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How weird...I was just browsing photo gallery here to drool on some of your Repu's and I found a picture of a yellow Repu with my exact plate numbers! Is that weird or what?? Does anyone knows who "Orvilles" is? Looked under his name and wala.....

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Very cool that it's getting restored. 'Orville' was one of the longstanding members here; he'd accumulated a number of trucks... five total, IIRC. He was also a pilot -- used to fly crop dusters in the CA. valley. We got to know one another a bit on here, and in a few phone conversations. We never did get to meet in person; Orville passed away from lung cancer a while back...

I do know that it had been his wish that the one or two better-condition trucks in his collection end up well cared for, and in the hands of a true Rotorhead. So nice to see that actually happen! I think Orville would be pleased.

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... glad she found a good home. You hurt that truck, and I WILL find you... : )

A long story short that very, very few folks here know about, Orville's trucks were supposed to come here (at one time, seven in total). Frank and I, though we never actually met (I'm in Michigan), were good friends, chatting somewhat regularly on the phone about the trucks, rotaries, life, etc. Frank and I had discussed the collection of trucks and his memorabilia coming here a few times over the last years of his life, especially towards the end. He apparently didn't tell his family his wishes, or they were ignored. There were only two trucks that Orville was concerned about- your '74 (that he had bought new) was the most important to him (along with the '77 his brother now has). He made me promise I would do a full factory correct restoration on it, and that the trucks not get scattered to the wind. He didn't want them all over the place. He was going to try and dig up all the paperwork on his beloved '74, window sticker, etc. about a week before he passed away. When I finally found out about the estate 'sale', I frantically reached out to his brother and sister-in-law, and found out that "Bastard" was getting all but the '77. I reached out to Cameron and pleaded the case about the '74. He told me a friend was buying it from him, and he was selling most of the other trucks to other friends. I thought the truck was gone and sure to be 'ruined'. Please do right by it, for Frank's sake.

If the truck ever goes to leave your hands, I beg of you to please let me know. I have felt terribly guilty ever since his passing that I let Frank down, and have hoped one day I could make it right.

Neal.

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...a '74 rx-4 coupe restoration project as well, a friend of mine still has one.

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wow, I haven't seen this thread till today...

Just to add to the Orville's REPU collection story.

I answered a C/L post about a collection of REPU's for sale in Manteca. upon contacting the seller, I was told "YOU HAVE 24 HOURS TO GET ALL 6 OF THEM OUT OF HERE BEFORE THE TRUCKS GO TO THE JUNK YARD!"... She was VARY ADAMANT!!! and repeated it a few times during the conversation.

I spent that evening calling friends and family to the rescue, one brother drove over 4 hours from L.A. and another brother and 2 family friends drove over 2 hours to help me...

We got to Franks house @ 7:30 the next morning . Once there, it was obvious that it was going to take a lot longer then expected... this was going to be a loooooooong day of extracting the trucks... some were sunk in the ground from sitting in the same spot for many many years. we had various issues to deal with... Flat tires... trannys stuck in gear... frozen brakes... spiders everywhere... hornets nest and god knows what other critters were living in the trucks.

none of them ran, none of them were cherry, none of them were body rot free, none of them had paperwork. only 3 of them resembled "complete" trucks and only one was "registered".

One at a time we pulled out trucks and trailered them back to my house.. (about a 2.5 hours per truck x 6)... it was almost midnight by the time we finished...

I spent the next couple months inventorying them and came to the conclusion that even if i pulled the few cherry parts from various trucks, I would still be missing components to make one nice truck... all the dashes were cracked, carpets were all trashed etc...

It always makes me sad when i see good vehicles go to waste, rusting away in a backyard because the owners either think they are worth a million dollars... or claim that they will fix them someday!?!?... so after about a year I decided that there was no way that i could fix all of them... so i made the decision to stop hoarding and part the collection to those who could do something with them... I first offered trucks to all those who helped me, then advertised them on C/L...

The yellow one went to Tim ... it was probably the cleanest and I have to say I am glad he got it. I have no regrets selling it to him... AWESOME JOB Tim.



the yellow 77 went to some guys, also in SoCal... The Bean Bandits now use it for land speed runs ...Thumbs up guys!!



It took a couple months to get the blue truck road worthy, i had to pull a few parts from my personal REPU project to make it comfortable to drive and run right... and i spent a lot of time cutting rot out and welding in new panels. After driving it around for about a year I sold to a friend here in the Bay Area.

The white one and the other yellow one, i tried selling them and/or giving them as additional parts to those who bought the other trucks but nobody was interested as they were way too far gone to do anything with... in the end they got parted, I still have some pieces of the white one sitting in my yard.

The red one is still here, in the same condition as it was the day i got it ... it has a ton of surface rust and a some rot... but otherwise pretty straight, however the interior is wasted... this truck will need a ton of parts and a shit load of work to restore but i am holding on to it for now.

I sold a couple parts, some that made it all the way to New Zealand...
http://www.rx7club.com/old-school-other-rotary-63/my-75-repu-856571/


needless to say, with all the time, work and money put into saving them, I haven't made any money from the trucks... I'm not going to lie, I did get a handful of nice parts i will use... but it was far from a pot of gold.

... but i can say i feel pretty good knowing that i saved a bunch of REPU's from being made into Toyota Prius', or just as bad, sitting rusting away in another back yard.

It turns out that the one friend that helped me with the trucks, sold Frank the yellow 77 that his brother kept...

After speaking with Franks sister in law, she told me that Frank was in the Army and was the most decorated solder in California... he was laid to rest about 3 blocks from my house.

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Thanks much for the update, Cameron. Nice to hear the whole story on where the trucks went, especially since I personally felt helpless when I first learned of it transpiring. Agreed, it is better that they all live on in one way or another versus rot in place. Frank always had plans for them, but his health had been declining for quite a number of years, and he just couldn't. I know it bothered him having them just sit. Rather neat that the '77 Frank's brother kept came from one of your friends that helped move all of the trucks at the end. I'm sure I speak for all of us here when I say we would love to see photos of the red one as you work on it. I'm hoping to start this summer on a full ground-up restoration of a '74 I have here. If you happen to hear any updates to the other trucks that were once Frank's, please do share it here.

And Tim- the work you have put into Frank's old '74 is great to see! I may not post much anymore, but I'm here, checking in on the board from time to time, reading the threads and post updates. I always hope to see an update from you when I check in, and look forward to many more. My fingers are crossed that I am the first to get a call if you ever do sell her, though... I'd hate to lose her again. Take good care of her!

Neal.

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