From: MVBOATNUT@aol.com
Date: Thu May 15 2003 - 07:14:29 PDT
I found myself in the area on Sunday May 4 so I stopped in to have a
look. The huge 200,000 sq. ft. building houses both the WWII Victory Museum
and Dean Kruse automobile Museum.
They were still cleaning up the mess from the dedication party the night
before and I got the impression both museums still aren't up to full speed.
The gift shops were not stocked and some of the military vehicles looked like
they had just been taken out of storage. They needed a little TLC.
The Kruse Classic Car Museum features a rather odd collection of vehicles
including Indy cars, street rods, classic cars, horse drawn wagons and the
Michael Keaton 'Batmobile' and 'Batboat'.
The WWII Victory museum collection is filled with not just American
MV's, but many examples of German, British, and Italian vehicles with a few
French and Czechoslovakian MV's thrown in as well.
Many of these vehicles have never before been seen here in the States.
Even some of the American vehicles were rare examples in themselves. Have you
ever seen the Signal Corps version of the 1-1/2 ton Chevy with the post hole
digger mounted in back? How about a 4 ton Diamond T bridge pontoon carrier?
One of the most unique US "vehicles" on display is a Higgins bridge pontoon
tender. The aluminum hulled boat folds in half for transporting. There's a
DUKW, a GPA and 3 MB's, but no GPW's or prototypes. Oddly enough American
tracked armor consisted of only the Buick built Hellcat.. No Sherman's were
spotted. The museum's armored version of the M26 "Dragon Wagon" tank
retreiver had a Ford M8 on the trailer.
All I can say about the European MV's on display is no wonder we won the
War. To say some of these are odd looking is an understatement. There are
also many motorcycles on display from all countries.
Future plans call for display "habitats" featuring MV's in use. So far
the only one set up is a field communication unit complete with a 3/4 ton
WC52 filled with radio equipment. The museum website claims they have one of
the largest collections of WWII uniforms, arms, equipment and documents. So
far most of the glass display cases remain to be filled.
There was no literature available on the collection the day I was there.
Perhaps that's also in the works.
With all the vehicle museums in Auburn there's enough to fill an entire
weekend for any gearhead. For information on the Victory museum visit
www.americanheritagevillage.com or call the museum at 260-927-9144.
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