Great War truck Posted November 2, 2006 Share Posted November 2, 2006 I thought that you might all be interested in these remarkable photos that were passed to me by Hayes Otoupalik. With the passing of a Mr Furrer in 1987 the considerable contents of his WW1 museum (in Arizona) were put up for sale and jointly purchased by Hayes Otoupalik and Gordon Clare. These have now been mostly dispersed to other museums and collectors now. The contents really were considerable and were i beleive the largest collection of WW1 transport in the world. Furrer purchased half of the MC Bradley Military Rental business in the 60's and opened a museum with the contents. Previously these vehicles had been supplied to the film industry and featured in many WW1 films such as Wings. The tanks featured as Japanese tanks in the WW2 film Sands of Iwo Jima. The contents of the museum was immense and included 9 Liberty B trucks, 2 FWD's, 2 US FT17 Tanks, 23 M1909 escort wagons, 2 X 75 mm guns, limbers and caissons , field kitchens, searchlight, the list goes on and on. Not even starting on the uniforms, helmet and equipment. Most of this has now found places within museums across the USA, providing rare artefacts that would, if it had not been the foresight of MC Bradley and the film industry have been lost forever. Here are a selection of photos. Enjoy, for you will never see the like of such a collection again. http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/Greatwartruck/FWDArizona1.jpg[/img] http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/Greatwartruck/LibertyArizona1.jpg[/img] http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/Greatwartruck/LibertyArizona4.jpg[/img] http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/Greatwartruck/LibertyArizona5.jpg[/img] http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/Greatwartruck/LibertyArizona2.jpg[/img] http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/Greatwartruck/FWDArizona2.jpg[/img] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enigma Posted November 2, 2006 Share Posted November 2, 2006 :-o Wow, what a nice collection of vehicles. At least there still around somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snapper Posted November 2, 2006 Share Posted November 2, 2006 It just goes to show what there is around. It amazes me how you keep tabs on all this stuff, Tim...but I am glad that you do (when are we going to see you on the London to Brighton lorry run again?). I am becoming increasingly absorbed with the human aspect of the war but am always interested in seeing the hardware, from tin hats to tanks. Out on the Somme at Trones Wood last week I had some interesting encounters with live Mills Bombs and 18 pounder shells. The "fieldwalkers" were out prodding the farmland in little clusters and I am bewildered by the whole array of what is still out there. I am not a "treasure hunter" myself, just a snapper and a devoted pilgrim; but we brought home some 18 pounder shell cases and what we think was a 75mm case, plus some fuses. My friend John also brought back a big nose cone off a shell - not sure what calibre yet, but he'll find out and he also picked up a shell type we hadn't seen before by Delville Wood cemetery. My son's prize was a British Army pick head. He loves it (we found all our iron harvest up at Auchonvillers on another day). Just to stress - we are extremely carefull and do not play silly sods with UXBs. I am told the last person to be killed by a UXB from WW1 was a gent who picked up a live grenade and put in the glove box of his car. It exploded as he drove home. I am so much happier taking pictures and walking the paths of my heroes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted November 2, 2006 Author Share Posted November 2, 2006 Quite right too! There is far too much stuff lying around that is still live and dangerous and i am amazed that people will take live stuff home with them. I bought a very nice 18 pounder shell and case off the internet only after the seller provided additional photos of the thing entirely dismantled. Even now i am a little wary of it. As for the WW1 truck collectors, we are a very international group and we all talk to each other and have a pretty good idea of what is around and what is lost forever. But then every now and again something rare pokes its head out of the woodwork and we all are suprised, update our records and then start looking for the next thing. Latest additions to the list of surviving WW1 trucks is another Peerless in South Africa and a Leyland in Australia. I started doing a list of surviving WW1 trucks and got to 65 in the UK alone. I am sure that i can easily double that by including France and the USA if i put my mind to it. London to Brighton. Yes we have not done that for a few years. Both the Autocars completed it quite happily, but we have never been 100% happy with the running of the FWD, so we have not taken it. Sometimes it goes like the proverbial bat out of hell, and sometimes it just does not go at all. Instead of tinkering with the FWD and getting it running well we have got stuck into the Dennis. I guess the interest is more the restoration of them as opposed to running them. But anyway, you might just see the Dennis on the Brighton seafront in 2008 (maybe). Tim (too) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snapper Posted November 4, 2006 Share Posted November 4, 2006 That would be great. I still have happy memories of the French guys who drove a DeDion Bouton (?) to England, did the run, went off to live it up in Brighton for the afternoon and then immediately drove home again. They lived in the truck and wore horizon blue all the time. Brilliant stuff. My son kept the champagne cork they popped when they parked up. We still have it somewhere amongst all the treasures! Just booked up to go back to the Somme again in Oct 2007. Getting my team together. We plan to do a lot more walks this time (one of us was crippled on the last trip - not ME for a change). We spent a bit of time cleaning up our finds from the last trip this afternoon. Any suggestions for how to do this properly would be gratefully received. Thanks for all the truck news. Keep up the essential work. I am not surprised you get pleasure from the restorations. But you can't tell me you don't get a kick from running the treasures. I do like your Bethlehem steel works Autocar. Very pretty. cheers M Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great War truck Posted March 19, 2015 Author Share Posted March 19, 2015 I have just been sent details of the film "They met in Bombay" which according to reviews was a fairly awful film. Interestingly I think the Furrer collection was featured in this movie. The first minute of this film shows a Liberty B being crashed (quite spectacularly) and later on you see more clips of the Liberty trucks and FWD's. The Furrer collection was used in several movies during WW2 and I think it highly likely that it is here again https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vj_x3NhrOe4 It is available on DVD but it sounds like such an awful film I am in two minds to get it. Japanese soldiers in WW1 German helmets........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryH57 Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 it seems the links in post 1 do not work now? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datadawg Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 it seems the links in post 1 do not work now? I am not surprised, the original post was around 9 years ago! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.