Military Vehicle Technology Foundation

Military Vehicle Technology Foundation

File:Mvtflogo.png
Location of the collection
Established	1998
Location	Portola Valley, California
Coordinates
Type	Military museum
Director	Founder Jacques Littlefield (d.2009), Chairman of the Board Scott Littlefield, President Bill Boller
Curator	Dave Marian
Website	http://www.mvtf.org

The Military Vehicle Technology Foundation is a large collection of military vehicles located in Portola Valley, California, USA. It was founded in 1975 by Jacques Littlefield, and now is under the direction of Bill Boller.

The first acquisition was an unrestored M3A1 Scout Car. The first two tanks arrived on site in 1983, and by 1988 the collection comprised five armored vehicles. Subsequent military vehicles and associated equipment were acquired from dealers, collectors, or in trade with various museums or government agencies in the United States and abroad. By the middle of the 1990s the collection included examples from almost all historically significant land battles of the last half-century. The oldest armored military vehicle in the collection is a World War I era M1917 light tank.

The Foundation was established in early 1998. Littlefield's major objective for the Foundation was to preserve the collection for the future. Over 200 armored fighting vehicles are present in the collection. The foundation offers tours of its collection. In July 2014, tours were available with a mandatory donation until the inventory was transported to the new museum in Stow.

In 2012 the foundation started a new program in conjunction with the Boy Scouts of America to start the youth Venturing Crew 551. Crew 551's stated goals were to assist in the restoration of vehicles, and to help educate the public through tours and presentations about the significance of armored vehicles throughout history.

The foundation signed over its collection to the Collings Foundation on July 4, 2013. A year later, the Collings Foundation auctioned off 120 of the vehicles to fund creation of a new museum to display the collection at the Collings Foundation headquarters in Stow, Massachusetts. Following the auction, Vulcan Warbirds (founded and owned by Paul Allen) sued the Collings Foundation and Auctions America, the auctioneer for breach of contract when the rare Panzer IV tank was not turned over to Vulcan Warbirds. Vulcan stated they had negotiated a purchase price of US$2,500,000 (equivalent to $2,500,000 in 2021) after the tank failed to meet its reserve price during the auction. Collings claimed the sale was valid only if an equivalent piece could be sourced.

In 2015, the Stow Planning Board questioned the educational merit of the proposed museum. The educational purpose was needed in order to allow the planned 60,000-square-foot (5,600 m²) museum to be built on land that was zoned for residential use. The Planning Board rejected the foundation's application in August 2015.

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  Schwimmwagen of the collection

• Matilda MK2 Series 4.jpg

  Preserved Matilda tank

External links

• Military Vehicle Technology Foundation website
• Churchill Toad acquisition
• Large, high quality photojournal of a visit by Bernard Zee
• Photojournal of a visit by Neil Mishalov
• Information about Venture crew 551