Preserved Stuart tanks in Canada ?

[David Dunlop]

Hello Hanno.

The late Peter Ford used to make regular stops at Levy's yard on his way through to Ottawa to research the Archives on Canadian Wartime Production records. I believe one of his last visits was with Brian Asbury at the time Levy's was shut down. The property was huge, as was their military parts inventory, and their entire inventory control system was based on a manual card file system. Each part was assigned a bin number, on a shelf, in a shed in a given row on the property. This system worked extremely well in the pre-computer days when all the staff were familiar with it.

Towards the end of Levy's, the system had started to fail them badly. Older, experienced staff left the company and younger ones just didn't give a damn. It was not uncommon at all for Peter to go into a shed and look at the label on a parts bin that said item "XYZ" was stored there. The front most box would indeed hold that part, but if you pulled that box out, one or more other boxes of completely unrelated parts could be found, pushed in behind. Staff would just shove a new box of parts onto the first available open shelf, relabel the shelf and walk away. Someone else would later come along looking for what had originally been on the shelf, see something new stocked there and just assume the original part had been sold off/no longer in stock.

Sadly, this all happened just as world wide interest in collecting and restoring military vehicles was catching on and the value of their property in Toronto was climbing. Pity they couldn't have held on long enough to convert all of their inventory to a computer system. They could have made far more of a fortune in the collector's market than they even did in the official government sales and commercial venues.

Levy's was probably the largest and longest active military surplus dealer in Canada. Princess Auto out of Winnipeg would have been a distant second. Levy's was also a major player in the inspection and repackaging of military parts and it has long been suspected they were a major supplier of surplus military parts to foreign governments "on behalf of the Canadian Government", when it was politically incorrect for the Canadian Government to be seen as taking direct action themselves.

Yes. There are probably some VERY interesting stories yet to be revealed about Levy's. Some of them probably worthy of a book at least, or a good movie!

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

I recall going through Levy's yard just as they were closing. Row after row of long wooden buildings with narrow isles down the middle, floor to ceiling bins on either side. The light coming in from the tiny open door at the far end gave some idea of the size. In many places the roof had fallen in. Out back along the fence there was a stack of wood/composite CMP 60cwt boxes in great shape.

I collected about three crates of parts including a lot of carrier stuff and even a pair of periscopes for my Fox. The sales guy looked at what I had and said "$200". That was it.

The sad part was that I was in competition with the scrappers. I looked in a bin, picked up a part and said "jeep" or "carrier" or "CMP". The scrappers were doing the same except saying "steel" or "brass" or "aluminum" and then throwing them into the correct bin for melting down.

[Brian Carey]

A small mystery then: I attended a "Liberation of Holland" parade and display in Perth, Ontario in June of 1997. At this event on display was a restored Stuart tank with a placard on it that recounted the story of Levy's and Hurricane Hazel. The placard claimed that 3 tanks had been washed into the Humber but only one, that particular one was recovered and restored. It was parked so I can't say if it was a runner or not.

From the above statements, I am uncertain which tank I saw!

Also, has anyone done any metal detecting on the embankment behind former Levy's? I'm thinking that between 1954 and 1995 a great number of bits and pieces may have been buried and still lurk below the surface where the cleanup crews overlooked.

Anyone?

[Bob Cohoon]

I am sure there are items in the river behind where Levy' s was . It would take some metal detection equipment and a diver to check. Anything there may have sunk into the mud ,though, right out of sight, but it' s worth a look .That would be something to pull out a couple of Stuarts ! I know for a fact that the 2 M5A1 turrets which were at Elliott Auto Parts were pulled out of the river behind Levy' s after the storm

[Bob Cohoon]

I guess I should read more. Peter Simundson, in an earlier post, said there were 8 Stuarts at Levy' s , and 3 partial ones out of that were recovered. That leaves 5 unaccounted for in that area

[Stew Robertson]

Just a little spoof

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[chris vickery]

The Stuart is no longer is Markus' hands as far as I know. Apparently sold off to a collector somewhere.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Bob Cohoon

I am sure there are items in the river behind where Levy' s was . It would take some metal detection equipment and a diver to check. Anything there may have sunk into the mud ,though, right out of sight, but it' s worth a look .That would be something to pull out a couple of Stuarts ! I know for a fact that the 2 M5A1 turrets which were at Elliott Auto Parts were pulled out of the river behind Levy' s after the storm

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: Peter Simundson
Date: 5 September 2012 04:56
Subject: Re: Reply to thread 'Preserved Stuart tanks in Canada ?'
To: MLU FORUM

There were three turrets and three hulls pulled out. All three went to Base Toronto behind a wire fence. One was sold for scrap (the wrong one). The other two I gave to Elliotts. They sold one to a guy in Quebec and Markus bought the
other one and made a great effort to put it together.
There was a lot of Stuart parts including turrets and baskets and MG mounts still there until about 8years ago
when the city did a cleanup and scrapped everything. But a metal detector will reveal whats under the earth above the river. There is nothing in the river.
What was pulled out went in 1974.

Peter S

[Bob Cohoon]

In 1988, there was one stripped hull with a fairly complete turret on it, 2 engine covers, one stripped turret on the ground, some idler wheels and suspension arms and 2 sets of track there for an M5A1 Stuart at Elliott Auyo parts. They decided to sell the hull, one turret,tracks and suspension parts to me, the person from Quebec, and years later, a collector from Washington state bought the stripped turret and one engine cover. Markus bought all the Stuart parts I had collected over the years plus the hull, turret at Elliott's a few years ago. He then purchased more parts to help complete the project and began doing work on it. This is What Happened, for real, because I was involved, and I would like to see the facts right for just once. I heard now that the tank project has been resold again

[Brock J]

I am not usually in a position to peruse the forums, but as I am looking to find an M29C , thought I would scan.
I came across this thread with long legs and gave it a read. I see some discussion about Bill Gregg and his Stuart, and where it came from.
Here are some details, from my personal experience, nothing important, just a story .... with pictures !

Back in the winter of 83, Bill was looking for a Stuart. Southeastern Equipment Co had lots of them come in from Portugal. Bill asked Brian Asbury if he was interested in going down to SE and checking them out. So in winter of 83, Brian and I drove down to Southeastern in Augusta, GA, to go through the Stuarts and choose one for Bill.

As it happened, we arranged meet up with a then Director of the MVCC, Roy Hamilton, (Roy flew in from Calif.) and the three of us would search for 2 Stuarts, one for Bill and one for Roy. Brian and I spent several days excitedly scouring the Southeastern property, and also their bonded storage location in Charleston, SC, in awe. It was massive and loaded with great stuff. And of course we checked many Stuarts out, we had to drain water out of several, and made a decision on a real nice one for Bill. His tank would be processed and shipped north soon after. The tank was finished in 85 !

Brian and I stuffed the vehicle with all the militaria we could fit in, (things, of course, that we just HAD to have!) and RUSHED back home.

'Rushed' you say?

Well, while at SE, Brian had seen some Ferrets, and we rushed back to Canada, to head off to Quebec, so we could go pick one out ... but that's another story...

oooh sorry ... didn't mean to ramble, actually only really intended to post a sampling of some pics of Southeastern Equipment, back in 1983. I would hazard to say, that most of us have never been, or seen the property, and these images may tantalize.

Brock