But she has blasted the prices quoted as unreasonable and extremely high. 'Maybe tomorrow we will have to scrap them 10 years later they can still be there.'ĭedonder has said the government has explored the idea of buying back tanks to send to Ukraine. So there's always a possibility either to sell spare parts or to sell additional tanks,' he said. 'There are still countries in the world who have these Leopard 1 tanks. 'This collection is very rare and very expensive,' he said.FILE - Belgium's Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder speaks at a news conference in Madrid, Spain, June 30, 2022.Īsked why he bought the tanks, Versluys, a silver-haired man in his mid-60s, said that was his company's business model – it bought unwanted military equipment in the hope that someone else would want it in future.

The foundation hopes to raise $10 million from the auction to help build a military vehicle museum at its Stow, Massachusetts, headquarters, Chaney said. Littlefield's family donated the tanks and other equipment to the foundation after Littlefield's death in 2009. They span from World War I through the Gulf War, Hunter Chaney, a spokesman for The Collings Foundation, said. The tanks and other vehicles - part of one of the nation's most extensive, historic, military vehicle collections - were among those amassed over decades by Silicon Valley engineer Jacques Littlefield, who kept them on his family estate up a winding, forested road above Silicon Valley.

The auction on Friday and Saturday in Portola Valley will also include gun parts and miscellaneous military equipment, including a nearly 42 ton surface-to-surface missile, according to Auctions America, the company handling the auction. PORTOLA VALLEY (AP) - More than 80 tanks amassed by a Stanford University-trained engineer are set to go up for sale in the San Francisco Bay Area in what is being billed as one of the largest auctions of military vehicles ever.

Military tanks for sale in the us