seco m8 m20 and stuarts.... anyone have pics?History?

[68427vette]

anyone have pics of when they were for sale?in the yard? from old magazines? or from when someone here, went and looked at them to buy? sorry , i dont know the history, anyone have a serial number sheet? that they had in stock? are they still around? just curious? as i heard the were sold M20 & M8 at $8-10,000 and stuarts at $12-14,000? in the early 80's. sorry i'm showing my age here a bit. just feeding on info... since so much talk, . jc

[Coyote]

I remember when SECO was selling the Stuarts for $12- $14K in the early to mid 80's. I wanted one of those Stuarts real bad, but that was big money to me in those days..Heck that is still big money to me.
IIRC - One of those Stuarts was owned by a fine gentlemen in Oroville, CA who I visited in 87 or 88 and he had the Stuart parked in a car port...That was a fine looking tank.

[dlk]

I have a photo of the SECO yard from 2000 with hulks around....but no way to post it online....but I could email it out.

[68427vette]

email to me at jefferychester@yahoo.com send all you have!! jc

[dlk]

I only have one...and will get it to you tomorrow...it is on another computer that is not with me.

[68427vette]

So, whats the scoop on these 80's imports? anyone track the history of them? what were in wwii were they used? etc? how many of each made it back to the states? m8 m20 stuarts? sorry if this is an old question,,

[dlk]

From what I recall the m8's were brought back from Italy in the 1980's and sold off to collectors in subsequent years. I do not think they brought M20's back (there were not too many over in the ETO). They also had some M5's but where they came from I do not know.

[PFC W]

All,
Somewhere I have photos. The Stuarts came back from Portugal and the M8s were from Italy. The Stuarts, about 70 or so of them went for $12,500. The M8's, the first uncut ones, less the gun assy, were asking $22,500. They also brought in several Sexton 25# SPs from Portugal. The Stuarts were reconditioned by American Car & Foundry toward the end of WWII and transferred to Canada. Canada, in the 1950s, I believe, transferred them to Portugal. We have one of the Stuarts and M8s from those lots on display at the Veterans Memorial Museum, Huntsville, AL and a Sexton(not enough room in museum) in a warehouse. We had the Stuart and M8 at the Mobile MVPA convention(go Dixie Division!).
Regards,
Randy Withrow
PFC W
VMM

[nirvana]

Here is the list that includes all of the serial numbers of the M5A1s that were sold to Canada, and then to portugal. Most (all?) of these came in with the Seco tanks.





Chris

[68427vette]

the list does not show up,,,

[nirvana]

Another Try....

[68427vette]

nice info,, maybe post that over in the Tracked section also,,, WOW!! jc

[Kim Sievert]

Just to let viewers know,,,,, Per the article, the operative words are Canada purchased; they were not lend leased or loaned. So they should no longer on the books as being loaned US property. The serial numbers to hull numbers are exact on unrestored tanks, so I believe the info is correct. My guess is half of the 85 have ever been restored. So, there is a few just sitting around awaiting a "flash of cash" to buy. I do not know were any of those are nor have status on how many have ever been restored.

[nirvana]

The locations of some of them are noted on the list. A friend of mine has a copy of this list with about half a dozen more listed by current/past owner. I would say very very few of these tanks are left totally unrestored, they are simply too valuable anymore.

[PFC W]

Yall,
We have SN 5188 USA 3048300. I was relieved to see that we had figured the USA # correctly!
Regards,
PFC W.
Veterans Memorial Museum
P.S. We are hosting an MV Rally on 19 May and are going to take the Stuart for a ride.