From: Mark B. Anderson (mark@aasurplus.ca)
Date: Sat Jul 02 2005 - 13:40:04 PDT
Thanks The best reading on this list I have had in a long time :) and I
just happen to be the guy from Manitoba with the M75 from Ian.
and soon I hope very soon she will be running :))))
Cheers,
mark
----- Original Message -----
From: "International Movie Services" <ims@telus.net>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Saturday, July 02, 2005 11:56 AM
Subject: Re: [MV] Shermans and such as construction vehicles....
> The M75s in Woodland are part of a remarkable chain of circumstances! In
> 1979 I was assigned by 4 Brigade as Umpire C/S 21A to shadow the recce
> squadron attached to the Belgian Army for the Reforger excercises. I was
> surprised to see that the Belgians were still operating large amounts of
> WW2 vehicles and Armour, but their APCs were all M75s! These were so fast
> on the highway that I could barely keep up with my crew in an M38A1 and
> M100 trailer. Once they went cross-country there was no contest! We
> clocked them at 45-50MPH on hardstand and they were'nt much slower in the
> mud.
> In the fall of 1984 I had my Mercedes 450SLC converted to North American
> specs by the AFRC facility in Mannheim, before I returned from Europe and
> shipped to the Pacific Northwest. The closest the Army would deliver the
> car was to the Port Of Portland, Oregon, where it finally arrived in the
> spring of 1985. I went down to clear the car through Customs and there was
> a RO-RO vessel discharging 50 plus Belgian M75s. Most ran, those that
> didn't were towed off by those that did. All had been demilled by cutting
> slits in the armour plate and on various hatch hinges, but they still
> looked pretty good for their age. I took a number of photos which I still
> have somewhere in the archives and left with the Merc to get a sppeding
> ticket within the first 45 minutes back in the land of 55mph.
> They made the news in tthe "Oregonian" newspaper with a photo of a local
> entreprenuer who "in partnership with Madill Equipment of Nanaimo British
> Columbia were to convert them to medium duty skidders and track-drills".
> The vehicles were moved to a storage yard in Woodland and Madill flew down
> from B.C. to inspect them and clinch the purchase from the owner, South
> Eastern Equipment of, I think, Atlanta? He was one of those "bold" pilots
> who flew his own aircraft, and attempted the trip on a wet, foggy morning.
> He missed the airport and thundered on in to a local hillside, thus ending
> the conversion plans for the M75s!
> They sat for many years with a non-negotiable $16,000.00 pricetag, the
> owner of the yard where South Eastern had arranged storage used to shove
> them atound with a D8 Cat, wiping off most of the external fittings and in
> the case of several vehicles snapping off idlers and bogie wheels. One
> winter the Columbia overflowed and the yard flooded to a depth of five
> feet, filling the engine compartments and hulls with silt and debris. The
> yard owner, who in fact always represented himself as the actual owner of
> the vehicles went through some sort of an identity crisis, changed his
> name and sex and started entertaining as a transvestite in gay bars in
> Portland. He got into a legal squabble with the County about the state of
> his yard, which had become an eyesore, so he took his D8 with the ripper
> attachment and returned several hundred yards of the County access road to
> it's natural state. When he got out of prison he lost title to his yard in
> the lawsuit for the destroyed road so he notified South Eastern that they
> would have to move or scrap the 50 APCs! This is when they went on the
> market for a fast $2K each. I took a group south with an M816 wrecker and
> a couple of support vehicles where we spent a miserable week in the mud
> and rain surveying all 50 vehicles for condition and restorable viability.
> We wrote reports up on every vehicle and painted our numbers on each hull
> in dayglo orange paint so that we could quickly differentiate between
> them. We selected what we considered were the ten best from which we
> shipped out six for restoration, while local collectors took the next
> four. Some other enthusiasts from as far afield as Texas and Idaho also
> took some while the balance were (illegally) sold for cash to a wealthy
> gentleman in South Texas by Lonnie the transvestite! I'm not sure if South
> Eastern ever got their money for those M75s, I rather think that they had
> tired of the whole exercise and just walked away. There were in the end
> two residue quality vehicles left in the yard, plus one chassis that had
> had all it's armour cut-away. I retrieved these after purchasing them from
> South Eastern, one is now in Everson, Washington in storage awaiting a new
> home, the chassis is in my yard like an enormous planter, while the third
> vehicle was lost to a well-intentioned but severely "bent" collector in
> Duvall, Washington. We have one M75 already running beautifully, it's
> still as fast as I remembered! One more has gone to an enthisiast and list
> member in Manitoba.
> The saga isn't over yet, but I hope that most of the excitement is!
> Now you know--the rest of the story!
> Per Ardua Ad Astra!!
> Ian D. Newby, Maj. (ret)
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Steve" <FLYNN1955@webtv.net>
> To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
> Sent: Saturday, July 02, 2005 7:09 AM
> Subject: [MV] Shermans and such as construction vehicles....
>
>
>> Well if you saw the drill rig perhaps you visited the Sherman Register/
>> G104 site?Yarders are in use everyday ,built on Sherman chassis's or
>> components.High speed artillery tractors(you look'm up,M4-5-6 etc)were
>> also favorite.I started on this list years ago excited about 50 M75's in
>> Woodland Washington.That was what they were destined to become,logging
>> equipment.The Industry took a dive and finally they sold for $2,000 a
>> piece...saved! Madhill is a manufacturer,based in Canada and Washington
>> St.which rebuilt and carried out the conversions.Seco is and was the
>> buyer and seller of a lot of equipment .I might have just part of the
>> story....let the rest get filled in as it is a good topic.
>>
>> Steve
>> WC51
>>
>>
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>
>
>
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