Please don't stop reading because of this boring post...

We went to another museum. To make the pictures more interesting Sparky and I stood in some of them. It didn't really help. {sigh}
Every year in Auburn there is the Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg Festival. It draws in many people who own these old luxury cars from the turn of the century. What draws larger crows, however, is the huge Kruse car auction. Well, apparently Mr. Kruse lost his auctioning license. It is a really long story. If you care, ask Sparky, he loves to tell the story.
So the Kruses have lost their family fortune, his electricity has been turned off, he owes people lots and lots of money, there might not be an auction this year, etc. Well, Dean Kruse also owns a local WWII museum. If he is broke, he may have to close the museum soon or it might get foreclosed. So before it is potentially shut down, Sparky and I thought we should go. 

What is odd about the museum is that it is filled with primarily German WWII stuff, not American. Apparently there was a museum in Germany right in the way of a new highway. They were going to close the museum and send the stuff to the junk yard. Dean Kruse swept in and saved the day by buying the entire museum. He has added some American WWII things to the collection, but there is still a TON of German stuff.

But since I am an AMERICAN, I primarily took pictures of the American stuff.
But first, here I am with a prototype for a vehicle invented by Hitler. I like to think of it as the predecessor to todays' SUV.

Moving onto the American side of the war:

This is a large tractor used in the war, apparently the vehicle choices were scarce. Can you imagine fighting Al-Qaeda in a tractor? No thanks.

Some boats. They were scale models. Obviously. But for the life of me, I cannot figure out what they did with scale models of boats in the war. Perhaps fought with remote controls? That would be cool to watch.

I have no idea where this uniform is from because I was not alive during WWII, nor do I study military apparel in my spare time. I looked up information about this helmet so I could share my knowledge with you.

A Tropical pith helmet worn by 12th Bersaglieri.
The tropical helmet was common for Italian and German troops in North Africa.  Note cock feathers and sand goggles.
The Bersaglieri wore the cock feathers on their steel helmet.

(info from: http://www.custermen.com/ItalyWW2/ArmyOrg/ItalianOrg.htm)

I cannot imagine a MAN wearing this feminine helmet! No wonder they lost. Sissies.

Oh, and this photo is just because I love side cars. I want one. Apparently Sparky does not think a side hatch would look very good on the side of his Ducati. Whatever. 

And because a man who owns an auction company is bound to come across some cool cars, there is a section of the museum for his favorite finds.

Look how tiny this little carriage is! I have no idea who could have fit in it. A normal sized carriage is on the right for comparison.

This picture is for Animal, since his middle name is Fonzarelli. It is The Fonz's motorcycle.

And to make Sparky happy, here is the van from the A-Team. I have never seen it, but if this was their cool car, the show couldn't have been that good. Sparky even named his childhood guinea pigs B.A. and Murdock.

This is a car. I think I want one. Only if it comes in a hard-top.

The famous... bat-mobile.

And because no car event would be complete without a Bel Air he had one of those, too: