The Military Vehicle Collectors Society is Keeping History Alive

While you visit an air show or special historical event, you may notice that various military vehicles are parked around many aircraft from the same era. If you look a bit more closely, you will also see a re-enacted military camp site.

These added exhibits are the work of the Military Vehicle Collectors Society of Northern California, a group of about 550 members who acquire, preserve, and restore military vehicles from all eras and countries.

Kurt Lesser, president of the group, says that, “A lot of our members are veterans or active service members who have chosen to make the Bay Area their home. Members enjoy the camaraderie, and they often served in the military at a time in their life when they were young, and had few cares or responsibilities. This brings that time back for them, and it also ensures that history is not lost. So much history, in this country, just goes away.”

The group knows it is up against a law of diminishing returns. “During World War II, there were 16,000 B-24s built,” Lesser states. “Today, there is only one left. There were a large number of P-51s during World War II, but now there are very few left. We’re trying not to let that history slip away.” To date, members have been able to recover vehicles manufactured from the World War I era through the late 1980s.

To keep history from slipping away unnoticed, members of the group have developed a knack of knowing just where to look for vehicles. “You get very good at spotting green things in fields, and behind barns and garages. Or, you hear about someone who has a collection, and you ask around: ‘Hey, old Joe’s dad had a few jeeps. What happened to them?’,” he explains.

While this suggests serene drives in the American countryside, there are times when the search for vehicles becomes much more rigorous. “Right now, we have a group in the jungles of New Guinea, tracking down vehicles,” Lesser notes. Other finds are strictly accidental. “We have guys still finding warehouses of this stuff. Or, someone will open a box, and find it contains a jeep body.”

The cost of retrieving and restoring vehicles is borne entirely by the members, although members are not required to be actively restoring vehicles. “Anyone with an active interest in military history can join our group,” Lesser says. The group holds several events every year, and issues its own newsletter, as well as providing members with information about parts suppliers.

The group is part of a world-wide organization, the Military Vehicle Preservation Association, which is based in Independence, Missouri.