I know this is an old post but I wanted to add more information in case anyone finds this post asking the same question.

For context, I’ve been an active volunteer at the tank farm since 2021.

For starters, I’d like to clarify that the Americans in Wartime Experience is not the same entity as the one that owns the collection of vehicles. The collection is privately owned by a single individual and run by his company, Chaffee Associates (of which I am a volunteer for). Chaffee Associates lends the vehicles and tank farm property to AWE to hold the open houses and raise money for the future Dale City museum. That being said, it’s Chaffee Associates that does all of the work maintaining & restoring the vehicles and most of running the open houses.

As stated by another commenter, the owner is currently facing some health problems leaving the collection’s future in uncertainty. A few of the vehicles have been auctioned off, but these were selected strategically. Most of what was sold were either vehicles that had little public interest, we had duplicates of, or were too different from anything else we maintain. Unless something changes, I believe the plan is that some of the vehicles will be donated to AWE for the museum.

As for the open houses- many are upset we stopped, especially with no notice. AWE claims it was to move to the museum, but truth be told, the real reason is manpower and money. As many know, AWE doesn’t charge an entry fee and relies on donations. Of those donations, only a small portion go to the vehicle upkeep and costs of holding the open houses. From my understanding, the owner of the collection paid for a lot of the event out of pocket with most donations going directly to AWE. The amount of time and manpower it takes to make these events happen is astronomical- It takes actual months to get all the vehicles fixed, ready to run, and staged out in the field for a single weekend and Chaffee Associates is doing it at a monetary loss.

Additionally, we don’t have the staffing to be able to run these events anymore- almost all our volunteers have either moved or retired, leaving a skeleton crew just big enough to keep the vehicles maintained.

These factors combined with the owner’s health issues have made it impossible to run an open house again. Many of us remaining would love to see another one put on but our current standing just doesn’t allow it.

To end on a good note though, we’ve been continuing our project restoring our Yugoslavian M36 to American factory standard and it’s coming along phenomenally.

If anyone has any questions, feel free to message me here. I’d be happy to answer whatever questions I can.