If you think you have strange old things in your cellar...

[dinolounger]

You've got nothing on this retired fellow in Germany:

http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-33381772

BTW, given the pristine condition his "toy" is in, it's literally worth a small fortune....

 

[DeaverTex]

Oh, wow! A PzKpfw V! And an 88. I hope the Germans find good homes for them.

 

[dinolounger]

As I mentioned, the later model Panther (an Ausf D?) in that kind of condition is worth a fortune. The 88 flak gun in "just out of the packaging" shape is also comparatively valuable. There was apparently also a torpedo in his stash. Likely one of the below or something very similar:

The link to the German news report (when translated) is very interesting. Says the locals were aware this collection existed but didn't worry about it. Lawyer for the retired collector says he acquired all this stuff legally and is going to pursue legal action to get it back. Lastly, the local mayor says back in the late 70s the quirky collector took the Panther out for jaunts around town, especially in winter storm conditions to show what it could do when the roads were supposedly impassable.

 

[Bluestars]

It's funny that the guy had actually driven the tank around town many years ago. That's quite a collection.

 

[DVC-Don]

I hope it winds up in a museum I can visit.

 

[MickeySP]

How big was his house?!?!?

 

[dinolounger]

I hope it winds up in a museum I can visit.

Don, that is where it should end up, preferably at a place like the Bovington armor museum in the UK, where it could be restored to running condition and actually taken out to go clanking and chugging around during their annual "tankfest"events. Below is a video showing one of the few other Panthers in the world in running condition doing it's thing during a public exhibition in Germany:

However, given political sensitivities in Germany over WWII "guilt," it is possible there will be a push to either hide it away in some government warehouse (put a vision of the final scene in the original Indiana Jones movie in your head) or worse, engage in the destruction a historic item in the name of "cultural cleansing" (similar to what is unfortunately starting to happen here to anything that is seen as an emblem of the Confederacy or pre-civil war south).

How big was his house?!?!?

There was a photo of the front of his house in one of the news reports yesterday (which I can't find now and am still looking for). He has an expansive, somewhat contemporary looking home (floor to ceiling windows), where in front is a broad driveway that slopes down below grade to what looks like a large set of overhead garage doors, which would lead into what would be cellar level space. That must be where he stored the tank and the mobile anti-aircraft gun and also explains how he got them down there.

 

[mel&me]

They should have let the old guy keep his toys.

 

[monkeyboy]

That would come in great with zombie apocalypse