I have often said that one of the most fascinating aspects of this job, is how one situation can lead on to another – often many years down the line.
That was the case this evening – I had been having some general e-mail exchanges with Clay in Dallas, Texas – who has a couple of friends looking for Land Rovers.
My mobile phone rang, and it showed up a number from Dallas – I guessed it was Clay ringing for a chat about Land Rovers.
We got talking – he has a few Land Rovers and it turns out that one of them was sold by us back in 2010 to Mark in North Carolina, and has since been purchased by Clay.
He writes:
“Hi Mark,
I’ve attached some photos of the 1984 deep bronze green Rover that had originally come from you guys. I bought it off of Mark Carpenter in 2011 and have since made the following upgrades:
- Parabolic leaf springs from Rocky Mountain
- New tires that are slightly larger since I couldn’t source a set of originals and the current tires had began cracking some
- Acoustic floor matting system
- New headlights
- Added a 12V plug and phone charger
- Added a few more miles to the odometer. The vehicle now sits at just 49,000 miles.
I’ve use the vehicle as a daily driver and make trips north of Dallas to my ranch in Oklahoma periodically and also took the vehicle out to Flagstaff Arizona for the largest Overland Expo event held here in the US that my company sponsored this year.
Also attached are 2 of my other rovers. The Marine Blue one is a 1973 with 18,000 miles on it and the Mint Green rover is an all original un-restored and genuine 1976 Series III with only 9,000 miles on the odometer. It came from a collector who had previously purchased the vehicle from a Bee Keeper which is why there’s a BFA sticker still on the windshield.
I have a NAS Series III that I’m fixing up to give away online in an effort to raise awareness here in the states about the Rhino Poaching issue taking place”
Towards the end of our conversation, Clay’s friend Stephen joined in on a conference call, and we talked about which Land Rover that we have that might be suitable for him.
I think “Lucille” – our 1978 Series 3 – with 40,000 original miles may well fit the bill.
Stephen is going to consider his potential purchase over the weekend, and possibly confirm on Monday.
So – Little did I know, when I travelled up to Cumbria in 2010 to purchase B416 NAB – that it would end up visiting some of the places on Route 66 !!
