{"id":19919,"date":"2022-02-05T17:00:45","date_gmt":"2022-02-05T22:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=19919"},"modified":"2022-02-05T17:03:25","modified_gmt":"2022-02-05T22:03:25","slug":"eisode-528-bill-greg-and-the-olympics-of-collecting-tanks-half-trcks-army-trucks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=19919","title":{"rendered":"EISODE 528 BILL GREG AND THE OLYMPICS OF COLLECTING — TANKS, HALF TRCKS, ARMY TRUCKS"},"content":{"rendered":"
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EPISODE 428    BILL GREG AND THE OLYMPICS OF COLLECTING — TANKS, HALF TRACKS, ARMY TRUCKS<\/div>\n

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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Feb. 6, 2022<\/div>\n

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\"One<\/div>\n
courtesy Toronto Star     DR. BILL GREGG AND HIS COLLECTON AT ROCKWOOD, ONTARIO (BEFORE DISPERSAL)<\/div>\n

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“a series of books on Canadian military vehicles written by the late Bill Gregg of Acton in the 1970s kicked collecting into high gear. Jeeps were cheap, sometimes selling for as little as $50, which helped many people get into collecting.”<\/font><\/p>\n

Brian Asbury<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Gregg,<\/div>\n

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PHOTO COURTESY TORONTO STAR:    A TRIBUTE TO DR. BILL GREGG, COLLECTOR EXTRORDINAIRE<\/div>\n

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Ah, yes, the winter Olympics are on right now in Beijing, China. Super<\/div>\n
athletes from all around the world.<\/div>\n

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That brought to mind Dr.Bill Greg who was, to my mind, a potential gold medal winner in the <\/div>\n
Olympics of collecting.  Bill was a few years older than me which meant he must<\/div>\n
have been a 10 year old kid in 1945 when the Toronto waterfront was filled with military machines<\/div>\n
being returned from Europe.   All I remember was seemingly endless numbers of jeeps<\/div>\n
but Bill Greg seems to have seen more.  Something triggered him \u2026 when he became<\/div>\n
an adult he began buying the machines of World War II\u2026big things\u2026like tanks and half tracks.<\/div>\n

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Later we both met as directors of the ill fated Ontario Agricultural Museum (Milton) which got<\/div>\n
all tied up in a logistical nightmare.   I remember a private conversation we shared dealing<\/div>\n
with the failure of the Museum to be viable.  We were both collectors.  Bill was big time. I was small time.<\/div>\n
But both of us gave artifacts to the OAM.  Some of mine are still there\u2026I hope.  Mothballed forever it<\/div>\n
seems.  <\/div>\n

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Meanwhile Bill was into a much larger kind of collecting.  Military vehicles including tanks, half tracks, artillery <\/div>\n
and lots of jeeps.   Yes, he collected tanks.  Hard to imagine but he had the space and buying a tank<\/div>\n
was not expensive.  Most buyers only wanted the engines\u2026the rest was scrap.  Eventually Bill had<\/div>\n
about 40 or more of these weapons of war.  Eventually Bill had to face the problem of what to do with<\/div>\n
his collection when he was gone.  At that moment it is a shock to discover often that no one gives<\/div>\n
a sweet goddamn.<\/div>\n

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I was not there when the collection was dispersed.  Did not even know that flat bed trucks were<\/div>\n
busy getting the tanks on board for a trip westward.   I did know much later that Bill was <\/div>\n
depressed that his weapons of war had to be shipped to the west because there was only<\/div>\n
limited space for these machines in Ontario (War Museum).<\/div>\n

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Note:  I was lucky enough to visit the war museum in Korea a couple of years ago.  Shocked.<\/div>\n
In the heart of Seoul is an incredible museum that even includes a full size B52 nuclear<\/div>\n
bomber and also the names of Canadians killed in the Korean War.   Koreans remember<\/div>\n
just as the Dutch remember but Canadians prefer to get on with their lives and push museums<\/div>\n
into the background.  How often have you been to a Canadian museum?  Tell the truth!<\/div>\n
Never or nearly never, I suspect.<\/div>\n

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DISCOVERY IN A JUNK SHOP<\/div>\n

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In a junk, sorry, wrong term.  In a collectibles shop in Rockwood Ontario I discovered<\/div>\n
a brown filing folder with photos of Dr. Bill Gregg\u2019s collection.  How these pictures<\/div>\n
had such a sad end escapes me.  So I put together this Episode in memory of Dr.<\/div>\n
Bill Gregg.  If there ever was a collectors Olympics, Dr. Bill Gregg would be one of the<\/div>\n
medal winners in my opinion.<\/div>\n

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QUESTION FOR MARRIED READERS MALE OR FEMALE:<\/div>\n

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Try this question on your other half.  \u201cDear, I was able to buy a<\/div>\n
Sherman dtank from Dr. Bill Gregg, could we renovate the garage?”<\/div>\n

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\"One<\/div>\n
Courtesy  Toronto Star Archives    BILL GREGG AND HIS COLLECTION<\/div>\n

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COLLECTION OF PICTURES FOUND FOR SALE IN ROCKWOOD SHOP<\/div>\n

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MILITARY VEHICLE COLLECTOR BRIAN ASBURY WROTE<\/font><\/div>\n

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\u201cFor the 11 million people who were alive in Canada then, the production of military vehicles in Canada approached 800,000 vehicles. Canada produced an incredible number of standardized vehicles designed for military use.<\/font><\/p>\n

\u201cInitially Britain requested it, and we were to be the production ground for British ideas, which is why all our Canadian trucks in World War II are right-hand drive. The big automakers made the chassis and drivelines, and subletted the bodies to smaller companies.\u201d<\/font><\/p>\n

In much the same way Ford and Willys co-operated in the U.S., Ford of Canada and GM of Canada simultaneously built a Canadian-specific series of heavy trucks, called the 15 CWT (spoken \u201c15-hundred-weight\u201d), 30 CWT and 60 CWT, depending on their size.<\/font><\/p>\n

Asbury owns about 45 vehicles, ranging from a small Welbike folding paratrooper scooter made in England, to a huge, six-wheeled amphibious DUKW, which he describes as \u201cbasically a six-wheel-drive truck with a boat all around it.\u201d<\/font><\/p>\n

Like most collectors, he started with a Jeep. \u201cThat\u2019s what most people can handle and afford, and it\u2019s a well-known brand; even a 2-year-old kid on the street can recognize a Jeep. But then it\u2019s usually a progression from a Jeep to a three-quarter-ton truck, then to a 2- 1\/2 ton, and then something that\u2019s armoured or maybe even armed, like a Ferret scout car.\u201d<\/font><\/p>\n

Jeeps became plentiful in the mid-1950s, Simundson says, when the army got rid of most of its World War II vehicles, ranging from trucks to tanks. But back then, the vehicles were bought to be used, not collected.<\/font><\/p>\n

\u201cThey went to service stations or were used as snow plows,\u201d he says. \u201cThe really nice armoured cars and tanks were bought for their engines and parts.<\/font><\/p>\n

According to Simundson, a series of books on Canadian military vehicles written by the late Bill Gregg of Acton in the 1970s kicked collecting into high gear. Jeeps were cheap, sometimes selling for as little as $50, which helped many people get into collecting.\u201d<\/span> (quote from Brian Asbury<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

alan skeoch<\/div>\n

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Post Script:  My biggest rescue was this small Etobicoke barn  doomed on the farm where J.Shaver Woodsworth was born (founder of the CCF now the NDP},  Fortunately<\/div>\n
for me the building was filled with scrap aluminum which netted me $1,000 nearly the<\/div>\n
cost of moving and reconstructing on our farm.  I could have put down a better cement pad if I only<\/div>\n
knew that Qjick drying cement is really quick.  Marjorie supported the project once she knew the cost<\/div>\n
would not come out of or housekeeping funds which were very limited.  Looking at the building today<\/div>\n
I was suddenly aware that it could hide a tank or a half track.<\/div>\n

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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EPISODE 428    BILL GREG AND THE OLYMPICS OF COLLECTING — TANKS, HALF TRACKS, ARMY TRUCKS alan skeoch Feb. 6, 2022 courtesy Toronto Star     DR. BILL GREGG AND HIS COLLECTON AT ROCKWOOD, ONTARIO (BEFORE DISPERSAL) “a series of books on Canadian military vehicles written by the late Bill Gregg of Acton in the 1970s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19919\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}