Ontario Museum buys fake German vehicles

[Jon Bradshaw]

I am not an expert but I like to play devils advocate.....

Some of the things listed as problems could be honest field available fixes.
Road wheels/ chassis on the Maultier could have been harvested from captured universal carriers. Captured from BEF in France, like many French vehicles, they were likely pressed into service as usable equipment/ chassis for modification. Some wheels could have ended up on a Maultier with American production markings. The pic of a Ford Maultier unloading a ME323 shows clearly a Vickers 1930's style suspension and road wheels. Since the Panzer 1 was based on a Vickers 1930's tank the road wheels could have been copied and compatible. (not sure as I don't have one to compare)
I also believe that at least a few Ford plants built prior to 1939, were operating in Europe during the war under German control. One huge one just outside Cologne made trucks and cars since 1931. The end result could have meant that English markings were on molds and metal stamps from before the war. There are pics of German Maultier cargo trucks (not rocket) made from Ford trucks operating on the eastern front.
Firestone had a plant in England through the 1930's but other than a partnership with Ford I can find no evidence of a plant in Europe proper.
Goodyear operated in partnership with Zepplin until 1940 and dissolved the partnership due to the war. Not sure what they made besides airships.

This is an interesting problem for the museum since as was already mentioned it is buyer beware. I wonder if the case could be further investigated along the thoughts I have put forward. The maultier could in fact be mostly original parts, even if poorly re-assembled and missing proper mounting hardware for the weapons?

Again I am not saying these ones are not fakes, just that a few more parts could be legitimate. They could have been assembled from a few different vehicles. Mounting hardware may have been impossible to find so was simply welded into place to make a static display.

The people who know more about this will no doubt chime in here.

As 45Jim says- The "specialists" enlisted to determine the authenticity and value of these vehicles on behalf of the buyer should be hung by their short and curly's as the whole military vehicle collecting world knew they were fakes long before they hit North American shores.

The fault in this lays with the ones they paid to check out the vehicles, they get paid to know the difference.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Jon Bradshaw

I am not an expert but I like to play devils advocate.....

Some of the things listed as problems could be honest field available fixes.
Road wheels/ chassis on the Maultier could have been harvested from captured universal carriers. Captured from BEF in France, like many French vehicles, they were likely pressed into service as usable equipment/ chassis for modification. Some wheels could have ended up on a Maultier with American production markings. The pic of a Ford Maultier unloading a ME323 shows clearly a Vickers 1930's style suspension and road wheels. Since the Panzer 1 was based on a Vickers 1930's tank the road wheels could have been copied and compatible. (not sure as I don't have one to compare)

Jon,

It is a common misunderstanding that the German Maultier used British Light Tank/ Universal Carrier components. Indeed they were patterned on British components, but they were different - see e.g. http://www.mapleleafup.net/forums/sh...ltier#post5666

HTH,
Hanno