"Laz Rover" Buys a School

laz links to original article

(Sabah Newspaper, 17 June 2013)

A real-life "woody" to make the Beach Boys salivate.

Yahya Narmanlı, the mayor of Beşköy town in Köprübaşı
district of Trabzon province, last year asked furniture expert
Mustafa Kaya to make a vehicle that could be exhibited at
the Trabzon Fair held at Feshane, Istanbul.  So, inspired by
the Land Rover vehicle, Kaya made such a vehicle from hornbeam
wood in two months at a cost of 35,000 TL. The jeep even has a
heated seat, navigation features and a parking sensor.

The "Laz Rover" (the Laz are a lively and entertaining people
of the eastern Black Sea region), as the vehicle was dubbed,
was even given a license plate that recalls the conquest of
Istanbul: 61 FTH 1453 (61 is Trabzon's plate number, FTH
stands for "fetih"(conquest) and 1453 was the year Istanbul
was taken by the Turks).

The "Laz Rover"'s specifics: 2,000 cc motor, 105 horsepower,
top speed 140 kmph, length 4 meters 70 centimeters, width
1 meter 80 centimeters, weight 1.5 tons.

The famous businessman Ali Ağaoğlu, who is from Trabzon,
saw the vehicle at the fair and bought it for 50,000 TL. He told
Mayor Narmanlı "if there's anything you want, I'll make it
happen."  In reply, Narmanlı said that " our biggest need is a
primary school." Ağaoğlu then agreed to have the school built
and Mayor Narmanlı is currently preparing the school project
that will include 12 grades for the district. He added that "we
never thought that this wish of ours would be fulfilled by a
car. The Laz Rover made our dream come true."

Köprübaşı is toward the eastern side of Trabzon province.