MACHINES OF WAR--
As treasured collectibles

The proud owner of this portable, 700+mm missile (above) regaled me with minute details of his treasure.  "It had a range in excess of 20 miles and even had nuclear capability--but never was used in that role,"  he continued.

Value?  He wasn't sure But, after pondering my question he was able to account for more than $40,000 invested in its purchase and restoration.  If I add sweat equity it's probably worth more than $60,000" he thought.

I wondered if his wife knew this.

The show had other vehicles from the popular deuce and a halfs (2 and 1/2 ton trucks) to an armored personnel carrier to a track driven missile loader to an outstanding, military version of a dune buggy on display at this, their third annual event at the Planktown Hardware near Shiloh one recent weekend.

It was fun to wander around the vendor tables and ponder current uses for some of the displayed paraphernalia.  I could visualize a .30 caliber machine gun mounted on the tripod (right) while it sat in a woods in front of a fairly desperate squirrel hunter.

Or, how about the mag or grenade pouch pictured below the tripod?  "Mag" stands for magazines, for your 30-06 M-1 Garand, rabbit rifle perhaps.

Can you envision a current use for a supply of grenades in that same pouch?

I watched one hobbyist fiddle with his lurching, WW-II missile transporter-loader.  It evidently was balking at the taste of modern day fuel.

The show was put on by Ohio Motorpool, Inc., a group of fellows from around Ohio who enjoy the hobby of collecting, operating (sometimes) and displaying old military equipment.

It reminded me of a bass fishing expedition in Quebec, Canada a dozen years or so ago.  One of my fellow fishermen specialized in vintage, military radio equipment.  I was a short-wave radio listening enthusiast then so I enjoyed helping him assemble his rig including an hour or so heaving his long, wire antenna over some challengingly tall trees.

That night, with a cooperative ionosphere, he was able to coax his signal to another vintage equipment pal located in the mountains of Colorado--who was then talking to a mutual friend in south Florida.

I had hoped to tell you more about this show but the vice president of the group who lives just a couple of miles from me failed to show up for an interview.

Kinda reminds me of my hypothesis about today's standard of excellence being mediocrity.

That's lady friend Sue Brooks taking a peek at a marvelously restored military "dune buggy" for lack of an official name.  Wouldn't my inept friend, the vice president of the group, be surprised if I showed up at his house in this thing to encourage him to explain why he did not show up for this story!