Tank Tour: World’s Largest Private Collection of Historic Military Vehicles (BB Video)
In today’s edition of Boing Boing Video, guest-host Todd Lappin explores a massive collection of historical military vehicles tanks collected by an eccentric Silicon Valley multimillionaire. The recently-departed Jacques Littlefield amassed one of the world’s largest and most significant collections of this type, and his collection is now overseen by the nonprofit Military Vehicle Technology Foundation. Snip from their description:
“Our goal is to acquire, restore, and interpret the historical significance of 20th and 21st century military vehicles. Domestic and foreign combat vehicles such as tanks, armored cars, self-propelled artillery, and other technically interesting mobile platforms are the focus of the collection. We also maintain an extensive technical library that describes many vehicles down to the part level. Aside from the vehicles, there are towed artillery, antitank, and antiaircraft guns. Military support equipment, inert ordnance, and accessories round out the collection.”
The foundation is supported by public donations, and you can make one at their website if you dig what they do. To make arrangements for tours, you can email tours.mvtf at gmail.com. To arrange access to the collection for commercial purposes: permissions.mvtf at gmail.com.
The “tank tour” BBV shot for this episode was organized by BB pal Karen Marcelo and Dorkbot SF.
BOING BOING POST: http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2009/06/02/bb-video-tank-tour–.html
Duration : 0:6:40
[youtube YAHkEsyUpPE]
May 7th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
that is so cool how …
that is so cool how and where does he find them he must have conectionsto some pritty cool ppl
May 7th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
He must have been …
He must have been wealthy. I am sure a tank is not cheap and the shipping fee must be huge!
May 7th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
so long Jacques
so long Jacques
May 7th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
If you’re …
If you’re interested in Tanks & other historical military equipment, and you’re in Southern California, please visit the American Military Museum in South El Monte. They have many Tanks, Cannons, a Huey Helicopter, and more!
May 7th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
nice video
nice video
May 7th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
Great Stuff
Great Stuff
May 7th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
Great Stuff
Great Stuff
May 7th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
The application of …
The application of Zimmerit to german panzers was also halted due to some wild rumours that it would catch fire if hit…..Zimmerit is inert, but imagination runs rampant when you don´t know better and your vehicle is on fire…In the end the lack of Zimmerit did save on fuel due to the lower weight of a vehicle without such fancies….
May 7th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
They were gonna get …
They were gonna get some French tanks but they backed out…
May 7th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
Heil!
Heil!
May 7th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
@GreenDragon1947
…
@GreenDragon1947
hey ur the guy with the “battle of chawinda” video right……where did u get the footage?
May 7th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
Do they have tanks …
Do they have tanks from France or Italy ?
May 7th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
were is that place …
were is that place in us?
May 7th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
hhhm! intersting!
hhhm! intersting!
May 7th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
so when ww2.. they …
so when ww2.. they use the signs to hit… and today they use those optics for accurate fire.. and 3 miles distance?.. wow
May 7th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
@skah07 – The …
@skah07 – The German Army is probably the last one, showing up such insignia. Must have something to do with tradition and pride.
I’ve watched other vids, showing Abrams, Challenger or Merkava, none of them bears a similar marking, they use numbers and things like chevrons or other stripes.
But optics are so advanced and deadly precise today, guess, you don’t need such markings to hit. Abrams destroyed many Iraqi tanks from 3 miles distance – no escape !
May 7th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
@MegaLiopleurodon . …
@MegaLiopleurodon .. so why they dont use a flag replacement for the seal?..
May 7th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
@skah07 – Yes, they …
@skah07 – Yes, they may rip. Strange, that the Americans didn’t learn from a similar fault, made by the Germans during the Poland campaign. Early in the war, all tanks had a simple, large white cross, and Polish gunners used that as an aid to aim. After that, the more familiar black/white Balkenkreuz was painted on,
May 7th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
@MegaLiopleurodon …
@MegaLiopleurodon rip for the sherman crews who died because of that
May 7th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
@skah07 – That guy …
@skah07 – That guy was absolutely right, as most German tank-crews aimed exactly on that bright white star, and many Shermans had the hole right in the middle of the star !
May 7th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
so we do is we add …
so we do is we add an armor but the stupid part is we put the star on it…haha
May 7th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
i wish i was rich …
i wish i was rich and bought tanks like that
May 7th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
my god that is sick …
my god that is sick what an amazing collection that would be soooooo cooool to have all those tanks and stuff. my god. end there was funny putting star there to signal where to aim and shoot
May 7th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
i would love to …
i would love to have a ww2 tank
May 7th, 2010 at 8:47 pm
ON FOR ZEE GERMAN …
ON FOR ZEE GERMAN COUNTRY
I WILL TAKE ZEM MY SELF
LOL
he could have counquered a country though