Arizona MV Collectors Club preps for 24th annual show

The Arizona Military Vehicle Collectors’ Club invites you to visit sunny Arizona this January 24-25 for their 24th Annual Military Vehicle Collector’s Club Show.

The Arizona Military Vehicle Collectors’ Club has enjoyed a long history in Arizona’s “Valley of the Sun.” Founded by Earl Colton in 1982 as a loose gathering of interested collectors, the club’s membership numbers took off when Rod Shaver began to organize static displays even during the state’s summer months.

The club’s sudden success led to Shaver’s election as club president for eight years, succeeded by Paul Bible for the following 13 years, and then by John Hannigsburg as interim president upon Paul’s passing. The next election saw John Smith steering the membership, followed by Jerry Bubolz, Jerry Fallon, Idan Greenburg, and current President Alan Thurston, the youngest sitting president, all long-time active volunteers prior to their terms.

In 1984, the AMVCC held their first Military Vehicle Show in a long unidentified Tempe parking lot, spreading over the courtyard of the Military Museum located at 52nd Street and McDowell from 1985 until 2002, until overcrowding by the show’s popularity rendered public parking at the facility impossible.

As of 2003, the show had garnered the support of the Arizona National Guard, using their gymnasium and surrounding parking area across the street, at the corner of 52nd Street and McDowell Roads, until once again, in 2011, the show’s continually increasing annual following forced a change of venue, not only to accommodate spectators, but the larger numbers of vendors and military vehicles each successive year.

Peoria Sports Complex became the next venue of distinction in 2012 and 2013, until the Show’s success at that location became known to locals in the area, and became so booked that AMVCC strove once again to locate a display location that could accommodate the growth of the Show.

The Club is currently settled at Metro Center Mall, near Castles & Coasters in 2014, and relocating to the parking area adjacent to Soups N Salad for the already-bursting 2015 venue.

From 1995 through 1997, AMVCC’s website was hosted by a friend in the business. It was replaced in 1997 when Robert Lippert joined the club, along with his Mutt, and volunteered to mitigate all things technological, attaining the domain name armytrucks.org.

AMVCC members did not foresee the annual show making such an extreme hit with the general public until Paul Bible began coordinating the event annually in 1991, accepting more vendors originating both within Arizona and often traveling from the surrounding states of Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Utah, New Mexico, Texas and California.

Members did not begin annotating the wildly popular annual show until 1991, a full seven years after the public began pouring into the smaller venues in record numbers, making the 2015 Show “the 24th Annual Military Vehicle Collectors’ Club Show.”

2013’s Show boasted roughly 6,000 spectators and 100 vendors from these areas and as far away as the Eastern Seaboard.

The AMVCC additionally enjoys open participation from the Valley’s other vehicle clubs, the Arizona Historical Military Transport Association, located in the East Valley, and the Desert Warriors, located in the northwest, adding to the number and diversity of operational and well-maintained vehicles on display.

Much of the show’s popularity can be attributed to the warm, balmy weather Arizona exhibits in mid-winter, as well as being closely surrounded by a wide variety of well-known events including the Super Bowl, the Barrett-Jackson Car Show, and the Pro Bowl in quick succession, followed by the Phoenix Open.

Be sure to visit sunny Arizona this January 24-25 for the 24th Annual Military Vehicle Collector’s Club Show.

For further information regarding The Arizona Military Vehicle Collectors’ Club, or to contact our nonprofit membership, please visit our web site at www.armytrucks.org.

Current Club members boast a personal, privately owned inventory of military and civilian vehicles representing historic transportation from World War I (1918) through Desert Storm that includes Jeeps, mutts, mules, deuce-and-a-half’s, prime movers, troop carriers, half-tracks, command posts, military ambulances, and heavy wreckers. The club displays for various community parades, Military and Veteran’s service organizations, car shows, and children’s and seniors’ charities.

To honor those who fought and served, to make these mechanical memories available for future generations to see, feel, hear, and touch live pieces of history that helped to build and preserve our great Nation—these are the goals and reality that motivate these collectors to support local youth, academic, senior and outdoor enthusiast organizations by hosting camp-outs, trail rides, and interesting conversation along the highway.

Upcoming Club events can also be found on Facebook at “Arizona Military Vehicle Collectors’ Club.”