£15,000 for a Hellcat...........

[Jack]

Just has this sent to us via War History Online - looks a VERY interesting story!

 

An anonymous buyer recently bid NT$700,000 ($23,022) for a World War II-era tank being sold on a Taiwanese auction site, Taiwan media reported on Saturday.

 

 

Seller "tce788" is still deciding whether to accept the offer for the scrapped vehicle on auction site ruten.com.tw, which is described as immobile and incapable of firing artillery.

 

 

The seller also claimed that the aging US-made tank was passed down from the owner's grandfather and was taking up too much space.

 

 

An editor from the Taiwan-based magazine Illustrated Guide for Weapons & Tactics, identifies the tank as a M18 Hellcat, a fastest tracked, armored fighting vehicle used during World War II.

 

 

Production was discontinued in October, 1944.

 

 

The posted auction photo shows a very rusted tank fixed with a welded turret that appears to have been left untended for a long time.

 

 

"The army has regulations for disposing of decommissioned vehicles. The barrel and engine are dismantled while treads are removed and the steel armor destroyed," said Taiwan's military spokesman Luo Shou-he.

 

 

The Taiwanese military has acquired 243 armored vehicles since the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950.

Decommissioned M18s have long-been an object of desire for private collectors.

 

A Taiwanese businessman was reported to have purchased an M18 three years ago for NT$400,000.

 

Possession of old military vehicles stripped of their armaments does not violate local arms control regulations, according to a Taiwan law expert.