“But buying those decommissioned tanks was a massive gamble for us. “It was the market price because of the geopolitical situation at the time,” he said. In one of Versluys’s bigger deals, he bought 50 Leopard 1 tanks that the Belgian government decommissioned in 2014 for €37,000 each (about £29,600). The defence cuts were accelerated by the 2008 economic crisis, and by 2014, the year Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea, European military spending had reached a historic low. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, European nations have sought to replace some of the heavy and costly-to-maintain cold war-era tanks with the lighter vehicles needed for shorter peacekeeping missions around the world. Versluys bought up most of his current stock over the last two decades, acquiring the tanks directly from European governments cutting their defence spending. Walking Tournai’s narrow, cobblestoned back streets and boulevards, it is hard to imagine that such weapons are only a 15-minute walk away. If you don’t have the room in the garage for a tank – or think $85,000 is a bit pricey – a more affordable way of getting in on the military vehicle fun might be to buy a Land Rover Perentie, which you could even convert to a ute if you were so inclined.Austrian-flagged hardware in the OIP hangar. I wouldn’t lowball someone with a bunch of tanks, though… Case in point. On top of that, Woods is asking around $85,000-$120,000 for each, although he’s eager to negotiate.
Good luck taking it on public roads, too.
And before you ask, yes, it’s legal to own a gun tank in Australia, as long as the gun isn’t functional. RELATED: Australia’s Cheapest Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen Now Up For Sale In Perth… But There’s A CatchĮach weighs around 52 tonnes, has a top speed of 35km per hour and guzzles two litres of petrol every 100 metres – so just the trip back from Tambourine to Brisbane would cost around $2,500, The Daily Mail relates. One has been converted to a ‘trainer’ after its turret was blown off: one of only three Centurions constructed by the Australian Army and the only one that still runs, Woods says.
One is a Mk3 Centurion that’s seen a partial restoration, and the other two are Mk5s that have both seen action in Vietnam.
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