Military Museum in Austria - the Robert Gill Collection

[Brian Gough]

From the G503.com website, Sascha Gill of the Military Museum in Austria has provided the link to their new website:
http://www.militarymuseum.at

The Museum has an extensive collection of historic MVs including a large number of Canadian and British vehicles. To view the vehicle list:
http://www.militarymuseum.at/collection/#/overview/

Hopefully the Museum will consider joining the MLU Forum as well.

Brian

[motto]

The Studebaker US6 is one that I rebuilt with help from a friend and took to Normany in '94 for the 50th anniversary of the invasion. Robert purchased it from me after I took it to the W & P Show that year.
Robert insisted that I drive it to his home in Grossensersdorf just outside Vienna because I had had some engine difficulties and he wanted to be sure he wasn't buying a dud. It was just on a thousand miles from where the truck was stored at Cyril Groombridge's place in East Sussex and I set off on my own at a steady 38 MPH. I travelled across Germany on the autobahn for ease of navigation which was interesting. The whole trip was done on Victorian club permit plates which confused the weigh bridge man at the Austrian border. He marked the registration box on the certificate as NATO. The fighting was going on in Bosnia at that time and there were a lot of MVs heading in that direction.
The only difficulty I had was on the second day out when the fibre cam follower broke off on the ignition points. Miraculously the only spares I was carrying was a set of points and an engine gasket set.
Whilst staying with Robert he told me that he needed a r/h rear spring and hangers for a Staghound Armoured Car. On my return to Australia I removed what he required from a wreck on an old bombing range and sent it to him as he requested via Lauda Air. I never heard whether he got it and have not heard from or of him until this thread.

David

[Sascha G.]

Originally Posted by Brian Gough

Hopefully the Museum will consider joining the MLU Forum as well.

Thanks again for your invitation Brian!

Originally Posted by motto

The Studebaker US6 is one that I rebuilt with help from a friend and took to Normany in '94 for the 50th anniversary of the invasion. Robert purchased it from me after I took it to the W & P Show that year.
Robert insisted that I drive it to his home in Grossensersdorf just outside Vienna because I had had some engine difficulties and he wanted to be sure he wasn't buying a dud. It was just on a thousand miles from where the truck was stored at Cyril Groombridge's place in East Sussex and I set off on my own at a steady 38 MPH. I travelled across Germany on the autobahn for ease of navigation which was interesting. The whole trip was done on Victorian club permit plates which confused the weigh bridge man at the Austrian border. He marked the registration box on the certificate as NATO. The fighting was going on in Bosnia at that time and there were a lot of MVs heading in that direction.
The only difficulty I had was on the second day out when the fibre cam follower broke off on the ignition points. Miraculously the only spares I was carrying was a set of points and an engine gasket set.
Whilst staying with Robert he told me that he needed a r/h rear spring and hangers for a Staghound Armoured Car. On my return to Australia I removed what he required from a wreck on an old bombing range and sent it to him as he requested via Lauda Air. I never heard whether he got it and have not heard from or of him until this thread.

David

Hi David,

when Brian contacted me and I read your Email, I immediately called my Dad and asked him if he ever got the needed rear spring and hangers for the Staghound...

As I read your posting here, I remembered instantly when I was a 6 year old boy. You stayed at our house and we ate lunch together. You talked to me, but I hardly understood anythink. I can remember (I just started to lern english) that I thougt, damn what language is he talking, everyone said it should be english. Yeah had no chance against the Australian accent.

Back to the call with my dad. He really had no clue why I was asking, especially becuase I was so young and shouldn´t remember that. As I told him that I got contact with you, he didn´t stop to go into rhapsodies. (Is that correct? In Austria we say: he didn´t stop swarming). He started to talk about the days you worked with him on your Dodge, and he enjoyed working with you so much. That you stood up everyday at 6am, walked to the baker, bought some breadrolls/food and worked until the night was almost over!

He said that he felt so bad that he never contacted you again, in particular when he recieved the parts. But at that time he was really busy and changed his office too. He lost a box full of contact papers, and yours too. Back in these days it wasn´t easy to get contact details from the other end of the world. He is really sorry about that.

Even today whenever someone is visiting our collection, he always shows the Studebaker and tells everyone the story behind it. He is showing the pictures of your restoration and is explaining with how much love you did it. It is still one of our finest cars. We used it for several exhibitions, and also in movies he took part. This march another German/Austrian/Italian film starts in our cinemas/theaters with the Studebaker.
I can upluad some pictures if you are interested.

In the name of my father and myself I wish you the best regards,

Sascha & Robert Gill

[motto]

Hi Sascha,
I was hoping that my post would elicit a response and it could not have been better. Robert is still around, his collection has become a recognised museum, you've grown up and become involved in it, the Studebaker is still there and appreciated and the Staghound parts were received. All good news.
Please give my regards to your dad and keep up the good work.
Cheers
David

[Sascha G.]

Originally Posted by motto

Hi Sascha,
I was hoping that my post would elicit a response and it could not have been better. Robert is still around, his collection has become a recognised museum, you've grown up and become involved in it, the Studebaker is still there and appreciated and the Staghound parts were received. All good news.
Please give my regards to your dad and keep up the good work.
Cheers
David

It is a pleasure to have contact with you again, and thanks for the regards from dad! He sends them back. We are considering to visit you once in Australia in the future. Our baker where you bought the breakfast travels a lot to Australia, it would be great to see you again.

Here is a picture of your Studebaker at an exhibition at Museum of Austrian Army in Vienna some years ago:


My Dad loved your US6 that much that he designed his Ford GPW after it:



With the kangaroo :

[motto]

Thanks Sascha the truck looks as good as it did the last time I saw it. The markings were applied by David McCallum who accompanied us on the Normandy tour and is still around. He selected them from a range of options supplied by Mike Cecil, Australian military vehicle historian (published). At the time Mike was working for the Australian War Memorial, he has since moved to the U.S.
If you do come to Australia you would be most welcome to stay here. Keep in mind that it is a big country so there are often great distances between points of interest. Allow yourself plenty of time.
Cheers

David

[Sascha G.]

Originally Posted by motto

Thanks Sascha the truck looks as good as it did the last time I saw it. The markings were applied by David McCallum who accompanied us on the Normandy tour and is still around. He selected them from a range of options supplied by Mike Cecil, Australian military vehicle historian (published). At the time Mike was working for the Australian War Memorial, he has since moved to the U.S.
If you do come to Australia you would be most welcome to stay here. Keep in mind that it is a big country so there are often great distances between points of interest. Allow yourself plenty of time.
Cheers

David

Here is the datasheet for the Studebaker from our museum:


We made a movie last year with it, for that he got a soviet design. But after that we built it back to the australien design. Interesting story about the markings. If you want more new pictures just tell me. Have a lot on my phone. And also some videos when we drove in Italy on the street after the movie shot. I will upload that on our youtube channel and on our facebook page. I will let you know.
Thanks for your invitation! I´m looking forward to come to Australia as soon as possible. But I guess our baker will be there faster. He is traveling almost once a year to Australia.