How much did a Chieftain cost? Well, in 1967 it was £90,000 to £100,000. Which is about £2,047,227.36 to £2,274,697.06 in todays money. Compare that to the Challenger 2 which was about £4,217,000 in 1999, about £9,158,718.25 today. And they built 1896 of them, 900 for the UK, 996 for export.

@karl9655

3 ай бұрын

no price for Mr crouch if you ask he probably has a brand new one for ya and a trailer and unit to drag it around 😉 another good video lads

@Ballentyne817

3 ай бұрын

gota love google lol

@Hewitt_himself

3 ай бұрын

Is this MBT's or all variants, or were engineering variants just made from older specs

@pjofurey6239

3 ай бұрын

Last one we sold was at beltring , a Mk11 £13.5 IIRC , we had a serving scammer commander for a few days to drop it off . Great days , far away from all the BS now . We got it road legal too , I mot,d it .

@devineastman3108

3 ай бұрын

Their centurion is on 95k so chieftain might go for around 150k-200k? Seems like a normal price for a cold war tank

By the time you have the chieftain fully operational you will be a qualified stonemason😂

I believe Bovington and MOD should be actively encouraging and working together to help you guys who are the future of Military Vehicle Historic Restoration IMO. I understand the limits, but working together as a unit sharing experience, details and a shared mission statement independent of all your own natural prime concerns will give everyone a positive outcome and future for keeping these old gems in this country if possible and working for all to enjoy. Thanks guys your channel is a revelation.

@solariss452

3 ай бұрын

Having seen the clean and tidy looking staff at Bovington, I doubt they'd want to lay in the mud surrounding Mr Hewes farmyard workshop.

@Rabidazell

3 ай бұрын

Having seen the clean and tidy staff at Bovington, I'm under the impression for the most part they have deeply patient wives who posses industrial grade pressure cleaners and irons who nonetheless thank the heavens tweed doesn't show up most stains.@@solariss452

@jackjones7504

3 ай бұрын

Oh boy , just last evening I got a text from my son lets just say he works for the Gov and is now and then assigned to work with Bov . He has hardly had a single day off since xmas inc working all weekends into the foreseable future as well . He is doing esentially 2 peoples jobs and his boss is doing 3 superiors jobs - MOD does not have the manpower or the budget to do the day to day stuff let alone the things happening on screen here . Conscription may just be necessary in the very near future for this country to have any future in so many different ways . Enjoy what is on screen here and be realistic about what is happening to all Government employees currently because as of now you are out of touch im afraid.

@kevinh6526

3 ай бұрын

@@jackjones7504 conscription wouldn't be a bad thing in this day and age

@axelusul

3 ай бұрын

I am more than aware "Jonesy" of the current situation politically, internationally or domestic when it comes to such matters at the moment thanks very much. This is a You Tube channel, you need to pull yourself together to help out your son by the sounds of it. Many of the problems the MOD has had can be seen in the DNA of these dinosaurs these guys are working hard to keep on the road. Hence the lack of a "real" domestic Tank Industry now. With Chally 3 upgrades having its turret made by Rheinmetall in Germany and BAE Land Systems based in the UK. Don`t PANIC....@@jackjones7504

If the channel growth continues the way it's now I can see you hitting 1 mill at the end of the year

@farmersboy

3 ай бұрын

I predict a huge jump after Tankfest.

@johnnunn8688

3 ай бұрын

@@farmersboyooh, is this an orgy that anyone can join in?

"you wouldn't know coz they're not suicidal "🤣 had me in stiches

@Yokotukanoshi

3 ай бұрын

Had to see if someone commented that first before I did 😂😂

@renevile

3 ай бұрын

shit i almost fell back over on the chair laughing, that's the best joke i've heard all year.

TOTAL RESPECT you have an amazing attitude to any problem. You will overcome and prevail

AS an aircraft mechanic, I feel your pain, I really do. I had worked for Beechcraft at the airfield at Fort Meade, MD on US Army U-21s (King Air) back in the late 1980's. One of them had served in the Vietnam war and had a engine failure on take eoff due to fuel starvation and landed in the adjacent river in water up to the bottom of the wings. We were constantly fighting corrosion and wiring problems on that thing.

There was a Chieftain filled up with concrete at Bordon and they used it as a training aid for recover mech’s . If I’m remembering correctly it was normal practice that they filled Chieftain gate guards with concrete to deactivate them, never to be used again but you lads are going to prove them wrong 😊 Thanks for the video and yes I have worked in those turrets and I know how tight and difficult it is to work in them .

@randymagnum143

3 ай бұрын

Who were they afraid of? Seems delusional paranoia

I’d think most people would give up on a tank that’s been filled with concrete and water. I’m going to have to shift my opinion of your channel from tank restorers, to miracle workers.

The interesting thing about water corrosion is below a couple of inches it's fairly negligible do to lack of free oxygen as many canal boat owner will attest. The corrosion is around the water line and luckily the oil stopped that. So if you dry the tank fairly quickly and displace any remaining water with contact cleaner etc. then hopefully most stufg should still work

@skyraider87

3 ай бұрын

Something that's always submerged in water won't rust, but something getting wet repeatedly will. Mostly because there's a lack of oxygen under water. At Battleship Cove Massachusetts, they have the remains of a sunken PT boat submerged in a display filled with water to preserve them

@planespeaking

3 ай бұрын

​@@skyraider87exactly

@handlesarefeckinstupid

3 ай бұрын

That is due to galvanic corrosion on canal boats. There was no battery on the tank so that should lessen it.

@jfro5867

3 ай бұрын

@@planespeaking archaeologists do the same don’t they when they dig something out of a wet bog, they keep the artifact wet/ under water to stop the air getting to it and it rotting away (until it’s conserved of course)

You need friends at the mod, they scrap so much good stuff everyday

@wideyxyz2271

3 ай бұрын

That's government agencies through and through. Pay top dollar for everything, then just chuck it when it's no longer required. NHS is exactly the same!

@cedhome7945

3 ай бұрын

Wife worked at Abby wood the central procurement site and she saw at first hand the biblical waste of money but couldn't say anything untill each story becomes public. They are allways crying about funding but don' have a clue about saving or getting the cost back.

@thebritishbiker8197

3 ай бұрын

What you actually need is a traveler friend close to the mod Much better prices

@jimmydesouza4375

3 ай бұрын

As Widey says, that's just how all government agencies work. It's because due to the way the public sector works, including how heavily unionized they are and how no one ever gets fired and such, there's no pressure to perform or to be efficient by any objective measures, all you have is someone in a position above you who gets some idea of an important thing that needs to be done, then that gets put in place, actions are taken to achieve whatever they wanted, and then generally this continues in perpetuity as no one gives an order to stop. So if, say, bureaucrat X says "Why do we need X amount of challengers when we have Y amount of chieftains?" then bureaucrat Y will decide "Since I want challengers now, I need to get the chieftains out of inventory". Cost doesn't factor into his decision, efficiency, things maintaining vehicles as living history, etc. It is all about achieving the goal (clearing the inventory) and they will do that in whatever way they think is the fastest. Except this gets into the second problem where competence is not rewarded, sycophantism is. Because there's no external factors such as profitability all that counts to a persons progress up the ladder of authority is how much they please their superiors. So as you go up you'll tend to find people who're less capable of making good decisions in the first place, so what they think is fastest may not even be fastest or even an effective way of achieving the goal in the first place. This is how you get people like Dianne Abacus in cabinet/shadow positions.

@roblonsdale8927

3 ай бұрын

Nightingale covid hospitals??​@@wideyxyz2271

For information not all oils and greases are lighter than water. Synthetic german fuel from ww2 is heavier than water,and remains in the hull of german boats everywhere they sunk in the seas. Since you work on ww2 stuff,you have to know that about fuels in case you see something unusual. also ,they are very bad for your health.

@MrHewes

3 ай бұрын

I’m going to look this up, I love learning things like this

Amazing dedication to keeping this behemoth alive. Open heart surgery. Cant wait to see the beast come back to life. Bravo Mr H.

We use to keep beer in the charge bins because of the coolant inside of them, which kept the cans at a constant temp!

Absolutely brilliant work in utterly bogging conditions...Situation normal for Mr Hewes and the gang..Excellent video again..

You should do a T-Shirt with ‘What a babe’ on it You say it a lot and it makes me smile when you do

@IAmTheCoastalGhost

3 ай бұрын

YES. You beat me to the suggestion lol

At 15:34, when manoeuvring that multi plug through the hole there is a croc clip from an Avo 8 multimeter lead nestling amongst the wiring. Obviously dropped during some previous work, years ago, never to be retrieved 😂

Extraordinary; they just keep going when I'd have given up after three minutes. Fabulous bit of work.

As ever, in equal measure impressive, informative, and entertaining ! Thx.

It’s amazing how many building supplies come into tank restoration and preservation, you know concrete and expanding foam, I’m just waiting for plasterboard and paint and then the subsequent reveal on the tiny home channels😂😂

As an ex Brittish 4th Tankie, I would to see the concrete Chieftain and old T34 Running again. Excellent work and keep it up

I love Your videos, Coming home from work and relax while watching you fight with rusty bolts and oily water is so relaxing for some reason!

That harness is not for the gearbox, its lights etc. Gearbox is the smaller shielded one .Its bottom RH side on the HMJB. If you remove the cover from the HMJB the bottom RH side there is another cover. Under that is the main junction blocks for the gearbox, all the gearbox wiring goes through that shielded box.

@Adam-ev8uw

3 ай бұрын

could be wrong but i believe he mentions that at 26 mins into the video

Definitely a labour of love bringing a old behemoth back from scrap . I was lucky enough to take a Chieftain for a spin at Wetter in West Germany at the end of their reign . I was struck at how small inside the turret was compared to a Centurion which I had a cabby of a Danish Centurion in er Denmark of all the places . No one would trust me with a MK1 Challenger when they came out as they were brand new even though I begged 😂 . Probably for the best really . I managed a cabby of a Leopard MK2 during Lionheart when our positions were overrun . I was a annoying little b’stard and always ( usually ) managed to persuade custodians of military vehicles to let me have a go 😂 . Tanks are excellent toys but artillery guns are my passion . There is something rather comforting watching you lot struggling with fiddly , near impossible jobs . Thanks for the post 😁👍

Ah, the Concrete Submarine Chieftan. Mint.

MOD never ceases to amaze ??? They scrap & discard good kit & pour concrete into tanks No joined up thinking 😢🚜

@jfro5867

3 ай бұрын

At the very top it’s all about politicians making money (back handers) with lucrative military contracts. They need to churn kit and replace it, they don’t care how it’s done, it’s going on now with Ukraine and the Americans salivating over releasing another 60 billion dollars for more arms.

Ouch, what a mess. There is a M103 in a park in Iowa next to the Mississippi River, it has been flooded halfway up the turret several times and is filled with mud. Good luck and thanks for another great video.

@holyhellfireonblitz5208

3 ай бұрын

Does anyone own it?

It never ceased to amaze me how much they crammed into MBT's...I understand they would have been constantly up grading...but still....crazy .

What you called an ammo storage bin that had to be shifted to get at the bulkhead gland is obviously the still operational fresh water storage for the essential BV. But what a pain that bulkhead gland was fellah! props for keeping at it. And while I realise this is all at the 'dry fit' stage throw some paint in that engine bay because the hard concrete clearing work deserves it ...

@1chish

3 ай бұрын

@@anyvid100 Well I am sure the lads and lasses are grateful for your lecture in how to restore tanks. Or maybe not ... 😏

50k Shermans! Dang, busy little beavers during the war years.

Can we buy the old dash? 😂😂 very cool looking I’m sure when cleaned up alittle!!!?? Keep up the awesome videos

Lesser bosses would drop Jack down there, respect, don't ask anyone to do a job you're not prepared to do yourself. 👍👏👍

im amazed at the knowledge and the spares you have joe.fair play

This was the tank video that got me started on this channel when the concrete was being removed. Crazy how much your channel has grown

Great work. Thoroughly enjoyable viewing.

How can you not enjoy a good Tank restoration 😊

Well done Lads, good job, and thanks for bringing us along on this incredible journey!

Living the dream.... Mucky old work you chosen for yourself, love it.

DearJoe, A concrete Chieftain tank what has been full with water too must be a pain in the ass for repairing although I’ve seen you and your team restoring other military vehicles to which were in an hopeless condition as well.I guess you’ll manage to get this Chieftain running and driving some day. I look forward to your next vlog and send you love from the Netherlands

My My what a game! I give you full marks for dedication.

Nothing like diving in and not worry to much,and crack on with it,love it!

The skills you guys have is amazing. I wouldn't know where to get started on something like this.

Tank’s a lot, great vlog. It’s top watching you guys laugh an joke around whilst doing the impossible 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

I am amazed at your appetite for crappy jobs. I hate electrics.

@dancarney106

3 ай бұрын

Electrical work is not the problem its finding or having known good replacement OEM harnesses or electrical control box repair or replacement as well. I can see how just getting the tank to start and move is a huge acomplisment. I do wonder how often these guys hit their head. Im surprized they dont ware "bump" helmets.

@jamesocker5235

3 ай бұрын

Electrics been my job for over40 years

@danparden8103

3 ай бұрын

I love electrical i wire everything from planes cars computers and robots

@johnnunn8688

3 ай бұрын

@@dancarney106helmets are more trouble than they are worth.

You are a legend joe and team For perseverance on getting these to work once more , it’s why you’re channel is my go too , 👍👌😉

I love your optimism. When that fails at least you have your hammer skills.

There was a gate gaurd Lancaster at Scampton which had sat outside for at least 6 years in Blackpools salty sea breezes. Thankfully it was removed by the owner Lord Lilford and into the care of the Pantons at east Kirkby where it taxies under power yearly. In winter its being slowly restored to fly again. Several former RAF Spitfires have been rescued from gate/parade ground duty and are flying again replaced by replicas on gate and airport duty( Edinburgh)

Why would anyone do that to the Tank?? A lot of hard work 😓. But your not scared of that. Filling it up with concrete 😂😢😮

I was really surprised to see a video on the concrete Chieftan with how busy you are with all your other projects. Really enjoyed the video. Look forward to the next part of this vehicles restoration.

That continues to be a gargantuan task… excellent work!

Fair play to you boys you do get stuck in nothing seems to phase you. At the moment i'm struggling to change my accumaltor spheres on my car which look impossible to do but after watching you guys you have given me hope.

How you guys take all of this work on is beyond me, the highs and lows of finding, repairing, setbacks etc, your passion for restoration is immense, your a really young guy yet your knowledge is second to none, I take my hat off to you all, I’m and ex Recovery mechanic in REME myself and my last ARRV was a chieftain in Osnabruck in 98, Respect guys, Respect

what people who criticise some of the things you do don't understand is real mechanics and engineers use what they can at hand, it's about solving problems with what you've got in the shed .plus you might have something even better for the job(don't take any notice of keyboard warriors who have no idea what there on about) keep up the good work you're doing an amazing job of things all of you(and ted)

Nice to see my bit of the tank fir a change.

What a nightmare of a job…you guys have more patience than me !….well done so far 👏🏻👏🏻

I remember Plan B, and thinking, "that's the guy who played the young thug in Harry Brown". I checked it out, and I was right!

Only been watching your channel for a few weeks now,it is really interesting not much room to work on these beauties,must have been a nitemare on the field trying to fix them 👍💯

Seeing the dashboard light up like that and hear a relay or solenoid click from somewhere deeper within makes me think that this old Chieftan tank wants to live again! It definitely inspires hope. It also beggars belief that someone would literally fill a piece of engineering like this with concrete. Hypothetically, if I was told to fill something like this with concrete I would have refused or in the worst case fabricated an insert to pour concrete in so it looked like if was filled but the machine itself had not actually been damaged. Yet another AIS victim. (AIS - Arrogance, Ignorance, Stupidity)

@johnnunn8688

3 ай бұрын

That’s a BIG hypothetically. I supposed you would also have punched the RSM?

@DelticEngine

3 ай бұрын

@@johnnunn8688 I'm not into violence. I would have argued my case and found an alternative solution, though, even if it cost me a little out of my own pocket to do so. Something as primitive as box made out of old boards or pallets nailed or screwed together, a plastic liner and then concrete poured in would have achieved the same result and without the needless damage. Actually, making a box to fill with concrete would likely have saved whoever money by needing a lot less concrete as still achieve the look of something totally immovable. A 'less costly for the same result' solution often works as an argument when dealing with business people and people with money.

@johnnunn8688

3 ай бұрын

@@DelticEngine except the RSM would have inspected your shoddy job and torn you a new one. Then, made you do it properly. You are SUCH an innocent 🤣😂. Tell me you’ve never been in a military organisation, without telling me you’ve never been in a military organisation?

@DelticEngine

3 ай бұрын

@@johnnunn8688 Granted, I've never been in a military organisation and I admit I didn't know what an 'RSM' was until I looked it up, but that doesn't excuse insults. However, this last comment hints at an alternative reasoning for doing such a thing than what I had first thought. I am open to being enlightened and educated by someone more knowledgeable than myself. I had assumed that this filling with concrete had been done in private ownership for some reason. Your comment immediately suggests the possibility of a very different situation, put simply, along the lines of the machine being disabled out in the field to prevent the use of by an enemy. If this is the case and the machine is not to be recovered, then filling it with concrete in such a way certainly appears justified, particularly regarding time and availability of materials. Or am I incorrect again? If you have answers, I am open to listening and learning. Some of us have never had the honour of serving the country, for various reasons. Best regards.

@johnnunn8688

3 ай бұрын

@@DelticEngine Joe said, right at the beginning that this had been a gate guard.

Words fail me, your dedication and never say die attitude is out of this world

Fantastic dedication to this tank. Your back and arms must be aching at the end of the day. Don't overdo it. You have got a lot more years to work yet. 🙂

The stuff nightmares are made off, you have so much skill.

Brilliant thank you for posting

"I will not be beaten " That's the spirit ❤

Brilliant coverage and I have said before you will have this tank back running again

Who in their right mind would take an ex gate guard with the engine compartment filled with solid concrete and the rest of the hull full of water? You are a bonkers hero sir, I salute you.

looking like lots of fun at least yah have lots of spares that the good thing hard part is fixing broken stouf n all eletircal boxes for shorts in electrical

Hi, great stuff , as always. Many thanks from Nr Chester.

Great job good progress.

My uncle scrapped Sherman tanks (amongst other things) after the war, the Americans insisted they were gas axed into pieces but they did want the engines back, he said you'd often find a live round in the floor somewhere that made it interesting :)

"Seb's going to go into the back and have a tug"

That’s one big job guys . But I love your attitude. Thou shall not give up. Once the engines in and working. It will just be a matter of doing small jobs at a time to get it into a good running state. Then it will be worth something then. Because all the hard work has been done. Well done guys keep up the good work 👍👍👍👍👍

Your skills and knowledge are very impressive keep up the great job love your video 😊😅😮

Great work, all. Many may think this is a strange video, but it shows just how much hard work you put in and how difficult it is to turn the tide on time, neglect and decay. I wonder if all this new and old stuff will be coming out for a visit to the aquablaster. I hope so!!

Thoroughly enjoyed that... 👍

I used to deal with aircraft wiring, so I feel your pain, the routes for some of that wiring were never easy, always in tight confined spaces. Those wiring looms in the tank may be made of all white wire, but I bet that what was once a yellow sleeve near the connector at the end used to have a part number on it. From a wiring diagram that part number would give the information where the cable goes. I used to be an aircraft avionics engineer, I’m retired now, but I used to have to trace wiring to fix defects or carry out modifications. On the large aeroplanes most of the wiring is also all white wire, but in the civil aviation world they cheat and every wire will have a unique number printed on it every few centimetres. There’s also documentation in a wire list that will give for every wire, the wire size, its length, what terminals are used at each end, the destination of each end and what circuit it’s in. So it’s considerably easier to trace wiring. For instance in a Boeing 747-400 there is approximately 185 miles of wire, divided up into approximately 200,000 separate wires meaning approximately 400,000 separate terminations. So as you can imagine without the wire list fault finding would take a fair bit of time.

Nice one!. Dodgey bros on fire!. Nuff said.

What do you guys do for work! If your vehicle techinians/ mechanics/ electricains You must advertise your services! Your sense of lets get it done shows your work must be top notch! GREAT VIDEOS!

Awesome video Mr. Hewes! 😃👍🏻🛠️⛓️🔩🧰

Progress on a project always feels good dunnit!😊

The rubber block sealing is similar to that used on oil rigs. Fire wire will sound if crushed. Your fuel gauge sender is by capacitor belts by the way. That wiring was always incredibly robust it tended to disintegrate when odd bods wrapped it around recoil mechanisms etc. amazingly the plugs and sockets look in quite solid condition not the jellified mass they often were after a few years service. Keep the removed wiring as it looked salvable as long as the letter connections on the plugs are known.

As an ex-Chieftain crewman of the cold war, it breaks my heart to see one in that state at the begining.

"I'm not going to be beaten, ... I'll make my own system" that's why I love what you do Joe, never giving up, and thinking outside the square Can't wait to see it running like it did when the old tank, was a new tank lol

That concrete is great ballast! That Chieftain could drive on the side of Mount Everest and never roll over!😂

Fantastic. Thoroughly impressed by your knowledge and methodical approach.

@oldjaaag9804

3 ай бұрын

Definitely fousty!

OUTSTANDING!

Another great video well done guys

Since all the wiring in non-color coded invest in a Tone Generator Kit/ Wire Tracer Electrical Circuit Tester. Worth it's weight in saved aggravation. Great work..........

Try an experiment. Take some of that removed concrete and spay some sugar water on it. I worked in a brewery many years ago. They had to patch ares of the concrete floor where beer had attacked it. They used underwater super hard concrete for repairs. Within two months i could see where the new concrete was being eroded.

I'm really glad that you have good dedicated guys to help you with the rotten electrical cables. I didn't realise how much cables js used on this tank but can see that the firewall and ammo bins is really a difficult issue but slowly you will manage to sort it out! Great job again 👏 👍 👌

Well done mate!

Loving the content. Amazing job you guys are doing with this one. Although I have to say half of my enjoyment is you guys ripping on each other. Great to see people actually enjoying doing something together rather than a bunch of dour faced, “serious” people working on something.

My dad took me to shearwood forest when I was about 7, and there was a tank rusting and defunct. Many years later, when I was about 19 or so, I saw it on TV being news being exported to the states for a restoration of another tank that came of the production line at a similar time. It was used to donate the turret. I wish I could remember what the tank was and what became of it.

Iirc we used to take out rhe ready charge bin (the 3 bag charge bin) and then you could move the big 5 charge bins onto the turret floor

Great video Joe pity about mod wiring they use the same colour wire throughout loom but number each wire every two feet ! FFR Land Rovers are a nightmare

Great video thanks Lads.

I’ve had a few VW kombis in this sort of shape that I rebuilt from some new parts and a lot of salvage yard finds, but I was young then & unmarried and didn’t yet realize that some things shouldn’t be attempted. Ah to be young again!

If you can save that, you can save anything. I admire your stamina!

Saw an AVO Meter crochodile clip lurking in at the bulkhead gromet area

had to laugh with the med box on the turret, to modify a phrase, "Yer gonna need a bigger plaster"🤣

What I see is a slow and major pain in the rear project of cleaning, troubleshooting and replacing, but it would be so satisfying to complete. I gotta find myself a job in this field..