The Tank Museum Posted March 30, 2012 Share Posted March 30, 2012 A major Tiger tank conservation project has been completed just days before the iconic vehicle is set to star in The Tank Museum’s Tiger Day event on Saturday. The £80,000 project has been completed in the nick of time by Museum Workshop staff, who have spent the last two years returning the rare German World War Two tank back to its original wartime specification and in to full running order once more. Museum Director Richard Smith said; “The Tiger tank is a vehicle with an almost mythical status which far outweighed its actual impact on the battlefield. It represented a significant leap forward in tank design and outmatched anything that the Allies could field at the time. With its powerful 88mm gun and thick armour, Allied tank crews genuinely feared an encounter with a Tiger tank – and it is this mighty reputation that has given rise to such fascination in this particular vehicle.” The Tank Museum’s Tiger, which was captured by 48 Royal Tank Regiment in Tunisia in February 1943, is one of just six that are known to survive. It was the first Tiger tank to be captured intact by the Allies and was quickly shipped to the UK for detailed analysis - but not before it was inspected in Tunis by King George VI and Winston Churchill. The Tiger was handed to The Tank Museum in 1951. “It is the most complete and best preserved example, and the only one in running order,” Richard said. “It is the most iconic tank of the Second World War and continues to capture the imagination of audiences in to the 21st Century – as shown by the fact that our Tiger has been viewed over 5,000,000 times across several YouTube Videos. The work was funded with grants from The Heritage Lottery and PRISM Funds with a further £30,000 donated by Museum supporters. “This has been a fascinating project.” said Richard. “We have learned a huge amount about the Tiger tank, its engineering and operation and we have published our findings in a Haynes Owners Workshop Manual. So much has already been written about the Tiger tank - much of it hyperbole - but this is the first publication written by people with operational experience of the Tiger Tank since World War Two.” “The Tiger was a complicated and over engineered machine and it has thrown up some significant challenges that have required detailed solutions”, he added. “For example, we were unable to locate an original set of fan drives for the engine and so we have to manufacture new ones from a set of wartime German blueprints.” With the work now complete, The Tank Museum is looking forward to demonstrating the fruits of its labour at Tiger Day (Saturday 31st March 2012). As well as a special Tiger Tank in action display (starting at 13:30), there will be a range of activities, talks and tours inside the museum - including screenings of the film Saving The Tiger - The Story of Tiger 131. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enigma Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 Congratulations on the completion of the project. A pity I live a bit far away to come and look at it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajmac Posted March 31, 2012 Share Posted March 31, 2012 Right, it is Saturday evening.....how did Tiger Day go? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RattlesnakeBob Posted April 1, 2012 Share Posted April 1, 2012 If it only took 80 grand to put her back in that condition I am truly amazed!.. ....either way I think it was well worth it .. .Some folk think nothing of spending 80 grand on a car that in reality, within 10 to 20 years they'll be lucky if it's worth 2 grand........... if that Tiger came on the market now.. ..what would she fetch ?... a million ? perhaps 2?.... maybe more? and her value will only ever go up ..... ......... and ..........there are people out there with that kinda money who would be queuing up too.......... A well sound and excellent investment I reckon whatever the cost was and a real sight to see.. I'm gonna have to head down there this year sometime and see her trundling about :laugh:. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajmac Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 (edited) The £80k was the extra budget to remanufacture the cooling fan drive gearboxes and installing the inertia starter, which if you watch some of the youtube videos of the day....you will see it was rather fortunate! If a running Tiger 1 ever came up at auction (which one won't), I wouldn't be surprised if the bidding exceeded £10 million, a bidding war between multi millionaires can get out of hand quite quickly one would imagine! Something went wrong... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-HlsM7iFoo Edited April 2, 2012 by ajmac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joris Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 Well done and congratulations on a very succesfull first day out!! :yay: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enigma Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 I like it that the dents and damage hasn't been "restored". Its clearly visible in the video on the beck of the Tiger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chevpol Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 Stunning, well done to everybody involved!! Mark PS, whats next? lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis Garner Posted April 2, 2012 Share Posted April 2, 2012 Sounds and looks absolutely fantastic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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