Visit to the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation

Jan 13, 2007

Chris Weld writes:

Didn’t start unusual, we gathered at the shop for breakfast and as we gathered a fellow and his wife, riding with Jeff Wu on an R/26, pull-in. He’s riding a 1924 unrestored Sunbeam, she’s on a late 40’s Royal Enfield. Note that I said ‘riding’; no trailers involved.

There are about 15 of us for breakfast and off we go, some in ‘cages’ of course. At breakfast we learn that Jeff Wu had wrangled an invitation to a private mountain-top retreat in the Los Altos Hills, a little 400 acre affair where the owner’s big on military vehicles and has built this huge five-building (least that’s all I saw….), complex for the restoration and display of these vehicles. When was the last time you walked-up to a Russian made Scud Missle launch vehicle with ‘Scud’ affixed? Our ‘tour guide’, is another military vehicle buff and was assisted by an active for just retired Armored Division Colonel.

Tour lasted hours and we barely scratched the surface. Mind you, we’re on a mountain top, above Palo Alto, accessed by a very steep public road (until about the last 3/4 miles of private gated driveway). How’d they get this stuff up there?