As most of you well know, Hope and I are the proud owners of a 1967 Land Rover Series IIa 109" Station Wagon. You also know it takes us to many fun and inaccessible areas here in Colorado.
And occasionally, it craps out.
The look on my face must have been priceless. There was nary a verbal epithet, not even the chance to mutter f**k in my mind. Just pure, unadulterated shock. My guess is that my jaw dropped.
And what happened, you wonder.
Well, I drove the Rover to work yesterday simply because it had not been run in about two weeks. I left the office to go grab a burrito at Chipotle during lunch. As I pulled into said establishment, I misjudged the turning radius and was about to scrape down the side of a black Acura. So I calmly applied the brakes (they worked). I went to shift the truck from second gear to reverse (mind you, this is a looooong reach...reverse is all the way across the transmission and way forward). The shift lever ("Main Gear Change Lever" if you are a Land Rover freak and insist on calling the hood the "bonnet") snapped off in my hand, leaving me in neutral.
After the shock subsided, I climbed out of the truck, pushed it back and then began pushing it forward into the space. A nice fellow in a Ford pickup jumped out and helped me push it all the way into the space as it was slightly uphill.
Good fun. Luckily, the repair should cost less than $200, which may be the cheapest repair to date. Ah, the joys of owning a vintage vehicle. At least it didn't happen miles up into the woods on some nasty 4x4 trail.
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