Lots of Parts
When you buy twelve rovers you find one
thing for sure... They come with parts. Now my very first one
in New York City in 1963 was new, so each part cost a fortune and it didn’t
come with any spares. LittleCar, the first one in this recent saga,
also came without accouterments, but then each and every one we purchased
after that came with boxes and boxes of parts. At first we did not
always know what they were, an overdrive, two overdrives, pieces of transmissions,
Kodiak heaters, hubs of all sorts, lights, roofs, miscellaneous mounting
brackets, canvas tops with all kinds of struts…
But then we began to play that fun identification
game. Roo got really good and began to be able to recognize one part
from another, looking just out of the corner of his eye in the dark.
It was like one of those fuzzy logic lectures on how a brain can recognize
a hand coming around a tree from just one little finger nail. Anyway
we now have a whole barn area of just parts, some are ridiculous like 5
Rochester carburetors (all needing rebuilding) or half a dozen questionable
axle half shafts. Some are fun like those cute parking light extenders
that were made to mount the lights on top of the fenders if you had jerry
cans. Others are just useful like new brake rebuild kits or new universals.
The question with all parts is do you really
want to put tired used parts in a Rover these days? I would not put
an old Rochester carb in now but would put a spare Kodiak in.
When we move the parts it takes work—trannys and engines are heavy.
One day Scotty asked us “do you have a spare Kodiak laddie?
I'll trade you a 109 roof and a Late IIA heater.” (Well Scotty, you
still owe us one.) Some days I amaze myself. Roo will be covered
with grease, stuck under a Rover, and he will send me down to the barn
to find some wild rare part and in one second I'll have it. Well
that’s why you have parts. They sometimes save the day.