From salvage squad to best tracked armor winner at this years War and Peace show

The M10 Achilles started out as a project back at the time of the old Warnham Auction, among the lots was a complete dashboard for the M10, the obvious buyer was a collector by the name of Guy Black who had an M10 he was going to restore as the lot came up for auction there was no sign of Guy so my brother bought the complete dashboard for £25. Having made this purchase he had embarked on a path that would lead us all over the world for the rest of the parts.

The next find, was a turret that had come out of Israel and was now lying in Tony Budges yard at Gamston Airfield. On searching this yard we found a second turret so a deal was agreed for the pair both turrets came with 17 Pdr guns which had seen better days this was back in 1992.

Over the following years we acquired a pair of engines and various odds and ends. It was in late 1998 that we had acquired an M10 3 inch from the French museum at Saumur, whilst loading this tank out of some very dense bramble bushes we became aware of a second hull, still totally buried by brambles once again a deal was agreed and we returned to Saumur to collect the second M10 hull, devoid of turret and gun, on dragging this clear of its home for the past 20 years we discovered the hull to be in pretty fair shape minus a turret ring and rear decks.

In 1999 along with many others Rod and I celebrated the Normandy campaign along with 2 friends and a DUKW. During the trip we became aware of an old farmer who lived south of Caen who had used the Kegress P107 halftracks as tractors after the war as we have one of these vehicles in our collection we decided to return on our own. So in Early August we found our self one Sunday afternoon sitting down to lunch with our ageing farmer 99 years of age and his nephew Jean and architecture from Paris, drinking 10 year old Calvados that the old boy had laid down some years before. On the instructions of the old gentlemen Jean gave us a guided tour of the farm and building every where we looked there were ex WW2 military vehicle parts now being used in another life, Nebel Worther packing cases as wine racks!! A turret ring for a 2cm flak as a trailer coupling, an original armored body for a P107 as a cattle feeder and finally the louvered section of the rear deck of an M10 as a drain cover!!

In the august sunshine over a glass of calvados the old gentlemen informed us through his nephew that nothing was for sale!! A wasted trip!! some three months later we received an email from Jean the nephew his grandfather had passed away with the instructions that when he passed away Jean was to contact us and give us all the pieces we saw that Sunday afternoon, it took four trips with a 14Ft Ifor Williams trailer to clear it all. Including the M10 deck section, unfortunately our low loader would not fit down the lane to the farm.

In 2000 we were clearing Harry Pounds yard in Portsmouth of military vehicles, and came across a complete 17Pdr gun with the turret mantlet, this was promptly purchased leaving us to find the turret ring, like all things the M10 sat in our yard awaiting its turn in the workshop.
By 2003 we were now rebuilding our Staghound hoping to have it ready for that years War and Peace show as always time beat us. During the show I was contacted by Clifford Povey who advised me that a person from salvage squad was on site looking for me and gave me his number, a quick call and Trevor and I got together, salvage squad were doing 10 programs 9 had been agreed. As a final choice they were trying to decide between something military or a bubble car!! Ok if it's military what are you looking at? Well says Trevor 'I have looked at a land rover and a Bren gun carrier the Bren looks good and it would not cost a lot' 'Ah ha lack of budget then will decide the final choice!' 'That's about the strength of it admits Trevor' 'In which case we may well be able to help you'. 'What's left in the pot?' 'Oh not a lot never mind'. 'How about this for a plan my brother and I are rebuilding our Staghound and the next project we have in mind is our M10 Achilles'. 'What's that?' says Trevor 'well it's a tank type thing with a big gun'. 'A big gun?' 'Yes good they will like that', 'well we are going to rebuild it anyway so why don't your guys or girls jump in and help?' The only thing we do not have as yet is a turret ring everything else we can either make or have made.

On top of this the Achilles was used by the British and 2004 could be good year for tanks as opposed to bubble cars!! With Trevor's interest aroused a meeting in August was agreed. Trevor appeared with the producer Ed Booth a tour of the yard a deal struck and it was then of to the Three Tuns for lunch. Shooting started in September and the real work started in October most of the work was carried out by our team led by Steve Cobb regularly visited by Claire Barrett and the film crew assisted or impeded Steve's work as often areas of work were carried out more than once to set the right shot.

This said Steve never stopped; he just kept putting in the hours late at night and every weekend. Day by day the old girl came back to life, October and November sped past and soon Christmas took its toll. The M10 was scheduled to be the last item to be filmed . On the last day of shooting this was to take place at Muckleborough collection, on the North Norfolk coast line.

The plan was to load at 6pm park up at the Muckleborough Collection at 9pm, stop over night and complete the filming the next day. Late that afternoon Steve filled the radiators for the first time, secos had come in that morning to fill the diesel tanks. As the radiators filled water started to appear, instantly the crew started looking for the leak this was eventually located in the right hand engine, a cracked block that had not shown up during the overhaul. No need to panic we still had a second engine, and whilst running this up the fuel problem developed. This was to set the pattern of events right through the night until we finally loaded at 7am 13 hours behind schedule. An uneventful journey found us at Muckleborough in time for lunch. Filming started immediately and by night fall filming was not completed so an extra day had to be hastily agreed upon. Steve stayed with the tank I returned home. The following day all filming was completed, up to the firing of the gun, whilst Steve grabbed a bite to eat the pyro people loaded the gun and fired having not checked the barrel. They did not know about the plug halfway up and the result was everything blew back into the hull destroying all of Steve's weeks of work.

That evening when the tank returned a very dejected Steve rang me to tell me what had happened. The following day as we gazed into the ruins of what had been a gleaming white interior there was nearly no choice Steve drove it in to the workshop and between February and July stripped her down again and rebuilt her all over again like all restorations there are 1 or 2 little jobs to finish this said Steve's work was well rewarded. At this years War and Peace show winning the best tracked amour award. This now leaves Steve to return to finishing the staghound, put on hold in 2003!! Ready for the 2005 show.