The Military Vehicle Technology Foundation was a large collection of military vehicles located in

Portola Valley, California Portola Valley is a List of municipalities in California, town in San Mateo County, California. Located on the San Francisco Peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area, Portola Valley is a small, wealthy community nestled on the eastern ...

. It was founded in 1975 by

Jacques Littlefield Jacques Littlefield (November 21, 1949 – January 7, 2009) was the founder of the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation (MVTF), also called the Littlefield collection. Collection Jacques Littlefield collected many vintage military vehicles in ...

, and closed in 2018 after his death, with its collection being distributed to other museums. Many of its vehicles are now part of the

American Heritage Museum The American Heritage Museum is a military history museum located on the grounds of the Collings Foundation in the town of Stow, Massachusetts, west of Boston. The collection consists of over 100 artifacts, most of which were formerly part o ...

run by the

Collings Foundation The Collings Foundation is a private non-profit educational foundation located in Stow, Massachusetts, with a mission dedicated to the preservation and public display of transportation-related history, namely automobile and aviation history. The ...

Stow, Massachusetts Stow is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The town is located west of Boston, in the MetroWest region of Massachusetts. The population was 7,174 at the 2020 United States Census. Stow was officially incorporated in 1683 ...

History

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 M1917 was the United States' first mass-produced tank, entering production shortly before the end of World War I.Zaloga (Armored Thunderbolt) p. 2 It was a license-built near-copy of the French Renault FT, and was intended to arm the Americ ...

. 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 vehicle An armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) is an armed combat vehicle protected by armour, generally combining operational mobility with offensive and defensive capabilities. AFVs can be wheeled or tracked. Examples of AFVs are tanks, armoured c ...

s were present in the collection, displayed in a exhibition space at Littlefield's Pony Tracks Ranch in the Vista Verde neighborhood. The ranch was once owned by former San Francisco Mayor and California Governor "Sunny Jim" Rolph. The foundation offered tours of its collection 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.

Collings Foundation

Jacques Littlefield died after a decade-long battle with

colon cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel ...

on January 7, 2009. The foundation signed over its collection to the

on July 4, 2013. A year later, the Collings Foundation auctioned off 120 of the vehicles to fund creation of the new

to display the collection at the Collings Foundation headquarters in

. 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 museum to be built on land that was zoned for residential use. The Planning Board rejected the foundation's application in August 2015 but a settlement was eventually reached in July 2017 and construction of the museum was completed in 2018. The museum held a "preview" opening in October 2018 and fully opened in May 2019. The MVTF officially closed for tours on March 25, 2018. The last of the vehicles left the premises on July 30, 2018. Image:Kübelwagen and Panzerfaust.jpg,

Schwimmwagen The Volkswagen ''Schwimmwagen'' (literally "swimming car") was a four-wheel drive amphibious vehicle, used extensively by German ground forces during the Second World War. The ''Schwimmwagen'' is the most-produced amphibious car in history. Pro ...

of the collection Image:Matilda MK2 Series 4.jpg, Preserved Matilda tank

References

External links

Churchill Toad acquisition

Photojournal of a visit by Neil Mishalov

Information about Venture crew 551
* * {{cite web , url=https://www.rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/LC14 , title=The Littlefield Collection , date=11 July 2014 , website=Auctions America , access-date=3 May 2018 Military and war museums in California

History

Collings Foundation

References

Further reading

External links