Tanks in Portola Valley
April 11, 2014 6:20 PM   Subscribe

I bet Telly Savalas drove one of these! The collection has recently been sold to the East Coast, so the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation is now closed to the West Coast. Sad. Tesla's just don't quite match up with mobility or fire power. What protects Portola Valley now?
posted by breadbox (20 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Any info on the sale of this? How do you know that?
posted by efalk at 6:28 PM on April 11, 2014


http://www.mvtf.org/pub_tours.php

Thank you for interest in the MVTF. We are sorry to inform you that as of mid-January 2014, all of our available reservations for 2014 have been filled. We are not accepting new reservation requests at this time. A portion of the collection will be sold at auction in July 2014. A small part of the collection will stay in Portola Valley and the remaining core of the collection will be moved to its new location at the Collings Foundation facility in Stow, Massachusetts sometime in late 2014. For more information on the auction and new location for the collection, please visit the Collings Foundation website: www.collingsfoundation.org.
posted by blob at 6:32 PM on April 11, 2014


Check the 'Tours' tab on their MVTF website. It explains the sale, and a little history of this battle delight. Thanks, Blob!
posted by breadbox at 6:40 PM on April 11, 2014


Also, kind of a cool video - interesting technique and sound design.
posted by sneebler at 6:46 PM on April 11, 2014


Ah, after some research I see the Savalas reference was to "The Battle of the Bulge." I was thinking of "Kelly's Heroes" and was quite confused.

I hope they're only auctioning off any "doubles" they have. I hate to see collections broken up.
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 6:52 PM on April 11, 2014 [1 favorite]


The tank destroyer that you see before you play the video, isn't that an Elefant?
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 6:56 PM on April 11, 2014


Always good to have a spare tank or twenty, in case the first nineteen break down.
posted by arcticseal at 7:11 PM on April 11, 2014


So many grease nipples, it would be like painting the Golden Gate Bridge.
posted by furtive at 7:21 PM on April 11, 2014


Yeah, this came out some time ago. The good news is that the Collings Foundation has said they will build a new facility to show off the collection, and based on the eagerness with which they keep their warbirds flying, I have high hopes to see -- in person -- some of these beauties here in New England soon(ish).
posted by wenestvedt at 7:33 PM on April 11, 2014


Heh, do you mean the tanks from The Dirty Dozen or Kelly's Heroes or the tanks he drove in Kojak?
/derail

It's amazing how many of those vehicles presented a 90° face if flanked. A notable exception seems to be the Leichter Panzerspähwagen shown at 1:28 in the video.

I guess it's not bad math in phalanx vs phalanx, if you have odds, a strong manufacturing base, and a bunch of men you are willing to get killed - and if you stay out of Russia in the winter.
posted by vapidave at 7:48 PM on April 11, 2014 [2 favorites]


Totally unrelated to the hardware, but it's crazy how often this site elicits an "I was just thinking about" or "I was just talking about." I just learned about the Collings Foundation tonight at dinner in a totally unrelated context.
posted by Mayor Curley at 8:01 PM on April 11, 2014


>What protects Portola Valley now?

Money and privilege, same as before?
posted by mosk at 8:35 PM on April 11, 2014


What protects Portola Valley now?

Drones.
posted by Vibrissae at 10:41 PM on April 11, 2014


If you have some spare cash and are looking for that one reason you need to gather up some of your friends and go to Minnesota, there's DriveaTank.com, where you can drive an assortment of APCs, including the FV433 Abbot SPG and even a T-55 tank. In addition, for just a little bit more, you and your friends can crush a couple cars with the tank too.
posted by chambers at 10:54 PM on April 11, 2014 [1 favorite]


4 wheel staring on that German armored car, pretty impressive for the day
posted by mattoxic at 12:26 AM on April 12, 2014


The tank destroyer that you see before you play the video, isn't that an Elefant?

No, that's a M44 self propelled Howitzer.
posted by MartinWisse at 8:39 AM on April 12, 2014


the Leichter Panzerspähwagen

Aka Lft. Gruber's Little Tank from 'Allo 'Allo.
posted by MartinWisse at 8:41 AM on April 12, 2014 [2 favorites]


When my father came over to visit me on Christmas 2012 one of my biggest priorities was to get him a tour of the facility. We did and he befriended the, for lack of a better word, curator and ended up working in the machines with them having the time of his life. He kept in touch and I found out through him that it was being sold. He was quite dismayed that when he comes back in about 9 weeks there probably won't be a collection to maintain.
posted by Talez at 8:58 AM on April 12, 2014 [1 favorite]


the remaining core of the collection will be moved to its new location at the Collings Foundation facility in Stow, Massachusetts

Wouldn't it be a beautiful thing to see if the relocation was not done by rail, or by tractor trailer, but as one long convoy under its own power, perhaps even crewed, or at least commanded, by WWII veterans? Sure, there's be a huge expense with permits, the changing the treads to a more street friendly rubber, not to mention how many times those would wear out on a cross country trip, not to mention the occasional breakdown. It would be one hell of a promotional stunt, though.

But it would be quite a sight to see.
posted by chambers at 9:48 AM on April 12, 2014 [2 favorites]


Heh, do you mean the tanks from The Dirty Dozen or Kelly's Heroes or the tanks he drove in Kojak?

I, too had a "Wait a second, Donald Sutherland drove the tank in KH, and didn't survive the chateau in DD, so wasn't in the half track" moment. It took me a second to separate all the times Telly Savalas was AROUND a tank with the time he was actually driving one in The Battle of the Bulge.
posted by chambers at 9:58 AM on April 12, 2014 [1 favorite]


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