Tanked up
THEREâS a saying when it comes to car restoration: âYouâre only one broken bolt away from an eight-hour job,â reflects Jonathan Hickman, an armoured-vehicle enthusiast based in Chaddesley Corbett, Worcestershire. As a boy, Mr Hickman enjoyed the utilitarian vehicles his uncle bought from surplus auctions in the 1970s. âIn those days, you could pick one up for £5,000 or less. As theyâve become rarer, theyâve become more valuable.â
Today, Mr Hickmanâs âtank shedâ houses his M4 Sherman tank (a reliable, general-purpose tank with a 75mm gun used by the US and Western Allies in the Second World War), âthe Shermanâs little sisterâ M5A1 Stuart tank, an M5 half-track personnel carrier, currently âin a million piecesâ as it undergoes restoration, and three armoured cars: a Ford-built M8, an M20ââsimilar to the M8, with a slightly different configurationââand a Staghound T17E1, a âtank on wheelsâ. He also has a Series 1 Land Rover, a model used by the British Army almost as soon as it was launched in 1948. Over in Argentina sits another Sherman tank, which Mr Hickman bought âseven or eight years agoâ, awaiting shipping to the UK. âTanks are a bit like sweetsâyou have one and then you want another,â he admits.
Trundling his heavy-duty arsenal to static shows in Britain is a thing of the past for Mr Hickman, as he grew tired of visitors clambering over them, demonstrating little respect for the financial or historical value of the vehicles. Instead, he prefers rallies on the Continent, where the battle scars of war can be readily seen: shrapnel marks on buildings and tanks erected as memorials. He admits that reenactment or âdressing upâ isnât his core passion âthe vehicles areâbut taking part allows for an incredible sensory experience as the tanks clank and roll through the European countryside (the Shermanâs top speed is 25mph).
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