>> loose change in a desk drawer. >> for 30-plus years, this baggage has sat around? >> yes. >> inside, a fabled coin. >> it was a unicorn, talked about but never seen. >> a rare coin that could bring in millions of dollars at auction this spring. >> sounds like "ka-ching!" >> one coin, potentially worth $2 million? >> one penny. >> but then, the government flips. >> they're coming after you. >> they are. [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ]

>> i'm jamie colby. and today i am cruising ocean side in beautiful la jolla, california, just north of san diego. i'm on my way to meet an heir whose strange inheritance stunned the coin-collecting world, then led to a showdown with uncle sam. >> my name is randy lawrence. i inherited a baggie of coins from my father, who worked at the denver mint. imagine a shiny penny. but instead of being copper-colored, it's silver. that was one of the coins my dad left me. and it turned my life upside down. >> hi, randy. i'm jamie. >> hello. nice to meet you. >> so great to meet you, too. and i heard that your inheritance came in a small plastic bag? >> it did. >> randy shows me in, sits me down, and hands me a baggie full of coins. well, they can't be very valuable, i guess, if they're still sitting here in a ziploc. >> well, those particular ones

aren't necessarily. but there was one in that bag that was quite valuable. >> where is it? can i see it? >> well, i don't have it. >> huh? >> yeah, there's a little bit of a story. >> it's the story of randy's dad, harry lawrence, who grows up near denver, takes a shine to engineering, and studies metallurgy at the colorado school of mines. after serving in the army corps of engineers during world war ii, harry heads to chicago, where he lands a job as a foreman at a smelting plant, sweltering work, but not nearly as hot as the time harry spends hanging around the water cooler. >> that's where he met my mother. she was a receptionist, and he was a manager. and she was much younger and very pretty. and i think she just made him work for it. >> and he won. >> and he won. >> randy is the second of two boys. in 1960, when he's 3,

his dad accepts a job at the us mint in denver, packs up the family, and heads west. it was a dream job for him because it was bringing him back to colorado. >> was it pretty prestigious to have a father who worked at the denver mint? >> i felt it was. in the schoolyard, when other children would ask me, "well, what's your dad do," i... "makes money." and they said, "no, no, really, what's he do?" "no, he makes money." >> randy's dad loves the precision that goes into minting the nation's coins. but as with any perfectionist, it's the flaws that really catch his eye. >> he had a bag full of these coins. and there was a few of these error coins in there. >> what is an error coin? >> an error coin is one that was mis-struck at the mint. so it didn't land correctly in the press. and therefore, it might be off center, or the edge might be curled. >> this is a pretty interesting penny. but it looks like two pennies! >> michael mcconnell is a la jolla coin shop owner who knows all about error coins.

>> it's simply a penny that was struck twice. it got stuck in the press. and it got struck again. >> randy's father collects the error coins that he finds in a plastic baggie that he keeps at home in a drawer. >> so when you work for the mint and they mis-strike a coin, they let you take it home? >> well, i guess so. there are many error coins out there that are bought and sold every day. >> randy's mistaken about that. taking home error coins is illegal, but apparently ignored sometimes, at least in his dad's day. so it's quite possible that when harry retires from the mint in 1980, his bosses do say he can keep his error coins, a retirement gift, harry explains. what's harry's plan for them? no way to know. just six months later, he dies of a heart attack at the age of 60. i'm so sorry. he was young. >> yes, very young. it was a shame that he didn't

get to enjoy his retirement. >> did he leave a will? >> he did. >> did he reference the coins in any way? >> i got the bag of coins. my brother got a set of guns. my father collected guns as well. >> randy has zero interest in coin collecting and tosses his inheritance in his desk drawer. for the next three decades, he says, he forgets all about it until he moves from denver to la jolla and, one day, is checking out the new neighborhood. >> i walked into michael's coin shop, la jolla coin. >> yep, that michael. before long, the coin dealer will be on the scent of a fortune. that's next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. us coins have mint marks p, d, s, and w, designating the locations where they're made. can you name all four? extra credit if you know what the government makes at the w location.

the answers after the break. my father passed this truck down to me, that's the same thing i want to do with you. it's an emotional thing to watch your child grow up and especially get behind the wheel. i want to keep you know, stacking up the memories and the miles and the years. he's gonna get mine but i'm gonna get a new one! oh yeah! he's gonna get mine but i'm gonna get a new one! when it's time for your old chevy truck to become their new chevy truck, there's truck month. get 10 or 14 percent below msrp on 2018 silverado pickups when you finance with gm financial. plus, during truck month make no monthly payments for 90 days. find new roads at your local chevy dealer.

>> so, what do the p, d, s, and w stand for on us coins? p is for the philadelphia mint, d for denver, s for san francisco, and w for west point, where the government makes commemorative coins and stores gold.

>> randy lawrence moves his family from denver to la jolla, california, in 2013. while checking out his new town, he happens upon the la jolla coin shop. he tells the owner, michael mcconnell, about the bag full of error coins that he inherited from his dad, who worked at the denver mint. >> i said, "you know, i think it's time i have somebody take a look at this. would you be interested?" >> michael agrees. so randy returns with that old baggie. michael sorts through the contents, pausing on one silver-colored penny. >> it was an off-metal coin that wasn't the weight of a normal penny. >> it didn't feel right to you? >> correct. and the first thing that came to my mind was, because the us mint has struck over 1,000 different coins for over 40 different countries, that this coin was struck on a planchet meant for a foreign coin. >> what's a planchet? >> the planchet is a round disk

of metal that the coin is actually made out of. >> a us penny stamped on a blank intended for a foreign coin, michael says, might be worth a few hundred dollars. the other coins have some value, too. so michael makes randy an offer for the whole collection. what was the total price for everything? >> i think i left there with a little over 2,000. >> were you happy? >> i was happy with it. love you, dad. but you know what? i'm over it. i don't need the coins. >> but the coin-shop owner keeps thinking about that pretty penny. you see, there's this tale in the annals of coin history about an unusual batch of pennies the government minted in the 1970s. >> the price of copper had gone up in 1973. and so it actually became not cost-effective to make the penny out of that. and so they were looking for alternatives. >> paul montgomery tells me the story. he's a rare-coin dealer and author. and he explains that the mint's solution

is to switch from costly copper to a cheaper metal. what was the composition of them? >> the coin is made out of 96 percent aluminum. >> the mint's proud of the coin. it strikes a million and a half and even hands out a few to members of congress before its release. but the aluminum penny is a bigger '70s flop than the gremlin or the leisure suit. >> the coins didn't work in vending machines, uh, i guess because of the metal. kids would swallow 'em, and they wouldn't show up in x-rays, either. >> so instead of circulating the coins, the mint melts them down. and it takes back the few it handed out. the 1974 aluminum penny becomes as elusive as the proverbial unicorn... or maybe not. >> i began doing additional research, which led me to think that it may actually be that unicorn. >> the next thing he does it call a lawyer.

so what does the lawyer advise you? >> he advised me to go and get the coin certified, to make sure that it truly was an aluminum penny. >> tests show it is indeed made of 96 percent aluminum, just like those minted, then melted-down pennies from the 1970s. were you excited? >> it was obviously the scarcest coin i've ever handled. >> and things are going to get complicated because the heir of this "strange inheritance" story is about to reenter the picture. what's michael offering you? that's next. >> here's another quiz question for you. who preceded john f. kennedy on the half dollar? the answer when we return.

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>> so, who was on the half dollar before jfk? it's "a," benjamin franklin, from 1948 to 1963. >> a baggie full of coins, that's randy lawrence's strange inheritance from his father, who worked at the denver mint. when he brings it to this la jolla, california, coin shop, owner michael mcconnell tells him the fistful of change is worth a couple of grand. after randy takes the deal, michael determines one of the coins, a 1974 penny, is made of aluminum. that suggests it's from a run of coins never put into circulation. if so, it's one of those finds collectors dream about.

michael knows he owes randy, just for starters, a phone call. >> people come to us because we're the experts. and so if we give somebody bad advice on something like that, we, of course, have to go back to 'em and tell 'em that's not right, that's not what i originally thought the coin was. >> and he wanted to set up a meeting with me. so i went down to his coin shop. >> what's michael offering you? >> well, technically, he was the owner of this coin. so we worked out a 60-40 split. i took back 60 percent ownership. he gave me back 60 percent value of the coin. >> interesting. so michael buys the coin and owns it outright in your mind. >> mm-hmm. >> but when he learns that it's more valuable, he's willing to bring you back in as a partner? >> he felt that was the right thing to do. >> what were randy's options when you told him the news? what could he have said? >> he could have said anything. >> could he say, "give me my coin back?" >> absolutely. >> so for $300, he could have bought this coin back from you? >> sure. >> what did he say? >> after we talked about it, and we talked about the options, he said, "let's partner up

and go forward." >> how do you decide what's fair? >> well, it's kinda tough in this kinda situation. but this was a coin that had been in randy's family for a long time. this was a family heirloom. and i was certainly happy to give that split. >> i'll say, for it turns out that randy's rare penny has one more strange characteristic that will set the coin world abuzz -- that little d. >> so this one has a d mint, signifying it was made in denver. >> that's where randy's dad worked. >> and that is why this coin was so unique. >> because as far as anyone knows, the 1.5 million aluminum coins minted, then recalled in 1974, all came from philadelphia, not denver. that could lift its value into the stratosphere. did michael give you a sense of what it could be worth? >> anywhere from a low end of 250,000 up to 2 million. >> one coin, potentially

worth $2 million? >> one penny. >> as co-owners of the coin, randy and michael decide to put it up for auction, beginning with a sneak peak at a coin expo in long beach, california. >> it was phenomenal. >> a rare coin that's spent years lost in a drawer could bring in millions of dollars at auction. >> we were on every television station. >> and realized it might be something a little more special. >> i was getting phone calls from across the country, as well as seeing articles across the world -- russia, china... >> is the price going up at this point with all that interest? >> in my mind, it is. >> then out of the blue, the postman knocks. >> well, i got a very interesting letter from the government. >> a letter? do you have the letter? >> i do, right here. >> oh, this doesn't look good. what's your "strange inheritance" story? we'd love to tell it. send me an e-mail or go to our website,

strangeinheritance.com. you're turning onto the street when you barely clip a passing car. minor accident - no big deal, right? wrong. your insurance company is gonna raise your rate after the other car got a scratch so small you coulda fixed it with a pen. maybe you should take that pen and use it to sign up with a different insurance company. for drivers with accident forgiveness liberty mutual won't raise their rates because of their first accident. liberty mutual insurance. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty ♪ i want some more what's he doin? but, he can't look at him! it's just not done! please sir. i want some more more? more? more? more?

please sir he has asked for... thank you what? well he did say please sir yes he did and, thank you yeah. and thank you he's a wonderful boy (laugh) a delightful boy (all boys): thank you, thank you, thank you.

>> now back to "strange inheritance." >> in february 2014, randy lawrence is gearing up for the auction of his one-of-a-kind inheritance, a 1974 aluminum penny. it was left to him by his father, harry. but now he's hearing from his uncle sam. "dear mr. lawrence, it has come to the attention of the united states mint that you may be in the possession or control of an aluminum one-cent coin. it is our understanding that you may have obtained this item from your late father." boy, they know a lot! >> they sure do. >> "please contact me at your earliest opportunity so we may discuss arrangements for the timely return of the subject piece." they're coming after you. >> they are. >> recall that randy's father works at the denver mint for 20 years. upon retiring in 1980,

he's apparently allowed to keep a bag full of error coins as part of his retirement gift. you were convinced, in your mind, that your dad received this coin legally and was entitled to keep it? >> absolutely, 100 percent. >> but now, 34 years later, the government claims otherwise. what are your options? >> well, our options was to immediately turn over the coin, or do what we did. and that was to file a lawsuit against the united states treasury to keep ownership of the coin. >> the other half of "we" is coin-shop owner michael mcconnell. why didn't you just turn it over to the mint? >> i didn't think it belonged to them. and there certainly wasn't evidence that said it belonged to them. >> the same circumstances have existed so many times in the past, and so there are precedents. >> and rare-coin expert paul montgomery believes those precedents favor randy.

exhibit a -- the super-rare 1913 liberty head nickels, which montgomery wrote a book about. his research indicates they likely were struck by a rogue mint worker, just as the government's claiming in randy's case. >> each one of these coins had been owned and purchased. and millions of dollars had traded hands. and yet the government has never gone after those. why this one? >> in their lawsuit, randy and michael cite other rare coins with similar histories that collectors buy, sell, and own freely. the government's response -- "so what?" then it ups the ante by putting on the public record serious allegations against harry. >> accusations of my father not being of the highest standard. >> for example? >> well, that he could have been the one who made the coin, or my father should have known better than to accept it and keep it. >> what was the government's beef against harold lawrence?

>> well, they suspected that mr. lawrence had a nefarious scheme to produce coins that weren't supposed to be produced. >> bottom line -- the government is strongly suggesting that randy's dad is a crook. did that make you mad? >> very, very angry, yeah. >> two stories, two sides of the coin. and before the case goes to trial, the government deposes the man who headed the aluminum cent project back in the 1970s, former mint director alan goldman. to randy's great relief, goldman's testimony exonerates his father. under oath, the former mint director states, "i knew harry lawrence very well, and he was a straight shooter. he would not have engineered this." >> when i read that, i knew that my father's name was cleared. >> but that's all the good news because goldman also bolsters

the government's claim that the penny was struck improperly. >> he believed that it was actually made as a practical joke by one of the mint employees. and as far as how it came to my father, again, probably as a memento when he retired. >> with no star witnesses of their own, it's going to be hard for randy and michael to convince a jury the coin rightfully belonged to harry. they drop their lawsuit. you're willing to walk away from $2 million? >> apparently so. i did. >> it seems like you caved. >> at the end of the day, because there aren't enough people left to be able to tell the whole story as to how it really came to be, i felt like it was kind of a case that we weren't ever going to be able to win. >> the man from la jolla is forced to return a rare and valuable coin to the us government. >> the us mint declined our request for an interview about randy's aluminum penny. is the government

becoming more strict in that regard? >> this is first i've seen anything like this. i see the government getting very active in lots of things. but confiscating collectible rare coins has never been one of them. >> this has never happened, either. after receiving randy's strange inheritance, the mint puts it on display at a coin show near los angeles. collectors press their face against the glass to get a good look-see. >> this is the first time that this coin's ever been displayed like this. and while the lawrence family may not even know this, they've already become a tremendous piece of the history and numismatic lore. >> so randy lawrence did not cash in his legendary aluminum penny for millions. but he did get a consolation prize of sorts. in coin-collecting circles, he and his father are now legends themselves, with the lawrence name forever attached to the one-of-a-kind 1974 d aluminum one-cent piece.

your dad's reputation is restored. >> perfect, yes. >> the coin is gone. >> yes. >> and you didn't make a buck. >> didn't make a penny. [ laughs ] i say the government's taken my last penny. >> remember how a handful of aluminum pennies were handed out to lawmakers back in 1974? legend has it that, one day, a congressman dropped his while rushing to vote on a bill. a capitol police officer tried to return it. the congressman, thinking it was just a dime, told the officer, "keep it." it's believed that officer's family may still have that super-rare penny. but the mint is now on record saying it would like it back, just like it wanted randy's. i guess you could say the mint's really pinching pennies these days. i'm jamie colby.

thanks for watching "strange inheritance." and remember -- you can't take it with you. >> he was the man who had everything... >> this has about 750 to 800 horsepower. >> ...but never enough of these. >> he told me he was bringing in about one tank a week. >> i imagine a small country could win a war with these. >> yeah, i hear that a lot. >> my dad started a tradition of getting an old, beat-up car, and then he would crush it with a tank in the field out here. >> his death puts his heirs on a mission. >> is this what your dad would want? >> you push up on that. >> start. [ engine turns over ] >> just like that, she comes to life. >> and talk about sticker-shock and awe. >> was the auction a nail-biter? >> you bet it was. >> $300,000. $350,000. sold. ♪

>> i'm jamie colby, and, today, i'm driving up a long, steep hill in portola valley, california, near san francisco. i'm here to visit the heirs of a man who made the record books with his incredibly strange collection. and if i'm lucky, i may even get to ditch this s.u.v. and take the controls of a serious off-road ride. >> my name is allison littlefield. these are my half brothers, david and scott. >> when our father died, in 2009, we inherited 240 armored military vehicles. >> lots and lots of tanks. >> hi, allison. i'm jamie. >> hi. nice to meet you. >> thanks for having me up. this is a magnificent ranch. the ranch is very nice, but i'm here to see something else. >> come this way. >> these are real? >> these are real. >> this is one of several

buildings on the littlefield ranch where they garage their strange inheritance. some guys collect stamps and coins. their dad, jacques littlefield, collected tanks. in fact, what you see here is part of the world's largest private collection of armored vehicles. allison tells me some of these tanks are incredibly rare, including this world war ii german panzer iv... this 8-ton half track... and this sherman tank. what a collection. >> it is a real preservation of history, and that's what i'm so excited about. >> so, how did all of this get started? well, jacques littlefield is born in 1949, the son of edmund wattis littlefield, heir to a prosperous mining and land-development company called utah construction. at an early age, jacques develops a strong interest in all things mechanical. >> this is him as a young boy,

playing with his model train set. >> he looks almost like he could be in an ad for trains. >> i know. it's such a sweet picture. [ gunfire ] >> in the late '60s, the vietnam war is raging, but jacques is never drafted, due to hearing loss from a childhood bout with encephalitis. he attends stanford university. after majoring in economics, he goes to b-school, then takes a job at hewlett-packard. that's where the 23-year old littlefield meets his new boss, bill boller, who becomes a lifelong friend. he shares with bill his latest passion -- tanks. where did it begin? >> he checked a book out of the library called "american tanks and tank destroyers." and that book attracted his attention so much that he said it all started there. >> jacques' first military purchase -- in 1976, for $3,500 -- is this m3a1 world war ii wheeled scout car, which saw combat both in north africa and the invasion of

sicily. i find it ironic that he collected tanks even when people were anti-war. would he have shown up at a protest? >> jacques was conservative in his politics, so no. he would definitely not have shown up at a protest and probably would have pretty much ignored it. >> 1976 is also the year jacques' father sells the family business empire to general electric, in what was then the biggest merger in u.s. history. his dad's now a billionaire, and son jacques leaves h-p to manage his personal fortune. he takes up residence here, at pony tracks ranch, gets married, and starts a family. scott, what do you remember most about your dad? >> building stuff. we used to go to the woodshop and make things there. i'd have birthday parties, and we'd get to go around on a sherman tank. >> one of my favorite events was our 4th of july party. [ all cheering ] my dad started a tradition of getting an old, beat-up car, and

then he would crush it with a tank in the field out here. >> [ laughs ] >> a truly successful army is one that will not be called upon to fight, for no one will dare to provoke it. >> the timing of jacques' interest in tanks is perfect. with the u.s. military expanding under president reagan, the pentagon is getting rid of a lot of outdated equipment. jacques snatches up a few tanks and then a few more, including this m5a1 stuart tank, built by cadillac back in 1943, a model used in the invasion of normandy. jacques buys it for $20,000. the end of the cold war and then the first gulf war lead to more tank-buying opportunities. jacques pounces. sherman tanks... this m1917 "6-ton tractor"... a russian t-72 used by saddam hussein's forces...

even a scud missile launcher. jacques builds these barns to house them all. >> this is him working at the tank-restoration shop here on property. he was very involved in the process. he really enjoyed it. >> so it's a professional operation. >> oh, yeah. i mean, he had a great team of people who would rebuild these things down to the nuts and bolts. >> i remember i was in ukraine and i saw a tv show starring my dad. >> this has about 750 to 800 horsepower. >> it was a strange experience. >> in 1999, at the age of 50, jacques is staggered by a colon-cancer diagnosis and goes into treatment. >> i was in a bit of shock when i first found out. >> did he tell you or did he hide it to himself? >> he was very good at hiding it. >> he always had a really positive attitude. >> and a life's-too-short outlook that, as his cancer goes

into remission, sends his tank-buying into overdrive. >> he told me he was bringing in about one tank a week. >> do you have any idea how much money he spent? >> [ laughs ] >> a lot. >> yeah. i prefer not to think about it sometimes, but, yeah, definitely, it was his passion. >> coming up, the tank -- and the challenge -- jacques littlefield was most passionate about. plus, it's my turn at the controls. okay, i'm up. how do i get in? >> any way you can get down in there is fair game. >> but, first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. how did these armored vehicles become known as "tanks"? the answer in a moment.

>> the answer is "c." during world war i, the british coined the term as a code name to keep their development a secret. >> i try not to have too many duplicates of what other collections would have lots of. >> in the early 2000s, jacques littlefield, the world's foremost armored-vehicle collector, seems to be beating colon cancer. the fight lays him low,

physically, but it only revs up his passion for tanks and more tanks. he asks his dear friend bill boller to help restore them. >> he told me he was bringing in about one tank a week, every week for the last several years. >> by 2007, jacques' shopping spree gets him into the guinness book of world records for the largest private collection of armored vehicles, with 229 of them. only a year later, he has 240. but his cancer returns with a vengeance, and in january 2009, he tells bill he's just hoping to finish one thing before he dies -- the ongoing restoration of a super-rare german panzer v panther. jacques considers it his greatest find. >> the story, as we understand it, was -- it had to retreat, and on its way through poland, it attempted to cross a frozen river. and the tank broke through the ice and fell to the bottom. it sat under this river for

about 50 years. >> it's not in good condition. >> this particular restoration started off looking worse than this turret right here. it was remanufactured here in its entirety. >> just in time for a fast-fading jacques littlefield. >> we had a discussion about it, and although the turret had not been put on it, he smiled and he said, "i'm satisfied". >> look at it now. how long does this take? >> the total restoration took seven years. it's one of only two that are really restored to this degree. >> how much did he pay for it? >> this is a fairly valuable tank. there are multiple millions of dollars in it. >> on january 7, 2009, just days after he tells bill boller he's satisfied, jacques littlefield passes away at the age of 59. [ bagpipes playing ] >> there was a procession, and the coffin was carried on the back of a tank.

>> the mechanics he'd been working with thought that would be a fitting way to send him off. >> jacques wills the entire tank collection to his children. >> it was really scary to lose him so young. i turned 20 a month before he passed away, and it kind of went from being in college to having to take on a lot of responsibility very quickly. >> so, what do you do when you've inherited a collection of 240 armored vehicles? in keeping with jacques' wishes, there's a trust for the tanks, controlled by allison and her half brothers, but no instructions on what to do with them. >> he never left me with any sort of message regarding the tanks, specifically. >> so the siblings call jacques' friend bill boller back to active duty. he'll lead the littlefield heirs through the quagmire ahead. >> the objective was to find a long-term solution. >> in the short term, i'm

wondering what it's like to drive one of these things. >> why don't you climb up and get in the driver's seat? >> right on cue. bill says it's an m551 sheridan, one of jacques' favorites. okay, i'm up. how do i get in? >> any way you can get down in there is fair game. >> i can always get new knees, i suppose. >> [ laughs ] >> if you look on the floor, you'll see there's a great, big single brake in the center. >> got it -- brake. >> and there's a foot throttle on the right. >> probably no texting at this time. >> probably not a good idea. >> okay. >> we're not gonna turn on anything else other than, now, the starter, which is the next lever over. you push up on that. >> start. [ engine turns over ] >> just like that, she comes to life. >> oh, my gosh. >> okay. so... >> are you belted in? >> i've got a great, big handle i can hang on to here, and if i get in trouble, i'll just jump. put your other foot on the accelerator and let the brake off, and we're out of here. go for it. ♪

pull hard as you can. pull real hard. give it lots of gas. [ tracks screech ] right there is just fine. >> i think that's good. [ engine shuts off ] oh. enjoyed it so much. i can't wait to do it again. [ laughs ] can i come back tomorrow? >> well, we've got 80 more that you've got to try. they're all different. >> i should test-drive them before i make a decision. >> [ laughing ] yeah. >> after their father's death, the littlefield heirs retain a skeleton crew of mechanics, just to keep all those tanks in good shape. did you ever say to yourselves, "let's just sell it"? >> no. >> i was hoping that we could maybe keep the collection somewhere locally, but after all those options were explored, there wasn't any way we could

keep the collection together here. >> then, in 2013, a visitor from the east drops in. rob collings represents a well-to-do family in massachusetts that's devoted to military history. >> let's go for a flight. >> he tours the country with world war ii planes, like this b-17 flying fortress. collings is looking to maybe buy a tank or two, when bill boller takes the conversation to a whole new level. >> bill said, "you know, i don't want to sell you a tank." i thought to myself, "what did i say?" he goes, "i want you to have the whole collection." >> in short order, the two men draw up a plan to create a jacques littlefield tank exhibit in massachusetts. >> we would grant all the assets to them, and they would take the responsibility to provide the plans for a building, the land for a building. >> but just because you're willing to give away a fleet of tanks doesn't mean you can just hand over the keys and be done

with it. is a family that inherits something this vast responsible for also raising the finances to do it? >> i don't know of any museum, even those that are well-funded, that would volunteer and come in and take on this type of a responsibility. >> for this entire scheme to work, the littlefields must accept an arrangement to raise a certain amount of money. did you know what that number was? >> yes. >> and it's a big chunk of change. can they do it? >> sold. >> that's next. >> here's another quiz question for you. this german personnel carrier from jacques littlefield's collection was driven by lee marvin in the world war ii classic film "the dirty dozen." what's this model of half-track called? is it a... the answer when we return.

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>> so, what's this 12-ton vehicle used in the world war ii classic "the dirty dozen" called? it's "a," a prime mover. lee marvin drives it, playing an insubordinate officer on a top secret mission to assassinate a group of nazi generals. >> it's july of 2014, and the littlefield family is nervous. they've agreed to donate their strange inheritance -- the largest private collection of armored vehicles in the world -- for a new museum to be built by the collings foundation, in massachusetts. the foundation cannot house all 240 tanks in the museum, just the cream of the crop. >> we had a methodology going into this of what vehicles we wanted to present, and that boiled down to 85 tanks.

>> they're jacques littlefield's greatest treasures. they include the personnel carrier used in "the dirty dozen" and the german panzer v panther tank that jacques littlefield finished restoring right before he died. littlefield's kids wish collings didn't have to split up their dad's collection but know some must be sacrificed to fund a permanent home for the rest. and museums cost a lot of money. so, along with bill boller, they gear up for a barn-burner of an auction on their ranch outside san francisco. it's not easy to put a collection together and have the funds to open up a museum. did you know what that number was going into the auction? >> yes -- around $10 million. >> $10 million dollars, and failure's not an option. if the numbers fall short, some of their father's most prized vehicles that they dearly want in his namesake exhibit must go.

>> we picked out five very, very rare vehicles and we put a high premium on those. >> valued at several hundred thousand dollars each, the five include this sherman tank, the last of its kind... a german 8-ton half-track, just as coveted as the 12-ton used in "the dirty dozen"... an american amphibious assault vehicle... a german panzer iv... and this jumbo sherman, one of just eight in the world. what was that day like? >> i don't even know how to describe it. it was a little bit nerve-racking, like, "oh, are we gonna raise the amount of money that we need?" [ auctioneer calling ] >> the auction seems to get off to a strong start. this 2s7 self-propelled gun fetches $92,000. this humber armored car -- $97,000. amphibious tank -- $172,500. grant tank -- 276k.

stuart tank -- 310k. and that scud missile launcher goes for $345,000. they're north of a million, heading toward 2, but still a long way from 10. will they have to sell any of those rare tanks to reach their objective? >> that was the million-dollar question. >> the answer next. what's your strange inheritance story? we'd love to tell it. send me an e-mail or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com. my father passed this truck down to me, that's the same thing i want to do with you. it's an emotional thing to watch your child grow up and especially get behind the wheel. i want to keep you know, stacking up the memories and the miles and the years. he's gonna get mine but i'm gonna get a new one! oh yeah! he's gonna get mine but i'm gonna get a new one! when it's time for your old chevy truck to become their new chevy truck, there's truck month. get 10 or 14 percent below msrp on 2018 silverado pickups when you finance with gm financial. plus, during truck month make no monthly payments for 90 days. find new roads at your local chevy dealer.

cuz, um, i thought that was what i needed to do. we got our orders to go overseas and i went to baghdad, iraq. we were transporting a bomb sniffing dog to the polling stations. we rolled over two anti-tank mines, it blew my humvee up, killed my sergeant. after the explosion, i suffered a closed head injury, um, traumatic brain injury, loss of a limb, burns to 60% of my body. when the doctors told me i reached my plateau, i did not want to hear that because i do not believe i have a plateau.

so, i had to prove 'em wrong, which i am doing to this day and i will still do until the end of my days. i've gotten to where i am at because of my family. and, the wounded warrior project has helped me more than i can ever imagine. they have really been there to support me in my endeavors. my number one goal, basically, is to get close to where i was. i am more than ready to work hard to get to that goal. i am living proof to never give up and i will never give up.

>> now the conclusion of "strange inheritance." >> for all their lives, the children of jacques littlefield watch their dad collect tanks, tinker with them, and deploy them in the coolest birthday-party entertainment ever. after he dies, they decide to share their strange inheritance with the world. what's it gonna be like to go into the structure and not see tanks anymore?

>> i don't know if it's so much as seeing tanks as it's the smell of the diesel and the grease that i really love. >> $200,000 to start the bidding. $200,000. >> having agreed to donate the collection to the collings foundation, allison and her half brothers must watch some of their dad's tanks be auctioned off in order to raise $10 million to erect a museum in his honor. [ auctioneer calling ] but as the auction nears the end, it appears receipts are still short of that target. at least one of five super-rare tanks the littlefields fervently hoped to see in the museum may have to be sold, but which one? >> sold. >> the bidders get to choose. only one of the five tanks attracts a bid above the confidential reserve. it's the 8-ton german half-track, a hot ticket from world war ii. and it goes for $1.2 million. the auction passes the $10 million mark. for the littlefields, it's

mission accomplished. is this what your dad would want? are you convinced? >> i think this is definitely the best option that we have available to keep the core collection together and have his name attached to it. >> when we are through with the collings museum, this will arguably be the finest collection of its sort anywhere. >> and it'll be the littlefield collection. >> it'll be the littlefield collection. remember how we told you about jacques littlefield's july 4th tradition, when he would haul out an m60 patton tank and stage a fight between the tank and a civilian car? it's so much fun, we thought you might like to see another of jacques confrontations. [ all cheering ] >> [ laughs ] >> all right in your own backyard. what a dad. i'm jamie colby for

"strange inheritance." thanks so much for watching. and remember, you can't take it with you. >> the question is where do we go from here? on the other hand not a valuation and to grow another 10% to create another s&p company within apple and it's not easy. cheryl: market milestone as apple becomes first u.s. company to cross $1 trillion in market value, another key marker the company needs to cross. lea: rally in apple and text dooks pushed nasdaq nearly 100 points while the dow 7 points lower. cheryl: today all eyes on the july report, just due a few hours from now ahead of the