Failed museum selling D-Day tanks
For sale: tanks, good condition, some used during D-Day.
The Normandy Tank Museum in Catz, France is selling its entire collection at auction next month before closing its doors because it failed to attract enough visitors.
The sale includes tanks, military vehicles, trucks, aircraft and motorcycles, many of which have been restored to working order.
More than 40 armoured vehicles, along with thousands of military items used during World War II and dozens of mannequins in full battle dress, will be sold on September 18 by Artcurial, a Paris-based luxury auction house. Catz is just a few kilometres from Normandy’s Utah beach, where the Allies landed to liberate German-occupied northwestern Europe in June 1944.
‘‘We thought the museum would attract more people,’’ museum cofounder Stephane Nerrant said. ‘‘The terrorist attacks had a considerable impact on visitor attendance.’’
The museum opened in 2013, based on the private collection of founder Patrick Nerrant, Stephane’s father, who started buying World War II armoured vehicles in the 1980s.
The venue also offers tank rides and flights over D-Day landmarks such as the beaches where as many as 4400 allied troops lost their lives on June 6, 1944.
The 33,000 square-foot museum also has its own repair shop. It estimates the cost of refurbishing a Sherman tank at €150,000 (NZ$x) plus labour.
Auction highlights include a 1944 M4 Sherman tank restored by the museum and in running condition; a 1943 Jeep Willys MB equipped with a bar on the front bumper to cut barbed wire laid by the German Army in Normandy, and a machinegun mount; a 1943 M26 Pacific tank, nicknamed the ‘‘Dragon Wagon’’ by GIs because of its bulk, which was used to recover damaged tanks from combat zones; and a restored 1943 Harley-Davidson WLA motorcycle.