solipsistnation Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Sometime last year, when we first heard the collection would be split up and sold off, one of the mechanics asked us track dusters and tour guides if we'd like to take a look in the back buildings at the ranch. They were semi-legendary-- they were closed to most volunteers and we had no idea what was in there. We showed up on Sunday when there weren't tours, hopped in the funvee, and headed back about a quarter mile beyond the main garages. There we found an amazing trove of stuff stacked to the ceilings of 3 giant buildings. It was an amazing assortment of stuff, and included vehicles that I thought should have been on display (an M19 GMC, a Churchill Toad, Chaffees and Stuarts and a beautifully-restored Cromwell). Most of the stuff, though, was just heaped up-- like the back of a disorganized closet that just happened to be full of forgotten tank parts instead of shoes and junk. One of the barns had a pretty major rodent problem. Getting the parts out of there and into the hands of people who might use it or clean it up was the right thing to do. I took about 160 pictures, and if it's okay I'll just link to the album here: Some of them are probably mislabeled. Let me know and I'll fix them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scammell4199 Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Wow. Just wow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony B Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 Who needs a sweet shop?:wow: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
draganm Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 so now the for the million dollar question, what happened or happens to the stuff now? If the main collection was donated, who owns the rest of the stuff still on the property? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solipsistnation Posted July 17, 2015 Author Share Posted July 17, 2015 so now the for the million dollar question, what happened or happens to the stuff now? If the main collection was donated, who owns the rest of the stuff still on the property? Most of the parts were sorted out and sold on the first day of the auction-- mostly in pallet-sized lots. The stuff that's still there (and wasn't bought or donated) is being kept by the family, who, I think, are keeping just a few things-- a couple of motorcycles (a BMW and a Russian copy of it) and a couple of other vehicles. Originally the plan was to have them there and do some restoration work (I think just to keep nonprofit/educational status and thus avoid property taxes on many acres of super valuable land), but I'm not sure what's happening now. Even a year later, though, they're still putting tanks on trucks and sending them out to their new homes a few at a time. The road up there is through residential neighborhoods so it takes a lot of planning and permits to get stuff out of there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_bish Posted July 17, 2015 Share Posted July 17, 2015 amazing, reminds me of when I got in the back lot of a MV Museum of LA, amazing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferretfixer Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 A Real Aladin's Cave!...:wow: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lauren Child Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 I wish we knew what has happened to that Cromwell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solipsistnation Posted July 18, 2015 Author Share Posted July 18, 2015 I wish we knew what has happened to that Cromwell I expect it'll show up in Stow, Massachusetts, when Collings finish their building. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datadawg Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 If they were selling stuff by the palette, I imagine some of the buyers got some sweet surprises... I mean you open a crate and wow, it's full of Uzi's. Holy crap. It would take years to go through this and figure out what's what, but I guess selling it as a tidal wave was the only way to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solipsistnation Posted July 19, 2015 Author Share Posted July 19, 2015 They did a first pass just to figure out more or less what was in there, and actually they had to remove and somehow dispose of or deactivate most of the guns (even the airsoft stuff and replicas-- none of that showed up in the auction). But I'm SURE some people got some pretty great surprises when they unpacked their crates of random stuff. Unfortunately, they didn't go to much effort to group parts with vehicles, so the vision blocks and periscopes and seats and stuff we took off the PSzH-IV when we were stripping it down to repaint it and turn it into a museum exhibit got sold as a lot separately from the vehicle itself (which was sold as a pair, the cut-open display vehicle and a complete one). Here's that if anyone is interested: It's mostly my reference for when we were going to put it back together after pressure-washing and painting... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
draganm Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 amazing how much of the stuff on page 2 is NOS, engines , transmissons, etc. that are still in their original crates and wrapped in paper and Cosmoline. It's also interesting to see the pile of discarded Panther parts, although still retaining signification value. He must have spent a fortune just reproducing so many of the components. How original is the vehicle that went to Collings , 60%? I can see how grouping everything for the auction must have been close to impossible, 50 years of stuff piled endlessly with minimum labeling. It's great that it was sold to collectors though and not melted down. It will all eventually get sorted on milweb and such Anyone know whatever happened to the Panzer MkIV? Did Allen ever get it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solipsistnation Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 It's also interesting to see the pile of discarded Panther parts, although still retaining signification value. He must have spent a fortune just reproducing so many of the components. How original is the vehicle that went to Collings , 60%? You can see that he tried really hard to weld the exploded turret back together, but it just wasn't going to happen. In the end he got the documentation on the alloy and so on, found a foundry in San Jose (or somewhere nearby) that could make that alloy to order, and had them manufacture him a new turret to the original specs. So it's as close to original as you can get without actually being original. Same with the wiring-- he had new cloth-wrapped copper wire made. And the tyres, too. Tour guides were told that he called up the company that made the tyres originally and asked if they still had tools and molds kicking around for WW2-era Panther tanks, and they said they didn't. Then he offered them a massive pile of cash if they could find them, and suddenly they did, and could make him a new set of rubber tyres for his wheels. I don't know if that's true or not, but it does sound like how he tended to go about things. As far as I know, the Panzer IV is still in limbo. I expect Auctions America may end up eating some of the expenses for attempting to sell a vehicle after the official auction had ended. The 5 high-value vehicles were set with a really high reserve because Collings didn't _really_ want to sell them, but would if they got a big enough offer. They were things that would draw in a high-bidding crowd but could also be the centerpiece of a major tank collection, so they were set super high in the hopes of dissuading even serious bidders. I don't think they quite expected Microsoft millions to show up, or at least for anyone to be willing to drop quite that much cash on anything. It might be different if there were another Panzer IV anywhere in the US (besides, I think, one rusted-out hulk kicking around somewhere), since then Collings could take the cash and get another one to restore, but I suspect that if there was anything else worth buying around, Paul Allen would already have bought it. I gotta say, it was surreal to hang out with people cheerfully spending hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars at a time. Some stuff when for super cheap (the AMX 13 was a STEAL), but there were some serious piles of cash moving around there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
draganm Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 You can see that he tried really hard to weld the exploded turret back together, but it just wasn't going to happen. In the end he got the documentation on the alloy and so on, found a foundry in San Jose (or somewhere nearby) that could make that alloy to order, and had them manufacture him a new turret to the original specs. So it's as close to original as you can get without actually being original. Same with the wiring-- he had new cloth-wrapped copper wire made. And the tyres, too. I'm sure no expense was spared, the restoration looked first class IMHO. I just meant the surviving scrap parts still had significant value, I'm sure someone was lucky to snag them at auction. Tour guides were told that he called up the company that made the tyres originally and asked if they still had tools and molds kicking around for WW2-era Panther tanks, and they said they didn't. Then he offered them a massive pile of cash if they could find them, and suddenly they did, and could make him a new set of rubber tyres for his wheels. I don't know if that's true or not, but it does sound like how he tended to go about things. this part still amazes me, although other people have also contacted German firms to have things like crankshafts, pistons, and tracks made. Here in the US you would be lucky to find an original company that was more than 10 years old that had a record of products more than 5 years old , but of course being Germany everything is still there and meticulously documented for the last 100 years It might be different if there were another Panzer IV anywhere in the US (besides, I think, one rusted-out hulk kicking around somewhere), since then Collings could take the cash and get another one to restore, but I suspect that if there was anything else worth buying around, Paul Allen would already have bought it. the rarity is driving the prices to insanity, the shot to hell and rusted hulk that from Russia that sold for 200K and was restored for the king of Jordan even surprised people here. You would think though that with Allen's money and fame he could get a complete wreck from the Golan or even the Hungarian government. i'm sure as the internet broadcasts the value and selling prices more will pop up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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