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Interesting article in todays Chronicle:
PORTOLA VALLEY
History buff collects tanks for the memories
Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Jacques Littlefield has 220 armored vehicles, including t... Jacques Littlefield and his team of mechanics painstaking...
Welcome to Portola Valley. Home to horse ranches, bucolic orchards, genteel estates -- and 220 monstrous machines of destruction.
Jacques Littlefield, heir of a mining tycoon, has amassed the country's largest private collection of tanks, self-propelled guns, armored personnel carriers, and anti-aircraft and other heavy combat vehicles on the lush, rolling hills of his 470-acre ranch.
The collection, which rivals those of the largest Army museums, ranges from an M1917 "Six-Ton Tractor" from World War I to a Russian T-72 used by Iraqi Guard units in the current war.
Novice viewers of tanks may be awestruck at the sheer size of, say, the British Conqueror, 38 feet long and 73 tons of steel, about the same weight as a dozen city buses.
But for tank aficionados, the real prize is the dreaded German Panzer V Panther, which the German army intentionally sank in a Polish river during World War II to keep it from the advancing Russians. The Panther sat submerged for 50 years until Littlefield acquired it and began a painstaking restoration four years ago. It'll be nine more months before it's finished.
"As little kids, we all said we wanted our own tanks someday," said John Adams-Graf, editor of Military Vehicles magazine. "Well, some of us ended up with a lot of money and really did it. Within our world, Jacques is a big deal. He's one of the prime collectors of heavy armored vehicles in the world."
Littlefield, 57, keeps his combat vehicles in an immaculate football-field-sized showroom on his secluded Pony Tracks Ranch, a pastoral retreat that at one time was the country estate of Gov. "Sunny Jim" Rolph. Although the showroom is closed to the public, Littlefield gives tours to about 4,000 veterans, Boy Scouts, historians, authors and other visitors annually.
Almost all the vehicles are operational. He occasionally takes a tank for a spin around his property, but driving them is not the primary attraction for Littlefield.
"It's like if you're a mountain climber and you climb Mount Everest," he said during a recent stroll through the showroom. "You don't do it for the view, you do it for the work and planning it takes to get there."
Littlefield and his staff of mechanics spend years restoring the vehicles, combing the Internet for parts and even regrinding and replating nuts and bolts to look authentic.
"Restoration is very satisfying, especially with something like the Panther," he said. "People say, 'You'll never get that thing running again.' Well, it was built once, and we can do it again."
The biggest gun in his collection is a Russian self-propelled 203mm designed to fire a 250-pound projectile several miles. But Littlefield will never fire it, because that, and every other gun in his collection, is missing the key firing parts, in accordance with state and federal laws.
A genial father of four who did not serve in the military, Littlefield darts around his machine shop and showroom with youthful enthusiasm, proudly pointing out the restoration details -- like a neatly painted "Death Stalker" insignia on one tank -- and each tank's history.
His fascination with mechanics began with Erector sets and radio-controlled boats and planes when he was a kid.
"I was interested in how things were made. My idea of a fun vacation was to look at factories -- a refrigerator factory in Louisville, a Cessna plant in Wichita," he said.
As an undergrad at Stanford, he built a model tank from scratch in the campus machine shop. In 1976, he bought his first combat vehicle, a World War II Scout armored truck.
"I was more interested in military machines than civilian machines because they're very complicated," he said. "They have radios, hydraulic controls, guns. They can be very sophisticated."
Littlefield acquires the vehicles from dealers, collectors, armies and factories throughout the world. Most are from the United States and Britain, but Littlefield also has tanks from Israel, China, Japan, Germany, Russia, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Switzerland.
Tank collectors usually turn to specialized dealers, such as one currently offering the British Chieftain main battle tank in Texas for $45,000. But on Friday, even eBay had a U.S. M1 Abrams main battle tank listed at $18,750.
Buyers can pay a few thousand for a scrapped tank that doesn't run to more than $120,000 for a World War II Sherman tank in good condition. Restoration costs start at about $70,000 and can reach into the millions, said Lee Holland, vice president of the Military Vehicles Preservation Association.
And once you have a tank, there's not much you can do with it besides cart it out for parades. They're banned on most paved roads and get about 1 mile to every 4 gallons of gas, Holland said. Maximum speed is 25 to 30 mph.
"You just don't fire up a tank," Holland said. "The reason we preserve them is because they're a piece of military history, so people can see what it took to win World War II, and all the conflicts since then."
Littlefield says that careful restoration is his priority, and he happily shares his collection with anyone who's interested. He established a nonprofit called the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation to promote his collection.
"The No. 1 reason I'm doing this is to preserve the technical history," he said. "I'm not that interested in war games. I'm a student of history."
E-mail Carolyn Jones at carolynjones@sfchronicle.com.
PORTOLA VALLEY
History buff collects tanks for the memories
Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Jacques Littlefield has 220 armored vehicles, including t... Jacques Littlefield and his team of mechanics painstaking...
Welcome to Portola Valley. Home to horse ranches, bucolic orchards, genteel estates -- and 220 monstrous machines of destruction.
Jacques Littlefield, heir of a mining tycoon, has amassed the country's largest private collection of tanks, self-propelled guns, armored personnel carriers, and anti-aircraft and other heavy combat vehicles on the lush, rolling hills of his 470-acre ranch.
The collection, which rivals those of the largest Army museums, ranges from an M1917 "Six-Ton Tractor" from World War I to a Russian T-72 used by Iraqi Guard units in the current war.
Novice viewers of tanks may be awestruck at the sheer size of, say, the British Conqueror, 38 feet long and 73 tons of steel, about the same weight as a dozen city buses.
But for tank aficionados, the real prize is the dreaded German Panzer V Panther, which the German army intentionally sank in a Polish river during World War II to keep it from the advancing Russians. The Panther sat submerged for 50 years until Littlefield acquired it and began a painstaking restoration four years ago. It'll be nine more months before it's finished.
"As little kids, we all said we wanted our own tanks someday," said John Adams-Graf, editor of Military Vehicles magazine. "Well, some of us ended up with a lot of money and really did it. Within our world, Jacques is a big deal. He's one of the prime collectors of heavy armored vehicles in the world."
Littlefield, 57, keeps his combat vehicles in an immaculate football-field-sized showroom on his secluded Pony Tracks Ranch, a pastoral retreat that at one time was the country estate of Gov. "Sunny Jim" Rolph. Although the showroom is closed to the public, Littlefield gives tours to about 4,000 veterans, Boy Scouts, historians, authors and other visitors annually.
Almost all the vehicles are operational. He occasionally takes a tank for a spin around his property, but driving them is not the primary attraction for Littlefield.
"It's like if you're a mountain climber and you climb Mount Everest," he said during a recent stroll through the showroom. "You don't do it for the view, you do it for the work and planning it takes to get there."
Littlefield and his staff of mechanics spend years restoring the vehicles, combing the Internet for parts and even regrinding and replating nuts and bolts to look authentic.
"Restoration is very satisfying, especially with something like the Panther," he said. "People say, 'You'll never get that thing running again.' Well, it was built once, and we can do it again."
The biggest gun in his collection is a Russian self-propelled 203mm designed to fire a 250-pound projectile several miles. But Littlefield will never fire it, because that, and every other gun in his collection, is missing the key firing parts, in accordance with state and federal laws.
A genial father of four who did not serve in the military, Littlefield darts around his machine shop and showroom with youthful enthusiasm, proudly pointing out the restoration details -- like a neatly painted "Death Stalker" insignia on one tank -- and each tank's history.
His fascination with mechanics began with Erector sets and radio-controlled boats and planes when he was a kid.
"I was interested in how things were made. My idea of a fun vacation was to look at factories -- a refrigerator factory in Louisville, a Cessna plant in Wichita," he said.
As an undergrad at Stanford, he built a model tank from scratch in the campus machine shop. In 1976, he bought his first combat vehicle, a World War II Scout armored truck.
"I was more interested in military machines than civilian machines because they're very complicated," he said. "They have radios, hydraulic controls, guns. They can be very sophisticated."
Littlefield acquires the vehicles from dealers, collectors, armies and factories throughout the world. Most are from the United States and Britain, but Littlefield also has tanks from Israel, China, Japan, Germany, Russia, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Switzerland.
Tank collectors usually turn to specialized dealers, such as one currently offering the British Chieftain main battle tank in Texas for $45,000. But on Friday, even eBay had a U.S. M1 Abrams main battle tank listed at $18,750.
Buyers can pay a few thousand for a scrapped tank that doesn't run to more than $120,000 for a World War II Sherman tank in good condition. Restoration costs start at about $70,000 and can reach into the millions, said Lee Holland, vice president of the Military Vehicles Preservation Association.
And once you have a tank, there's not much you can do with it besides cart it out for parades. They're banned on most paved roads and get about 1 mile to every 4 gallons of gas, Holland said. Maximum speed is 25 to 30 mph.
"You just don't fire up a tank," Holland said. "The reason we preserve them is because they're a piece of military history, so people can see what it took to win World War II, and all the conflicts since then."
Littlefield says that careful restoration is his priority, and he happily shares his collection with anyone who's interested. He established a nonprofit called the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation to promote his collection.
"The No. 1 reason I'm doing this is to preserve the technical history," he said. "I'm not that interested in war games. I'm a student of history."
E-mail Carolyn Jones at carolynjones@sfchronicle.com.
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