<< we were asked by our regional MV-organization to
participate with "everything of WW2 origin that could drive
(that is not axis off course)" in order to transport the huge
loads of veterans that were joining the parades (I will never
forget the '95 parades, the look in the eyes of the veterans
and the people who were liberated, very emotional). Anyway there
must have been around 300 MB/GPW's on the streets then. We were
doing a 300+ MV parade through 5 big towns and there were at
least 40 MB/GPW's in our parade, at the same time they were doing
Your statement supports my position almost as well as it does yours!
Heres what I mean; with as many vehicles as are in Western Europe and a
maximum effort situation like D-Days' 50th still only brought out 300 or so
as you say
even though they called for "everything of WWII origin that would roll"
Western Europe produced an estimated 300 MB GPW jeeps. Say even with the the
maximum effort there were still 10 unrestored jeeps that didn't make it for
everyone that did, that is only 3000 or so jeeps in Western Europe which is
certainly the largest depository of WWII jeeps outside the US and maybe the
largest PERIOD.
about 10-12 other parades elsewhere, and ours wasn't even the biggest.
Holland is a small country, France for example has a lot more MV-
organizations with more members, more MV's etc. And let's not forget
the British MV-clubs who are the biggest in Europe. I think there are
more than 10000 MB/GPW's around. >>
There may be more than 10000. I hope so. I personally wish there were still
600,000 around, its sad to think of all the wasteful destruction that has
taken place over the decades since the end of the war. My original posting
that got this thread started was to ask if anyone, anywhere KNOWS,
approximately, how many are left. It seems likely that we will never know how
many are left nor does it really make difference. I would love my jeeps just
as much if they were 1 of a million or 1 in a million. Anyway my own
assumption is going to be that there are probably around 7500-8000 that fit
into my qualification described in my post to the list by way of
willys@vgernet.
Auke, I appreciate your input and welcome further correspondence on this
subject.
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