Behind closed doors
Trevor cavorts with a customer’s wife but it’s not what you think... oh, and he makes another lady very happy, too
THE SUMMER months with my own Land Rovers have been fairly run-of-the-mill, apart from a great day out greenlaning in my 110 V8 soft top. My cousins from Canada – Denis and Barb – were on an Ireland tour and I managed to get them up to Co Donegal for a few days. The funniest moment was when I turned onto the first lane of the day and said: “Right Barb, you take the wheel first.” When she got over the shock, Barb took to off-road driving like a natural. What a wonderful day!
Lately, my Discovery 2 has only really been used for towing duties in GB on two runs to the Richards Chassis factory to collect new Land Rover chassis, as well as a detour to Newbury to collect a very fine Series I bulkhead from Evan Marshall (and his brilliant right-hand, Sue). The Discovery 2 is a mighty fine and comfortable tow car on these 800-plus mile runs.
My 130 Tipper in kept busy moving parts and components from one yard to the other, as well as dealing with the usual copious piles of garden clippings, cuttings and mowings. Of course I have hardly seen my Defender 90 Td5 because number one son has been home from medical school and the truck becomes his during the holidays – the poor thing never cools! I’m seriously thinking of keeping that red 90, which I bought trade from Frank Jamison, as a backup when Tristan is home.
But I have had some very interesting Land Rovers of clients through the workshop too, and they become a big part of my life while I have them. One such truck was a freshly-painted 90 200Tdi hard top, owned by a fabulous character from Dublin called Robert Cummins. Robert arrived with his Land Rover for a new chassis to be fitted, with the back of it packed to the roof with parts that he had been acquiring for the past 18 months – and he wanted me to fit the lot!
Robert had also been telling me about the wheels and tyres that he wanted to buy, when funds allowed – but for now, the Land Rover would have to stay on the standard black rims with modest 205 road tyres. Boy was Robert in for a big surprise!
A few days after I had begun work on the blue Defender, I was contacted by a rather glamorous young lady called Lyndsey. Believe me, this is a very rare occurrence. Lyndsey, is Robert’s wife, and she had a secret plan. Did I know which wheels and tyres Robert really wanted? Could I source these and could I fit them without Robert knowing, if Lyndsey could afford them?
The first snag was that I wasn’t 100 per cent sure which combination Robert wanted (I should’ve listened better, I guess). As a sneaky way of raising the subject (and without suspicion), I called Robert and tried to sell him some Wolf rims with G90 tyres – knowing full well that he wouldn’t be interested. He willingly told me again about his dream of having a set of BF Goodrich KM2 265/75R16 tyres on new black Modular rims. I duly ordered a set from BLRC and fitted them on the 90, ready for when Robert arrived to collect his Land Rover.
My attempt to hide the new wheels by covering them with old towels didn’t fool Robert one bit. The moment that I opened the workshop door for the reveal, he could tell immediately, by the stance of his Land Rover, that Lyndsey had given him an incredible gift for his pride and joy. To date, Robert’s grim is the widest I have ever seen in my workshop.