[Marc Montgomery]

Bob has a point, but there is an important difference..in the 1950s to say 70s, we were often working on old cars to tidy them up, or simply keep them running, if lucky restore them or modify them--

nowadays younger folks messing with the rice-burners do not deal with body work, or 'old' rice burners to fix up or restore ( seems kinda funny to even consider restoring a 4 door mazda or civic)

and besides, who back in the day would even consider messing with a 4-door , Now they mostly replace the plastic moulded bumpers, add plastic spoilers to rear and sides, replace the hoods sometimes... buy mag wheels---note Im talking about average guys..not like in the magazines...which if you remember back in the day, we generally had no access to the kinds of shops, or equipment, or money to do the stuff shown in magazine either !

Theres also not a lot of messing with the engine...now its reconfiguring the computer, and adding a loud exhaust ..personally I think the 'car' hobby is much much different now than back even 2o yrs ago.

I agree with Hanno to an extent...ex MVs were usually bought as cheaper- allegedly tougher- work vehicles...how many gas statioins in my youth had beat-up jeeps - or maybe m-37, with a snow plough attachment..and as a very local service vehicle (boost batteries),,,often also bought by hunters for the hunting camps..ive seen a few of those in my time.

Cant say a lot of jeeps etc were ever bought as bushwacking dune buggies., but thats certainly whats happening to a lot of the iltis jeeps.

do agree that originally very little thought given to preserving them as heritage vehicles...maybe that mostly started around the 70s? ...as time allowed a step back and people started to see them as momentos of a very particular time worth preserving and as they were becoming less common

I do recall, in looking for an MV back about 20 years ago at the absolute beginning of my interest in the hobby and before I knew many people at all, I came across a barn full- literally- of maybe 12-15 MBs and GPWs in the GTA... there were a few very good parts vehicles, and an equal number of very restorable ones...(actually now, I would say with enough money, they were all restorable) the deal offered...take em all, but give me one back fully restored... aieeeee.... I had nowhere to take them , no way to take them, no place to begin a major restoration..and passed em up... as I was looking for a fairly complete and very easy jeep resto..

I have no idea where it even was now, nor whatever happened to them.. I do not recall anyone else ever mentioning this 'stash'..which would be an amazing find now...and even at the time had i known..or known anybody in the hobbby...... being a total newbie, I didnt realize the rarity of the find at the time... Did they get scrapped????