My fellow Hoons may remember this olelongrooffan is on an Unexpected Road Trip Adventure up here in the Ozark Mountains. A blast has been had hanging with friends and family and sharing those experiences with my fellow Hoons. If you have been riding along with me, you may remember a comment Bus_Plunge had about seeing, but not remembering an intermediate leaf spring on the rear end of that Advanced Design truck frame we rescued for a buddy of his. Well, every time one of us Lee boys do a road trip to see one another, we always bring along a box of traveling museum pieces in the form of models or diecasts or combinations of each. This Road Trip was no exception. Packaged inside the museum box from thejeepjunkie, a box that was two and half years in getting here, there were bits and pieces of a 3100 Advanced Design pickup truck. Bus_Plunge opened that box and pulled out the frame for it. Sure enough, there was that long forgotten but now remembered intermediate leaf spring. Of course, Bus_Plunge immediately and gleefully pointed it out to this olelongrooffan. Sometimes the simple things in life are the best.


Yeah, we were sitting in the screened in sunroom on the back of Bus_Plunge’s home checking out some museum finds when NotSoLilJim and a buddy come over from his home next door. After spending a few minutes getting caught up, we got back to checking out some of the stuff which had arrived recently via my longerroof.

One of my favorites which made its way to the center part of these great states was a “barnfind” Jaguar on a flatbed behind a barely seen 59 Ford 4×4 pickup. That truck is tastefully finished in brown, Thank You, Thank You Very Much.

Sitting on another table is a pair of die cast BMW convertibles in Bus_Plunges highly desirable 1:25 scale. Of course, this olelongrooffan had to share with those boys the story of Max Hoffman and the BMW 507 from back in the day. And Bus_Plunge latched onto that 1:43 scale yellow and white first gen IH Scout like it was nobody’s business. I was sure proud he thinks highly of another one of my favorite pieces.

After having exhausted the review of my traveling museum pieces, we got back to checking out what thejeepjunkie had sent up until NotSoLilJim insisted we head over to check out the contents of his garage. Which of course we did.

Now NotSoLilJim is raising his brood in the same home he and his sister grew up in. He bought it from Bus_Plunge after he moved into the home next door, thus starting Bus_Plunge’s compound. As a result, several of the diecasts that figured prominently in NotSoLilJim’s childhood stayed mounted in their resting place on the walls of that garage. However, NotSoLilJim has been supplementing that collection in his own right. Including this cool assed 1:25 scale Airstream trailer with an equally scaled Indy Pace Suburban as its tow vehicle.

At one time in Bus_Plunge’s life, he and his family owned a bunch of carnival joints and traveled around the midwest for folks carnival attending pleasure. Some of the stuff he had ended up sticking around, including this vintage sign which I thought was pretty awesome in its own right.

Now saying that NotSoLilJim likes him some 1:25 scale plastic models would be a gross understatement. These are just a few on display above

his hobby assembling table. Yeah, he gets into it in a big way and is quite talented if I do say so myself.

If you squint at the shelf above that hobby table, you can see an European style open car carrier festooned with vintage Citroens. That truck and its payload were in a glassed in cabinet in my pops, TheGentlemanFarmer’s home for many, many years. This olelongrooffan is sure happy that it went to an equally cool home upon pop’s passing.

Yeah some big rig assembly is certainly in NotSoLilJim’s future this winter. Apparently there is some big box retailer locally that regularly has these rigs on sale for something stupid like less than twenty bucks and each of those guys pick up one or two whenever they pass by to hoard collect for NotSoLilJim’s pleasure.

And it is probably a good thing Bus_Plunge spotted that first gen Scout of mine when he did or it very well may have made its way to this shelf.

And see that bookcase with Jim’s name painted on it? That very same bookshelf was in thejeepjunkie’s and my bedroom when we were mere youngsters. Amazing it is still around.

This red car hauler was partially assembled by this olelongrooffan, in yellow though, many moons ago prior to its making the move to NotSoLilJim’s garage some years ago. There is no doubt in my mind he did a better job of assembling it than I would have ever done. And that tractor is a one off custom built by NotSoLilJim just for that car carrier.

And remember earlier when I mentioned that some of the diecasts from NotSoLilJim’s childhood stayed in his garage when it changed hands. These are what I am talking about. Some seldom played with construction diecasts along

with an assortment of buses and motorhomes. As a kid that man had cooler toys than this olelongrooffan does as an adult.

And Bus_Plunge couldn’t wait to show me a pair of some of the coolest cars in the bunch.

They are a rare combination of Volkswagen Type IIIs from back in the day. Both are Matchbox cars with one in played with condition and the other near mint.

Once we had completed our tour of NotSoLilJim’s garage, we bid our farewells and stepped out into that cloudy day and

this olelongrooffan captured this image of NotSoLilJim’s and Bus_Plunge’s 1:1 toys parked alongside the yard on that quiet street they call home.
Stayed Hooned, a tour of Bus_Plunge’s miniature barn is forthcoming.
Images Copyright Hooniverse 2015/longrooffan.