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Old 06-03-2021, 07:03 AM
Olefin Olefin is offline
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Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Greencastle, PA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bash View Post
I'm no expert but it seems like the time and resource investment restoring mothballed vehicles would be better spent upgrading non-combat military vehicles or civilian vehicles for combat use.

If you've got a couple one-off oddball vehicles you're not likely to have any part donors or spare parts in general. When they break down or are damaged all the work you've put in will probably be wasted. The question of ammo is also really important.

Without spare treads your museum tank is just an armored gun emplacement. Without main gun ammo it's just an HMG emplacement. A bunch of sand bags could do the same job with fewer resources.

Turning some 6x6s into gun trucks or welding some pintle mounts to the rollbars on some Hiluxes seems like more bang for the buck. Parts are likely easier to find, the endurance is better, and for the same investment of resources you could get several vehicles outfitted.
You would be amazed at how many spare parts there are still out there for older vehicles to keep them running - the Littlefield Collection for one. And lots of very serious collectors as well besides him.

I grew up in a town with a gentleman who lived nearby who had a Sherman tank with a live barrel and a nice collection of thirty plus live rounds for it (including high explosive and armor piercing and one cannister round)and a whole garage full of spare parts. Definitely someone who was still alive in the timeline who would have put that old tank to very good use. He showed it in parades until well into the 90's.

Also not every outdated vehicle has a turret -there are tons of old Ferrets out there for instance - they run well and once you add the machine gun they are basically one hundred percent back to being a military vehicle - and would take a Ferret any day over an old pick up truck.
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