T-72M1 Finally Made It!

[Augdog1964]

WOW, Carlo, if you ever get a T-80 out, get two, I NEED one for the collection... that and a T-64 for sure!

Yes the Uk-59s are incredible firearms... love to make you an owner Artisan!

 

[Carlo]

WOW, Carlo, if you ever get a T-80 out, get two, I NEED one for the collection... that and a T-64 for sure!

Yes the Uk-59s are incredible firearms... love to make you an owner Artisan!

It's been a long hard road to get the ok to export. I'm good here in Italia that's not a problem.
I visited the ministry of Ukrainian defense with the Italian consul general of Italia many times and got the right stamps on all the right paper but then Russian did their thing and all is on hold. I have a frame number and I've drove my T80. But till things calm down it's going to stay there. The lot (15 other museums have equipment there) are in a covered warehouse bonded.

It's rough getting in and I mean rough but it's insanely powerful compared the the MK10. The Leo1 is much finer in quality but the T80 is explosively powerful.

How are you getting along with your chieftain? I'm very interested in your thoughts because I sure have a strong opinion about mine.

 

[oboyjohn]

Wow Dave, your collection is advancing by leaps and bounds and with your last aquisition, you have jumped foreward about a mile! Impressive!. We once started a t-72 in the shop here. By mistake, the smoke switch was in the on position and when that beast fired up, she smoked half the shop before we were able to shut it down. As you said, those engines by design smoke a lot. Keep up the great work!!

 

[jdmcm]

Doesn't Greg Taylor have a BMP 1 for sale near Reno?

 

[Augdog1964]

Yep, my Leo 1 is just incredible, the most responsive tank by far, but the T-72M1 is no slouch.

Honestly the Chieftain is cool due to its shear size and weight, the ground literally shakes when she moves, but its really kind of a big, slow, behemoth. It sounds cool, but the mechanics are not nearly as tough as Russian, and not nearly as advanced as German or Swiss. Not as easy to work on as American or Russian, and lots of extraneous "stuff" in the way of operating systems. It is cool, but not nearly the tank some of the others are. However if you want the biggest, heaviest, and latest tank widely available to the collector market, she is the one.

I haven't heard from Greg in ages, I'd love to add his BMP to my collection, he did a full restore. He is a great guy too and KNOWS his armor!

 

[Powershift]

Do you have any video of your Chieftain? Your collection is simply amazing.

 

[jdmcm]

I talked to Greg at the Littlefield auction, your right Dave, he does know his armor! I guess he was going over to give Karl Smith's guys a hand with their T54

 

[Augdog1964]

I don't have video of the Chieftain as yet, we were so preoccupied last season with getting the LEO 1 moving...at Littlefield's she had sat so long the tranny had condensed and rusted up... so I had to source another unit, pull the engine and tranny out, and replace with a new unit. I will say however, it allowed me to meet some really great people, as I got some help from a couple Leo experts.

Now she's running like a champ... I'll post some video soon.

Next spring we begin the Chieftain work!

 

[Powershift]

Great. I'll keep an eye out for some video!