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I wonder which will be the 80 vehicles that will be displayed in the Collings museum??

Newspaper article shared by Michael Green :

The family of [Jacques Littlefield] is giving the tanks, missile launchers and armored vehicles to a Massachusetts-based museum that will preserve and display some of them. [...]

Foundation director Rob Collings said the organization hopes to raise $10 million to build the museum by auctioning 160 of the military vehicles in August 2014. Eventually he hopes visitors can learn U.S. history through a chronological walk past the remaining 80 historic military vehicles. "They'll start in the World War I trenches and go forward through time," he said.[...]

full article here :
http://www.sfgate.com/business/technology/article/Silicon-Valley-tank-collection-heading-east-4972136.php#photo-5443187

Pierre-Olivier

The MVTF volunteer group was notified of the merger on or about 7JULY but were told about the move until a meet and great with the Collings folks in August. Needless to say, it was pretty ugly.

Things have been moving quickly at the Foundation. 5 pieces have already been shipped to Collings and several pieces have already been sold. Lots of vehicles are currently being worked on by mechanics hired by Collings. I'm at the Foundation a couple of days a week know documenting as much of the work as possible. I will keep the group posted as things progress.

I'd like to know if any WW2 vehicle is moved to Massachussetts or sold, especially vehicles like the Panther, SdKfz's, M26 Pershing etc...

thanks

Pierre-Olivier

Most of the WW II stuff is going to Collings including all WW II German stuff, the Pershing, the M50, M551, M41 Walker Bulldog and a few other post-war pieces are going. The SdKfz. 10, Schwimmwagen, 2cm Flak 38, Kettenkrad, and Nebelwerfer have already been shipped to Collings and were used in their reenactment last month.

The Israeli M32B3, GM Abrams pilot, and T48 have already been sold and shipped out. Most of the sale vehicles will leave in 2014.

I suppose it was just a matter of time, but the inevitability of this is painful, nonetheless....rather like what we have witnessed under BRAC with Ft. Knox and Aberdeen, only with a private collection. Without the stewardship of a passionate and determined individual such as Jacques Littlefield, the concentration of so much history under one big blanket just isn't sustainable.

I'm sure there are many factors at play here, not all of which are readily visible, but it sure was great while it lasted.

Just frustrates me even more that I missed my one chance to see the collection in 2009...

from the newsletter of the Collings Foundation :
"The collection will integrate close to 80 of the most historically important vehicles and artifacts with the Collings Foundation’s vehicles and aircraft. Included is military technology of WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan. Among the artifacts are the world’s only German Skdfz 222 Scout car, a rare Jumbo Sherman, a German Stug IV tank destroyer, examples of virtually all US tanks and the only privately owned Scud B missile launcher."

"First auction location will be in Portola, California, August 1st and 2nd. Some of these items include: Soviet 2S-7 Pion (world's largest self-propelled gun), M3A3 Stuart tank, DUKW1 "Duck" (amphibious truck), M3A5 Grant tank, SCUD A (world's only privately held) and M16 A1 half-track with .50cal quad mount."

P-O

Wow! I didn't know that we had a "StuG IV". And the world's "only" Sd.Kfz.222 Scout Car? WTF?! Love how they spelled "Jacques" without the "c".

- Doug_Kibbey

I suppose it was just a matter of time, but the inevitability of this is painful, nonetheless....rather like what we have witnessed under BRAC with Ft. Knox and Aberdeen, only with a private collection. Without the stewardship of a passionate and determined individual such as Jacques Littlefield, the concentration of so much history under one big blanket just isn't sustainable.

I'm sure there are many factors at play here, not all of which are readily visible, but it sure was great while it lasted.

Well stated and I concur. It takes passion and big money to keep a large vehicle collection together. Many private car collections have been broken up when the owner passed away.

Chris.
What will Dave Marian and the other guys that worked for Jacque do now?

Garry

- Garry_Redmon

Chris.
What will Dave Marian and the other guys that worked for Jacque do now?

Garry

Garry,
Dave and the other guys haven't worked at the Foundation for quite sometime. The last paid restoration specialist left more than 2 years The only paid staff for the past couple of years has been the ranch foreman and ranch staff. Volunteers have been handling things. However, Collings has sent in a couple of guys to get vehicles up and running for the move and auction. I've been documenting their progress for the past few weeks now. Some of my pics and video are on my public facebook page, www.facebook.com/toadm...nkpictures

Chris

Thanks. I didn't know that the restorers weren't there any longer. Since you were asking me about track a few months ago, I thought things were still okay at the foundation.

- Garry_Redmon

Thanks. I didn't know that the restorers weren't there any longer. Since you were asking me about track a few months ago, I thought things were still okay at the foundation.

At that time, our volunteer group was still working on getting existing vehicles running again. No restoration work, just getting thing running again or in the case of the M551 that needed tracks, fixing things that had been worn out. That's all over now

Longtime AFV fan here, just stumbled across the site after seeing the note that the collection is being disposed of, and this is my first post.

I must say I'm sorely disappointed to hear this news. Was there something going on behind the scenes in the foundation Jacques left, that is not ready public knowledge? I thought he'd left them sufficient funds to keep the collection together in perpetuity. Was this a bad assumption?

Its bad enough that the US has allowed the APG collection go to hell (I went there in the 70's to photograph it and left, literally in tears) but now even the best of us (I held Jacques in high regard) can't seem to manage to hold together this priceless legacy. How sad. This is a terrible way to "celebrate" Veteran's Day...

Thanks to the outstanding generosity of Mike Green and Chris Hughes, Mrs VB and I had the chance to see the collection a few weeks ago. It was an awesome experience and we are so thankful that we had the opportunity.

While I'm bummed that the collection is being broken up and moved, and feel badly for the folks that put so much into the MVTF collection and made it possible for others to see the collection, I have hopes that the CF will do a good job of stewarding the parts of the collections that they keep. The CF has done a terrific job of maintaining the aircraft in their care - (I'm not unbiased here - I bought a ride in their B-17 a while back) and have done wonders in traveling the planes around the country. I hope the new museum in Stow will be a US located version of the Tank Museum in Bovington in that they present the AFVs in an event like "Tankfest" so we can see these beautiful pieces of history in motion. We'll see what transpires. Chris and Mike and the others - I'm sorry for your loss.

Cheers,
Paul