Military Vehicles, December 1996,: Re: "Illegal" MVs

Re: "Illegal" MVs

Hanno Spoelstra (H.L.Spoelstra@wbmt.tudelft.nl)
Sun, 29 Dec 1996 10:20:33 +0100

At 08:42 AM 12/24/96, you wrote:
>Dear Hanno Spoelstra:
>
>On first reaction, my born-in-Pennsylvania-back-woods-patriot blood is boiling
>from your remarks critical of the US government and our legal system. On
>second reaction, I know you are well-meaning and this is not a political
>discussion.
>
>Many of us in the US, especially on this list, do not understand or agree with
>our own government's policy on vehicle mutilation (and many other things). I
>am sure you do not agree with your government all the time either. The
>destruction of perfectly good vehicles is unbelievably stupid but is driven by
>political and legal forces which have their own momentum. Many have tried
>through their elected representatives and through MVPA to get this stopped (or
>at least get exceptions for legitimate preservation activity) but so far the
>machine grinds on.
>
>I cannot explain exactly why this is. There is a question of liability and
>also the political fear of some accident becoming a sensational scandal.
There
>may be pressure from manufacturers of new vehicles fearing competition or bad
>publicity or ?????. The official response has never been clear. It is just
>"policy".
>
>Best wishes for the holidays and the new year,
>
>chuck

Chuck,

I understand your reaction. Sorry, I was not trying to offend anyone. Since
we are communicating over this medium, they are no borders, but there are
some limits. I agree that politics are not an issue on this list.
The main point here is vehicle mutilation and how we as AFV/MV enthusiasts
do not understand why so much of those nice vehicles have to be destroyed.
And it happens in democratic countries, like the US and the Netherlands. I
once tried to save a number of ex-range WW-2 AFVs, real basket cases w/o
guns etc., but these were earmarked as "strategic" material as a matter of
"policy" and had to be torched to pieces. A shame, especially when some time
later it was found out that some ex-Dutch Army trucks had found their way to
former Yugoslavia via various MV dealers. Simply because these trucks are
basically civilian designs, they're not earmarked as "strategic". But
contrary to some rusted out tank hulk, they were of use to battling parties.
Explanation?

Hanno Spoelstra <H.L.Spoelstra@WbMt.TUDelft.NL>
Bloemendaal, The Netherlands