A buddy of mine ran the local Army-Navy surplus store in town for many years.  He was in the Army during the early 1960s in Germany stationed with a self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery battalion of M42 "Duster" self-propelled guns.  The "Duster" used the M41 "Bulldog" chassis but mounted a pair of 40mm L60 guns in a power operated turret that replaced the standard tank turret.  A flexible .30 Browning (later M60) machine gun was carried for ground defense.

The M42 was a very fast tank and, if you disabled the governor -- as the guys in his battalion had done -- you could get some astonishing speeds out of this track-laying vehicle.  The high speed feature was very useful when moving armor in convoy on the German Autobahns.

On this particular day the tanks of Gary's squadron were rumbling down the road on the way to an exercise.  The convoy's lead vehicle blazed a path down the right hand lane with its "CONVOY FOLLOWS" and flashing amber light; the Dusters followed along with recovery vehicles and tankers bringing up the rear.  Speeds hovered approximately 50 to 55 mph -- really hustling for armored vehicles.

A Volkswagen came alongside the moving column and passed most of the equipment.  Apparently, the VW driver decided that he wanted to use the upcoming exit ramp and thought he could break thought the convoy with enough room to make the ramp.  Wrong.

The VW speeded up and cut ahead of the Gary's Duster.  He almost made it when the right hand track of the Duster crushed the left rear corner of the VW.  Part of the engine compartment and left fender and wheel were flattened but the driver of the VW was unhurt.

The American convoy stopped and someone radioed the German Autobahn police.  The Americans were pretty edgy about having run over the VW -- especially since there vehicles were operating illegally with deactivated governors on the engines.  

With true German efficiency, the Autobahn police arrived and talked to the Duster crew and the driver of the VW.  The next thing the VW driver knew, the was placed under arrest. taken away, and his car towed.  The necessary statements of the accident were taken and the Americans were told to move out.  

Apparently, the German Autobahn police have very short fuzes when it comes to civilians trying to pass through moving military convoys in Germany and the VW driver found out the hard way -- both in property damage and fines -- that his desire to make his exit ramp was trumped by an American armored convoy on the march.

 

 Above:  An ex-American M42 "Duster" self-propelled AA gun of the Federal German Republic on display at Lutjenberg, Schlesweig-Holstein, Germany.  Dusters weighed-in at 25 tons and were powered by a 500 hp air-cooled gasoline engine.  Maximum speed (officially) was 45 mph with governor working.  Dusters usually had a crew of between four to six men.