VERMONT ROVERS
Story and photos by Dave Sweetapple
PROPER PLACE / PROPER TRAILS
From One Hoard To Another Maine lobster pots are sacred and not for sale!
A
s a kid growing up in Newfoundland, I was obsessed with Series Land Rovers. The thing that I remember most, was that if someone owned one Land Rover, there were usually several others in various stages of disrepair somewhere on their property. At the time, I didn’t recognize it as “hoarding,” but that’s exactly what it was. Jump forward 40 years and I see Land Rover hoarding all around me — and I’ve become a Land Rover parts hoarder myself. As a Land Rover enthusiast, I have several like-minded friends who keep a constant ear to the ground, waiting to hear of a Series stash tucked behind a barn or down a path in the woods. Sometimes, they even hear of someone with multiple Land Rovers and an accompanying parts collection who decides to liquidate their inventory in order to simplify their lives. Last month, several of those instances occurred simultaneously and I had the pleasure of stringing them together for an epic road trip that logged over 1,700 miles — across eight states — over L-R: Dave Depasque, Glenn Parent, Sean Shabab four days. 44
roversmagazine.com
Spring 2021
Above: Mike Capozza’s Dad’s ‘73 Series III back home again
Late last Fall, 2020, my friend Matt told me that he was buying a right-hand drive Series III 109” from Dave Depasque in Pennsylvania, but Matt ended up getting trapped in Newfoundland due to increased Covid restrictions. In early April, 2021, I decided to help him out and go retrieve the truck for him. (Also because, selfishly, I wanted the Salisbury rear-end for my current 1961 Series IIA 109” build.) Matt said he was going to modify the truck and had no need for the axle, so I jumped at the chance. I called my buddy Glenn Parent, Woodstock, VT, who has a
