” I told him next week was fine, no rush. We started talking about the game tomorrow and he explained why two people were wearing Texas Longhorns shirts out in the bay. They were working on their dirt track racer. When I pulled up and saw the burnt orange clad folks I thought, this isn’t going to go well, as I was wearing my OU polo. But Terry told me they coach the little league Moore Sooners but were from Texas and route for the Longhorns on Saturdays.

I was very keen to find out this next part so I asked him “why so many shops were closing down?” I mentioned my hypothesis about the EPA and the advent of the plastic tanked radiators. He shrugged it all off with a point to the vat. “Naw, I’ve got a machine for that over there for the plastic tanks, people just don’t stay in business. We’ve been here 75 years, my grandfather ran this shop, then my dad, now me. It’s a specialized business. If you asked me to do anything else I’d tell you I can’t. Radiators aren’t something you just do. Aluminum welding, or brass like yours, some plumbers try it but its usually not right. We’ve been here along time and ain’t going anywhere.”

I really liked the guy and was impressed. I told him the radiator wasn’t all that old, but it might need a cleaning… He cut me off saying, “I’ll take care of it.”

I often worry about having others work on my Range Rover or do work for Range Rover. Osborn’s put that to rest right away. Customer service was first rate. I’m looking forward to getting my radiator back.

More on that when I get their call.

Thanks for reading and Happy Rovering.
Go SOONERS.