- The story on this began back in July . . .
. . . We were contacted by Keith – who at the time was the owner of MUX 62 – a 1952 Series I Land Rover.
He was having a few problems getting it to run nicely, and as he lived in America, and the Land Rover was located in Yorkshire, it was a bit of an issue, as his visits to the UK were short and infrequent.
He asked us to collect the Land Rover and sort out the running issue – which we were happy to do.
On completion of the work, we were asked to drive it back to a village called Mirfield – approx. 7 or 8 miles from our workshops.
During this 15 minute drive, a friend of Simon (a previous owner – 11years ago) spotted it being driven through Huddersfield, recognised the regestration, and contacted Simon (who now lives in Bath) to explain that his old Land Rover had been spotted.
Simon then contacted us to ask if we knew who owned it, and we explained the story of how we had just done some work on it (Turned out to need a new coil!)
Move forward to September, and we were contacted by Jan – Simon’s wife – to see if we could put her in touch with the current owner, as it was soon to be Simon’s big “Four O” and she wanted to see if she could buy it back as a surprise !
We put the current owner in touch with Jan, and with a little discussion and negotiation – Jan was soon the proud owner of “MUXY”.
Here at Land Rover Centre – we love a good story – so when Jan asked if we could assist in bringing it down to Bath on the morning of Simon’s birthday – we were happy to help.
Jan had enlisted the help of friends and family to keep Simon out of the way on the morning of the delivery, and a kind neighbour to store MUXY for the day.
Simon’s e mail explains his delight !
Hi Mark
Thanks to your efforts, my wife`s determination and most of my friend`s surprising ability to keep a secret, I had a very emotional reunion with “Muxy” last night. I was genuinely bought to tears, something that doesn’t happen very often to a 6”4 40 year old.
As we walked onto a friends driveway, to go there for a birthday drink, blissfully unaware of any surprise at all, there was a lovely little series one creeping into view behind a hedge and it was only as i saw the number plate did it sink in that this was the very same series one that i had loved but had to sell 11 years ago, and then half a long second later did i realise it was a present for me ! I`m still in shock..
I drove her the few miles to work this morning, after not much sleep, she ran like a dream in very damp conditions and it was while driving that i realised why i had got so emotional. It`s not about the surprise element, although it was a hell of a well orchestrated surprise, it`s the feeling that an early Landy gives some people. There seems to be this weird fondness that goes beyond the sum of its simple parts. The character of the shape and their small physical size, it`s something that you want to look after, but strangely you know that if it needed to, it would look after you. Like Concorde or a J-Class yacht, they are simply perfect to look at.
She is now part of our family and here to stay.
Thank you for making it all happen, giving my wife honest and sensible advise, all the secretive emails and contact details, getting up at 5am for the long trailer delivery journey and simply understanding that feeling that Land Rover people know only too well.
Kindest regards
Simon
