Military Vehicles, December 1996,: Grizzly Kangaroos at Southeastern Equipment? (was: Parts

Grizzly Kangaroos at Southeastern Equipment? (was: Parts

Hanno Spoelstra (H.L.Spoelstra@wbmt.tudelft.nl)
Mon, 30 Dec 1996 21:33:28 +0100

All I know about Southeastern Equipment of Augusta, Georgia,
is that they bought 15 M5A1 Stuart, 70 M26 Pershing / M47
Patton tanks, and 47 Sexton II 25pdr SPGs from the Portuguese
government in the early 1980s. A lot of T16 Universal Carriers
had been bought in Switzerland around that time, too.

In 1995 the Portuguese Government sold its last lot of Sherman
tanks to someone in the USA. This lot consisted of approx.
forty Canadian-built M4A1s, converted into APCs by taking off
the turret and rearranging the interior. These "Grizzly
Kangaroos" were converted by the Canadian Army and were
supplied to Portugal in 1954 under the MDAP.

Because of the earlier sales of Portuguese AFVs to Southeastern
Equipment, I think there is a good chance the forty Grizzly
Kangaroos ended up in Augusta. Besides restoring a few, what
other use is there for FORTY turretless tanks, other than to
turn them into logging machinery?

I would like to hear from anyone who has access to
Southeastern Equipment or their sales catalog, so that we can
establish where the Grizzly Kangaroos ended up and what their
eventual fate is.
Also of interest are older catalogues containing info on any
Sherman related AFV, and possibly the address of the company.

Thanks in advance,

Hanno Spoelstra
SHERMAN REGISTER
P.O. Box 14
NL - 2060 AA BLOEMENDAAL
The Netherlands

>Date: Mon, 30 Dec 1996 10:13:38 -0600
>From: kreutzm@ebs.ac.com (Matt Kreutzmann - Via)
>To: mil-veh@skylee.com
>Subject: Parts Dealers
>X-Sun-Charset: US-ASCII
>Sender: owner-MIL-VEH@skylee.com
>
>It might be Southeastern Equipment company. If I recall
>correctly, they were based in Augusta. Their primary business
>seemed to be converting military equipment for commercial use.
>Among their products was the Wood Tiger which was appeared to
>be a Stuart converted for logging use. They almost always had
>interesting vehicles in their yard, such as Stuarts, Weasels,
>DUKWs, and M8/M20s. You could buy them as is or they would
>refurbish it for you.
>
>They were still around into the mid-80s and I think I remember
>seeing ads for them within the past 5 years. I might even have
>an old catalog of theirs lying around. I'll have to check,
>though.
>
>Matt Kreutzmann
>
>
>----- Begin Included Message -----
>
>>>From majordom@skylee.com Sun Dec 29 10:44 CST 1996
>From: BUTLERPT@ORAU.GOV
>Registered-Mail-Reply-Requested-By: BUTLERPT@ORAU.GOV
>Date: Sun, 29 Dec 1996 11:27 -0500 (EST)
>Subject: Parts Dealers
>To: mil-veh@skylee.com
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT
>Sender: owner-MIL-VEH@skylee.com
>
>Back in the late 60's & early 70's I remember a MV dealer out
>of Augusta,
>Georga. They used to put out a newspaper catalog. Are they
>still
>around? I've check the phone book and do not find any
>listings.
>
>
>----- End Included Message -----