I know that the Americans salvaged at least one FT-17 from a Afghan scrap yard, but these finds are even more sensational. The vehicle on the left in the first two photos IS indeed a Lancia 1ZM, and it could very well be the only one in the world! I know of no other one.
Can anyone correct me here? Are there any more Lancias in existence in the world? Perhaps in Italy?
"Italian Tanks and Fighting Vehicles of World War 2" by Ralph Riccio first published in 1975 (mine is the 1977 reprint) includes a list of preserved Italian AFVs. Only one other Lancia IZ is listed as surviving, and this is noted to be a "good build up from parts". It is (or was in 1975) at the Museo della Motorizzazione, La Cecchignola, Rome. However the list is very incomplete, not mentioning Italian AFVs in Saumur or Belgrade, so I suppose it's possible there's another Lancia IZ out there somewhere.
I wrote a short article on Afghan Armour 1920 - 1940 for the South Wales MAFVA magazine "The Dragon" a good few years (decades) ago. Must dig it out and see what I said, if anything, about Lancias in the country.
In my collection, there is a photo (or two) of the Lancia that survives in the museum in Rome.
These new pics are a fantastic find. thanks for posting. almost makes me want to go to Afghanistan (actually, not really). Is there any news associated with them? Will they be taken to USA, Canada, Australia or UK? Somewhere else?
Only one other Lancia IZ is listed as surviving, and this is noted to be a "good build up from parts". It is (or was in 1975) at the Museo della Motorizzazione, La Cecchignola, Rome.
I visited that museum (only open on saturday mornings, as it is located in an active military base) a few years ago. Unfortunately my flashlight had blown up in the Airforce Museum in Vigna di Valle the day before, so I could only take pictures outside and inside where there was enough light. I saw the Lancia, took one picture, and didn't try to make more, as I took it for a complete fake. I might be mistaken, but it looked utterly unconvincing to me.
I will try and dig up the picture one of these days.
These two old-timers where photographed outside Kabul in Afghanistan at CampWarehouse a while ago. The car I think is a Lancia IZM 1917, and the halftrack a French Citroen P4.
Hi all, great pics from the junk yard, but the lancia in the museum looks like a fake to me too.......seems like almost no comparison with the original.... so it looks like theres still only one survivor....
I give up. I have been trying in vain for fifteen minutes or more to update the previous post, but whatever I try the links to the correct page either do not show or prompt warnings I'm trying to paste an entire website, or do not show up as a working hyperlink. As an IT-professional of ten years I can safely say this is the single most user unfriendly forum software I have ever come across...
the correct address is the above, but ending with 'italy' rather than 'Italy'.
Peter Kempf wrote:I have never heard of that collection in Trieste before: thanks for the tip!
It was the subject of an article in the now defunct Wheels and Tracks long ago, and is quite well known amongst WW2 buffs. It used to be out in the open, but I heard that location had to be closed because a freeway was planned there. It seems to have found a new and more permanent place to safely store its exhibits.
Hey, someone on Facebook shared these pics with this caption... maybe it's the same discussed on this thread ""...Another Lancia 1ZM was sold to Afghanistan. The armored car with standard camouflage and black-red-green stripe on the turret. The fate of the Afghan Lancia 1ZM not clear. Apparently, the armored car was used until the late 1930s. Then it was sent to the "temporary storage"... But in 2007, German soldiers discovered a body Lancia 1ZM in Afghanistan..."