Photo of the Day: M47 for sale

Looking for an M47 that needs a little work?  Check out this one on Ebay.

Vehicle listing description:

This M47 Patton Medium Tank was built in 1955 at the Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant (DATP) in Warren, Michigan while under Government contract. It was overhauled multiple times during the development of the “Patton” series tank at the Red River Army Depot (RRAD) including 64′ 67′ and a final time in 68′ before it was sent to the Italian armed forces under a “Lend Lease” agreement in ending in the 80’s. A total of 2,480 M47s were leased or sold directly to the Italian Army during this time. This M47 was returned stateside and was designated as a range target at Ft Hood after demil but ended up being sold to a private collection due to the rarity of the vehicle by 89′. Of all the Patton M46/M47/M48 tanks only under 9000 were built of the M47 making it a rare vehicle. Most M47 variants were sold overseas, unable to be imported back into the US, those who stayed in the US were destined to be range targets in the 70’s then scrapped or sold.

This M47 was sold to a private collection in 89′ who focused on full restorations of M113, M114, Stuarts, Half-tracks, etc and this is one of the last pieces remaining after the owner retired. It has been in his possession since 89′ and a wide variety of parts were purchased for it, many of which are still bound to the pallets and stored in a barn. The tank is estimated at 90-95% complete missing the transmission and one track. Fuel tanks, engine, body panels, primary drive, etc are all still stacked on pallets from where they were stored. Much of the inside is untouched, only the engine bay was stripped and main cannon demiled before going to the range. The tank took one penetrating round to the passenger side upper rear hull near the engine bay, luckily that area had been stripped. The tank does roll free, it was pushed into place where it currently rests. No cut marks or other penetrating hits have been seen aside from demil of the primary cannon. A large part inventory was taken and is listed below, small parts were not inventoried due to the amount, identification, etc.. but are all included in the sale. Many photos of parts were not able to be added to this listing but are all included.