Ok, sorry guys, 1/4 pint had some impromptu surgery on Saturday ( He's home now and ok, just resting) and I couldn't get a good run at typing, so here goes…
Not having the Moke was really depressing.
I had to get mine back, or get another one. They were the only options.
There was the obvious immediate transport issues, the not knowing what happened and also the dreaded insurance people to talk to. So first things first.
Boydy had not long had a 1963 850 mini that needed a bit of work for rego, so he offered it to me if I’d fix it up and get it registered. So into the shed we went and spent a couple of nights getting it up to a satisfactory standard. There was the usual stuff to do, ball joints, brakes, stearing rack, and did I mention brakes
etc. The little 850 motor was pretty tired and I could grab the harmonic balancer and turn the motor over easily by hand. But it started every time, and ran really well. So lots of hrs into it and I had transport again. Phew, one thing down.
The second week of January now, and even after an article in the local Border Morning Mail newspaper there were still no real leads or sightings
. There were a few phone calls from people seeing Mokes from all over the place, even a sighting near Shepparton, which is nearly 200 klms away, but nothing that traced back to our car.
Even with all the stuff happening, we had tracked down another Moke.
It was in my price range and described as “Needs work”, Ok, I new what that meant, well I thought I did.
It was 450 klms away and I
needed had to have a look, so we booked a motel, packed up the kids and set off to wonderful Wonthagi……. We arrived at the Motel late on Friday night, brushed away some cob webs so we could put the key in the lock and went in. We got the kids ready for bed and then gave the guy a call to let him know we were in town and to try and sort out a time to have a look at the car in the morning. “ Yeh yeh, just give us a call when your ready”.
Oh K!
So we rang early in the morning and he gave us an address in town to meet him.
When we got there, he started telling us a story about his life with Mini’s and Mokes, which on the whole was good, but after a while, I just wanted to see the Moke! “ Ok, well, it’s like this” he started, and I turned to the Mrs with a look she recognised instantly, of--- here we go.!
Turned out he was going through a very bitter split up, and the car was on the property. He needed to negotiate with the ex to get out there and have access. Then he told us how the kids had paddock bashed it, blew up the motor, hit a big stump etc, etc.
This was turning out to be a very strange experience.
So now we were all in the car heading out of town to see this Moke, and at the property gate we were met by the other half. Wow, tension at this point was heavy, and the glares traded between them froze animals and insects for 20mtrs in all directions. This was getting very uncomfortable……… But I wanted another Moke, even if this didn’t turn out to be the one.
We were guided to a shed and shown a Red 1980 Californian. Pretty sad, no engine ( it was scattered in a small workshop just off the main shed). All the bits were there, Cali rims, front and rear bars, discs, steering wheel, roll bar. There was some damage from where they’d hit a stump that I was a bit worried about, it was pretty obvious due to bark hanging out of between the tyre and rim. The driver’s side pod had received quite a shunt from underneath as well.
I didn’t dislike what I saw, and was feeling better about it now, so we started negotiating a price. It was difficult, because it seemed his ex was also a part of it as he kept looking over to her,
as if for approval, or maybe he was just keeping an eye on her in case she started going all Ninja at him. Must admit, I was waiting for just one wrong word from either of them too for it to erupt
10 minutes discussing it and “Right, done, Sold. I’ll be back next weekend with a trailer” and we shook hands over it. I Left a $100 deposit and Mrs Farmer seemed a bit better now, and I’m sure she almost, ever so slightly, tried to smile a bit. Time to get out of dodge.
Back home now and on Monday morning we start to organise a trailer, Mrs HP didn’t wan’t to go back down to Wonthagi, the nervous twitches had started to subside by now
and anyway, with all that’s happened lately, a quite weekend at home was needed!
I’ll get back to the pick up later, other stuff happened next.
Right, back to that phone call, Tuesday January 19- 1999.
Mmwwhahah..................................
Halfpint
Topic: Mokes don't float! Halfpints story so far. (Read 24473 times)
