Collings Foundation acquires Jacques Littlefield collection

[Panzer Rob]

Apparently roughly half of the vehicles they acquired (it does not say if it's the entire collection) will be auctioned off to raise funds which will be used to build a museum to house and preserve the ones they plan to keep:

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/11/1...ollection.html


I wonder what will become of the Panther? I hope they plan on keeping it.


EDIT: here's a link to the posting on the Colling's Foundation website:

http://collingsfoundation.org/enews/...etter_MVTF.htm

[Bob Carter]

It sounds like the WWII and rarer vehicles will be kept and the lesser vehicles wil be (and some already ) sold. This is going to be interesting.

[CWP]

The Panther will not be sold.

[Panzer Rob]

It sounds like the WWII and rarer vehicles will be kept and the lesser vehicles wil be (and some already ) sold. This is going to be interesting.

Bob- that's basically what I got from the second link (on the Foundation's website).

The Panther will not be sold.

I truly hope that's the case

Rob

[Alan Smith]

Ok - I just have to say "I told you so". What I mean by this is that back when the Littlefield Panther thread was hot and heavy with the Polish guys pushing about how the Polish government was going to "get it back" from Littlefield's estate, I mentioned that it would be very interesting to see how much of a fight the estate puts up if the Poles undertake legal action, as I suspected that Littlefield's kids are not nearly as enthustastic about the collection as he was. Well . . . I think any question about what level of interest the heirs have in the collection has now been resolved: they want to dispose of all of it. This should come as no surprise to anyone . . . most of the time the children of serious collectors like Mr. Littlefield have little to no interest in their elder's collection and it is disposed of upon the collector's passing. No slight intended towards Mr. Littlefield's heirs; I'm just stating what I have seen happen over my years of collecting.

I also suspect that Mr. Littlefield's estate has a tremendous liablity for federal estate taxes, so the donation of the entire collection to a non-profit foundation is probably driven, in part, by tax issues. Also, I suspect that it helps the value of the property in California to get all this stuff cleaned up and out of the way, as it may be that the heirs wish to put the California property on the market for sale (it appears to be a very desirable parcel of real estate).

In any event . . . this sounds like very good news for collectors and researchers, as it will be nice to see the core "goodies" of the Littlefield collection go on easy-to-access public display.

[Willi Z.]

I think this is great news. The Collings Foundation is the right choice, and in the best interest of collectors, historians, and reenactors.

[MAPMFF]

As Pittman said the Panther will be staying in Massachusetts.

The museum they plan to build for these tanks will be very impressive and open to the public at-least several months each year. Certainly a good time to be from Massachusetts!

[zundappuk]

I have to agree that the change could be for the best. I visited back in 2007, and sadly Jacques was too unwell to meet, but I joined a tour group and had a viewing of the collection (I had set up the deal for Jacques to buy the SdKfz 7). After the tour group left I spent some time with the guys in the Panther restoration workshop. When I asked about the Panther running status they said it would run, be driven into the display building and then it would be preserved in a non running state. So, hopefully with this change it will fire up again.

David

[chen]

What a museum and this Panther.

[zundappuk]

What a museum and this Panther.

The turret in pieces wasn't used. they made a replica.

David

[chen]

.

[cossack1648]

Good news that core of the collection won't be split. A must place to visit.

[Alan Smith]

Speaking of the Panther, is it now 100% restored? My recollection is that it was not finished at the time of Mr. Littlefield's passing; did his staff complete the restoration?

[tony james]

I think it was conpleted several months after his death.

[Schnellmeyer]

And a fitting tribute to Jacques Littlefield and his team , well done to all involved .