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Member
Mark Debacker,
field trip co-organizer.
Smiling Pat Nichols taking his first look inside the
buildings. So that's where the tanks are!
Lloyd Holcomb contemplates part of the amazing collection.
Jack Riggar checks out an Uzi.
Brian Ostlind and his crew man a T-55.
Eric Moulton supports "neighborhood watch".
IPMS Santa Rosa
Visits Jacques Littlefield's
Military Vehicle Technology Foundation
by Mark Debacker, photos by Jack Riggar
The spotless campus of the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation.
Where the heck are all the tanks??
Our guide (and well-known author) Mike Green gives the members of IPMS Santa Rosa a brief orientation before we enter the buildings where the collection is housed. Hans Beerbaum, who helped arrange the tour, has his back to the camera.
Jacques Littlefield's interest in military vehicles begin with model kits he build when school age. In college he made parts for working model tanks in the university's engineering shops. After college Jacques graduated to the real thing. His first restoration, in 1975, was an M3A1 wheeled scout car. Next came an M5A1 "Stuart" and then an M4A1 "Sherman". By 1988 Jacques' collection had grown to five military vehicles as well as trucks, muscle cars, fire engines and tractors. Fortunately, his parents had acquired the 470-acre Pony Tracks Ranch (a former Governer's Estate) in Portola Valley where the collection is now housed.
Mike Green is standing in front of Jacques' first vehicle, an M3 armored car. An immaculately restored British Matilda in "Desert Rat" camoflage is in the background.
Starting in 1996 Jacques hired staff to help maintain and restore the growing collection and built three museum buildings. The Military Vehicle Technology Foundation was established in early 1998 to serve the interests of authors, historians, educators, the defense industry, veteran groups, model makers, the entertainment industry and to preserve the collection for the future. The Foundation currently has over 150 military vehicles on display. Many more await restoration.(Abstracted from the Foundation's website.)
To learn more about the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation, visit their website.
The Foundation is not open to the public. Fortunately, through the efforts of Hans Beerbaum, owner of the West Coast Armor and Artillery Museum, an invitation was arranged for IPMS Santa Rosa. This is currently the largest private armor collection in the world. Soon, it will be the largest armor collection in the world, period. Every vehicle is returned to driving condition, in part because they have to negotiate a hairpin turn between the restoration shop and the museum buildings! Only two vehicles are no longer in running condition.
Beside just the vehicles, the collection includes displays showing the every aspect of military vehicle technology: shells, engines, guns, weapons and so on.
The current project in the restoration shop is a WWII US M26 Pershing heavy tank. An indication of the Foundation's meticulous restoration could be seen in the application of Bondo to the floor of the engine compartment! Surrounding bays house dozens of unrestored tanks, including Jacques' famous Sturmgeschutz.
We were unexpectedly offered a tour of the "back lot". There, another couple hundred vehicles await restoration. Only a few that are stored outside are rough for restoration.
Thanks again to Hans Beerbaum for arranging this remarkable opportunity!
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