Back in the 90s I used to go to US government surplus sales all the time. So many huge warehouses chock-full of mystery crates!! Back then very few people were aware of the deals to be found at government surplus sales, and a number of us "insiders" were able to make a pretty good living buying surplus. The internet pretty much killed my ability to find pennies on the dollar deals, both government surplus and off-lease sales. I'll never forget the day I went to the leasing company warehouse, expecting my usual truckload of HP ScanJet scanners (which I was buying for $5 each, end ebaying for $150+) only to be told that there would be no more deals to be had, as they'd just discovered selling online. Originally this particular company would simply dumpster off-lease equipment, till they noticed all the eager dumpster-divers, at which point they opened a retail store. But on that day I knew it was time to find another line of work, the gravy train had finally crashed.
Don't you just love old crates with pressies in. Reminds my of the RAOC depot at Lugershall. Reminiscent of the Indiana Jones warehouse, endless covered buildings with unbelievable amounts of obscure Army gear. MBT's in dryclad including Centurian's, Humber pigs, Saracen, Saladin, Ferrets of all versions including the MK5 Swingfire variant as used by the RAC PARA Sqdn, Wombats, Combats and so on. That was of course 1984, we've probably flogged it all to some obscure country we'll end up fighting.
once they were mounted on the test bed,& everything connected,except the exhaust manifolds,the mixtures were set up before running in& testing after testing the manifolds we’re removed and the mixtures checked again,before removing
@@stewartbrown6037 Interesting. I recall that in the 1970’s the Meteor engines supplied to IRHA LAD of which I was part, where reconditioned by Jersey Aviation. Our well sorted Cents, used as armoured OP’s were taken from us and sold to the Austrian Army and I think one or two are now in their museum at Vienna . The replacement Cents were old items that were ex 9/12 who were stationed next to us and by then on Chieftain. Their old units had spent years with them in Berlin where the guns hardly came out of the crutches. All major units were changed in the first two exercises! A very busy time for all!
@@glynluff2595 i was in the test house @ 38 central workshops,between about 72 to 75,and we were on double day working,6.15-2.15 & 2-10 we could turn an engine round from arrival,running in,and 1 hr test,to removal,back to the workshops for paint,for either the line,or preservation for stores
@@stewartbrown6037 Ah! Nice to talk to a proper soldier after all these years! 4 field was our local recourse at Detmold. We were both in Germany at the same time. I was ECE. I walked around the REME museum just before it moved from Arbourfield. My son was quite shocked at the extent of kit I worked on and how much I could still remember. I still had all my training notes etc so I donated them to museum once it had moved. I was a little disappointed when I visited before COVID as I felt it was more a recruiting agency for school parties and a great breadth of what had been on display before was not so available so you could walk round photos saying this could be you if you take the shilling! Still life moves on!
@@glynluff2595 funnily enough,38 central workshops REME chilwell,was a civvy establishment all the fun overhauling & driving,without the discipline 800 people,approx 100 apprentices even the LAD further away from the main workshops was civvy the only army personnel we saw was a few officers,who theoretically were in charge,and sometimes the transport corps,situated in barracks at the top of the depot
So sad to see a chieftain in that condition. I noticed the vent tube loader was still fitted. It was a gun fitter from my regiment who invented the mod to stop it jamming.
Circa 1980 I owned an Austin Champ and turn key engines in a crate were available from RR services on Battersea bridge road for the princely sum of £140 ! Wish I still had it 😢
That welded in block made it very difficult for you, otherwise cutting through about 6"-7" of metal is straightforward with a straight line burner. Or use a thermic lance next time if you can get one, probably cheaper than all that gas you used and much quicker. Anything is easy when you know how of course and have the right tools. I miss my time in the old steelworks, cutting and repairing ladles etc. I love your tanks, the Chieftain is my fav tank of all time, from when I was a kid.
I believe that cutting the gun's backend might be a little bit too restrictive. Even if I have no doubt that the government is directing this for safety reasons and the possibility of these tanks getting into the wrong hands, it would still be wonderful to see the tank in perfect working shape. It would be interesting to watch the Hewes boys fire their tank guns in their paddocks.
Interesting fact, in North America, construction contractors that are successful own caterpillar and John Deere equipment. Those just starting out or struggling financially may own a JCB, and that’s never a good sign. However in Europe they seem to be the “goto machine” interesting.
@ 0:52 "Very hard to find them still like this". Next: @ 1:52 "this one is going in a car actually"....... In this way it soon get's even harder to get them for the "right" purpose! 🤷🏼♂️🤦♂️
This video came up on my suggestions, so turned it on and thought I recognise that workshop, excellent video nice to see proper work on nice kit, albeit so cold your hand sticks to it, just subscribed and will watch any other videos, I used to have a Champ so I'm sort of biased but keep up the great work ,
Oh how I love these toys, unfortunately my mum had stopped my enthusiasm for getting into the military vehicle scene, when I told her that I was nipping over to wales to look ad buy a Ferret she threw herself into a hissy fit! And in NO Way am I t bring one of those disgusting things back home!I tried to reassure her that I would be careful and make sure that I didn’t leave a mess with the Ferret, when. Explained that I was going to power wash the ferret inside and out, she just fainted. What could I do about it? So a year passes me by and I’m starting to get the proverbial itch again, this time with looking at a Scorpion, this was mentioned over dinner at the table and I could see that mum was looking a bit peaked in the discussion. She had asked me where was I thinking of keeping it? “Outside of course “ again she asked where, “on the road of course, I’ll tax it and reclassify it as a private light goods” mum was looking more and more of colour, she asked why would I want to go and do that? “So I could ride it, what else would I want to have a scorpion tank for”. She fainted but when came to she began to understand that I wasn’t talking about furry little felching ferrets and hard shelled crusted scorpions, but military vehicles 🚗. She asked why I couldn’t be more like other testosterone filled young men who would scoured the streets for ladies ? “ but they would constantly cost money and have nothing to show for it “ well my bags were packed and out of the family I left…
What a nice letter. In my 1PWO, Recce pl days I just loved the ferrets and our mess tin Land rovers. I did one of the first driver and maintenance course for the Scorpion CVRT at Bovinton. Happy days. MrJR
@@MrHewes Next time i see one going in our scrap bin at work i'll try and grab it for you.. Do you need a manual for the CVRT, i've got one you can have?
lowered them onto the test bed,bolted down,connected oil tanks electrics etc fitted flame guard above plugs fired up set the mixtures fitted manifolds & associated manifold cooling carried out running in,ran test ,etc and off the bed in one shift
Why on earth would there be a requirement to go to this level of deactivation? The L11A5 gun used obturators to seal the breech, the gun would just flash back with any attempt to fire it without them fitted. I've never seen a set in private hands.
Because the USA is terrified of Americans Many Americans have created genius’s ways to activate weapons Just look how many ideas we have for converting semi auto weapons into machine guns … Basically they do not want any civilian easily capable of re arming this tank because unlike 🇬🇧 We can also easily find shells and explosives to arm and fire them
You are dreaming or swallowing western propaganda. How the collective west has been completely duped by the politicians and the MSM. Real News; search Col Doug MacGregor, he'll tell you the real news.
i just don't see the point of making unable to shoot, not like your Saling tanks on black market, or like you can go to the local gun smith shop order few dozen high speed rounds to send down range for target practice.
Well seeing as the box at the opening had ‘Meteor’ stencilled on the side, it kind of gave the game away that this was a Centurion tank engine. I stopped watching after that.
Back in the 90s I used to go to US government surplus sales all the time. So many huge warehouses chock-full of mystery crates!!
Back then very few people were aware of the deals to be found at government surplus sales, and a number of us "insiders" were able to make a pretty good living buying surplus. The internet pretty much killed my ability to find pennies on the dollar deals, both government surplus and off-lease sales. I'll never forget the day I went to the leasing company warehouse, expecting my usual truckload of HP ScanJet scanners (which I was buying for $5 each, end ebaying for $150+) only to be told that there would be no more deals to be had, as they'd just discovered selling online. Originally this particular company would simply dumpster off-lease equipment, till they noticed all the eager dumpster-divers, at which point they opened a retail store. But on that day I knew it was time to find another line of work, the gravy train had finally crashed.
Don't you just love old crates with pressies in. Reminds my of the RAOC depot at Lugershall. Reminiscent of the Indiana Jones warehouse, endless covered buildings with unbelievable amounts of obscure Army gear. MBT's in dryclad including Centurian's, Humber pigs, Saracen, Saladin, Ferrets of all versions including the MK5 Swingfire variant as used by the RAC PARA Sqdn, Wombats, Combats and so on. That was of course 1984, we've probably flogged it all to some obscure country we'll end up fighting.
Drove past both sides of Ludgershall recently, looks pretty bare ☹️.
Hate to see that gun get cut up. I get it though...i guess. Thanks ATF......
Yes totally agree with you!
Very interesting video thanks for sharing.
Wow heavy work....well done guys....that Meteor V12 is a beast.
love it !!! meteor engine.....every boy should have one!
The run up seems good with all the exhaust flames the same colour. This was how some racing engines were tuned in the 20/30’s in a darkened shed.
once they were mounted on the test bed,& everything connected,except the exhaust manifolds,the mixtures were set up before running in& testing
after testing the manifolds we’re removed and the mixtures checked again,before removing
@@stewartbrown6037 Interesting. I recall that in the 1970’s the Meteor engines supplied to IRHA LAD of which I was part, where reconditioned by Jersey Aviation. Our well sorted Cents, used as armoured OP’s were taken from us and sold to the Austrian Army and I think one or two are now in their museum at Vienna . The replacement Cents were old items that were ex 9/12 who were stationed next to us and by then on Chieftain. Their old units had spent years with them in Berlin where the guns hardly came out of the crutches. All major units were changed in the first two exercises! A very busy time for all!
@@glynluff2595 i was in the test house @ 38 central workshops,between about 72 to 75,and we were on double day working,6.15-2.15 & 2-10
we could turn an engine round from arrival,running in,and 1 hr test,to removal,back to the workshops for paint,for either the line,or preservation for stores
@@stewartbrown6037 Ah! Nice to talk to a proper soldier after all these years! 4 field was our local recourse at Detmold. We were both in Germany at the same time. I was ECE. I walked around the REME museum just before it moved from Arbourfield. My son was quite shocked at the extent of kit I worked on and how much I could still remember. I still had all my training notes etc so I donated them to museum once it had moved. I was a little disappointed when I visited before COVID as I felt it was more a recruiting agency for school parties and a great breadth of what had been on display before was not so available so you could walk round photos saying this could be you if you take the shilling! Still life moves on!
@@glynluff2595 funnily enough,38 central workshops REME chilwell,was a civvy establishment
all the fun overhauling & driving,without the discipline
800 people,approx 100 apprentices
even the LAD further away from the main workshops was civvy
the only army personnel we saw was a few officers,who theoretically were in charge,and sometimes the transport corps,situated in barracks at the top of the depot
Painful watching breeches and barrel assembly pieces being destroyed.
Not what I wanted to do either believe me!
@Mr Hewes you believe they have souls as well.
WOW, just found your page, have to say it is amazing, didn't realize such skills were in existence!!!
So sad to see a chieftain in that condition. I noticed the vent tube loader was still fitted. It was a gun fitter from my regiment who invented the mod to stop it jamming.
Circa 1980 I owned an Austin Champ and turn key engines in a crate were available from RR services on Battersea bridge road for the princely sum of £140 ! Wish I still had it 😢
Very nice motors
That V12 start up wow :) Really enjoying your videos, I'm starting from the oldest ;)
Seems like you need an air arc gouge.
That welded in block made it very difficult for you, otherwise cutting through about 6"-7" of metal is straightforward with a straight line burner. Or use a thermic lance next time if you can get one, probably cheaper than all that gas you used and much quicker. Anything is easy when you know how of course and have the right tools. I miss my time in the old steelworks, cutting and repairing ladles etc. I love your tanks, the Chieftain is my fav tank of all time, from when I was a kid.
you need to use a thermal lance for big stuff instead of the gas axe..they are easy enough to make and much better for really thick plate/casting
Impressive
Hello from Grafton Massachusetts
looks like one of the pots is not firing consistently (2nd from Right) at about 7 minutes 45
Good spot. Just needs a plug I should think.
I believe that cutting the gun's backend might be a little bit too restrictive. Even if I have no doubt that the government is directing this for safety reasons and the possibility of these tanks getting into the wrong hands, it would still be wonderful to see the tank in perfect working shape. It would be interesting to watch the Hewes boys fire their tank guns in their paddocks.
Nice engine find!
Sounds great with no headers tbh...like 10 lawnmowers running at the same time 😎
The fact the boxes have Meteor stencilled on the outside is a bit of a giveaway
1:20 now that's the sound of Inevitability.
its pity i saw Meteor on the crate in one of the first few seconds
How good does that sound ❤❤
Sorry I had to leave when you started to talk about cutting up the breach of that magnificent gun.
Interesting fact, in North America, construction contractors that are successful own caterpillar and John Deere equipment. Those just starting out or struggling financially may own a JCB, and that’s never a good sign. However in Europe they seem to be the “goto machine” interesting.
mates im flabbber funked . ive never seen your videos . top stufff
Epic👍
Needs twin turbos
Don’t forget to show us the Meteor car 🤞👍.
They look like marine engines i used to work on in the RN on minesweepers.
Funny, it almost looks like a screaming jimmy in alpine green.
look at that roar !
Amazing !
2 meteor engines.! I have 2 myself!
@ 0:52 "Very hard to find them still like this".
Next:
@ 1:52 "this one is going in a car actually".......
In this way it soon get's even harder to get them for the "right" purpose! 🤷🏼♂️🤦♂️
perhaps a thermal lance next time
This video came up on my suggestions, so turned it on and thought I recognise that workshop, excellent video nice to see proper work on nice kit, albeit so cold your hand sticks to it, just subscribed and will watch any other videos, I used to have a Champ so I'm sort of biased but keep up the great work ,
Oh how I love these toys, unfortunately my mum had stopped my enthusiasm for getting into the military vehicle scene, when I told her that I was nipping over to wales to look ad buy a Ferret she threw herself into a hissy fit! And in NO Way am I t bring one of those disgusting things back home!I tried to reassure her that I would be careful and make sure that I didn’t leave a mess with the Ferret, when. Explained that I was going to power wash the ferret inside and out, she just fainted. What could I do about it? So a year passes me by and I’m starting to get the proverbial itch again, this time with looking at a Scorpion, this was mentioned over dinner at the table and I could see that mum was looking a bit peaked in the discussion. She had asked me where was I thinking of keeping it? “Outside of course “ again she asked where, “on the road of course, I’ll tax it and reclassify it as a private light goods” mum was looking more and more of colour, she asked why would I want to go and do that? “So I could ride it, what else would I want to have a scorpion tank for”. She fainted but when came to she began to understand that I wasn’t talking about furry little felching ferrets and hard shelled crusted scorpions, but military vehicles 🚗. She asked why I couldn’t be more like other testosterone filled young men who would scoured the streets for ladies ? “ but they would constantly cost money and have nothing to show for it “ well my bags were packed and out of the family I left…
own a tank and rent a lady if needed. Make sure the lady knows how to change the tracks to make it worth your money.
What a nice letter. In my 1PWO, Recce pl days I just loved the ferrets and our mess tin Land rovers. I did one of the first driver and maintenance course for the Scorpion CVRT at Bovinton. Happy days. MrJR
Have you tried air arc...? Nice work good to see stuff getting done.
Ah, Merlin on open ports :-)
Meteor in a car. Bonkers
I thought I was doing well having a refurbished Land Rover 2.5D engine in a crate!!! 👍
Could have hit the face of breach with a grinder to tidy it up a bit before reinstalling, looks a touch rough
That exhaust looks close to that fuel tank !
Try and buy yourself a rotator attachment for your forklift, plumb it in and the use it to unscrew the barrel..
Now that’s smart!
@@MrHewes Next time i see one going in our scrap bin at work i'll try and grab it for you.. Do you need a manual for the CVRT, i've got one you can have?
My dad worked at Warminster and rebuilt 5 of the meteor engines he’s friends with the man who worked on those engines
Lost count of the meteors I've worked on
Spent 2 years in the test house mainly meteors & meteorites
Portable bandsaw?
Meteors. Says so on the box.
How many gallons of fuel did you use just running it up like that
Before I even look I'd say these are the old Packard engines like the ones use din the WWII pt boats.
Search Packard 3M, 4M or 5M-2500 (2490cu in) you'll see they are very different to the RR Meteor V12 (1650cu in)
@@Slaktrax, I didn't say they WERE Packards specifically but to me they looked like them.
Shut the lights off!🤪
Is mat still involved in any of your projects
Where do you still find gems like these. Great stuff
Have you tried gouging rods for the cutting ? Could be easier than using oxy
No but maybe next time
Whats happened to fitter matt ... have you parted ways ?
He never added much apart from bigoted remarks and making out he owns everything.
@@drewbarker400 yes he was a bit abrasive! But the videos were well produced and longer
I JUST LOVE THE SOUND OF THOSE MERLINS
Rover Meteor is the correct name 😮
You have to know how much a Terex weighs in order to know what it’s worth 😂😂
make a buggy with that
The last time I saw that I was redoing a Rover P5 engine and tested it sans manifolds- a very moving moment.
Wow cutting the brech.fantastic
What camera and lens do you use?
iPhone 14 pro max
Perhaps a engine.
remember running the meteor on test after overhaul in the engine test house
You remember this engine?
@@MrHewes yes worked on a good few,along with the shitty meteorite on the same test bed
lowered them onto the test bed,bolted down,connected oil tanks electrics etc
fitted flame guard above plugs
fired up set the mixtures
fitted manifolds & associated manifold cooling
carried out running in,ran test ,etc and off the bed in one shift
What an absolute shame having to cut in half a piece of history.
Stupid shipping law..
How do I buy a tank from you???
Loads of cash!
Looks like #2 on the right side is not hitting all the time.
I agree
Nice hdr cam….
iPhone
How much for the T-34???
14p and a packet of quavers
I HAD GUESSED IT WAS A CRATE OF BUTTPLUGS
I’m trying to count the exhaust flames, to discover the firing order. It’s not much of a hobby, I admit.
Wooo, loud much?
Highly doubt they're MYSTERY boxes.
It litterary says Restored Meteor 4b on the box, how is that a mystery?
They're not mystery boxes. They say what's inside them, at 0:05!
🙄
man....so whose honda civic is one going in...lol
Why on earth would there be a requirement to go to this level of deactivation? The L11A5 gun used obturators to seal the breech, the gun would just flash back with any attempt to fire it without them fitted. I've never seen a set in private hands.
I’ve seen manny in private hands
Fair enough. Wouldn't trust them though, primary seal usually failed quickly, only leaves about 4mm steel from a proper roasting. Happy holidays bud.
Because the USA is terrified of Americans
Many Americans have created genius’s ways to activate weapons
Just look how many ideas we have for converting semi auto weapons into machine guns …
Basically they do not want any civilian easily capable of re arming this tank because unlike 🇬🇧
We can also easily find shells and explosives to arm and fire them
Cant watch the gun deactivation its like historical vandalism
Having to cut the breech in half what a waste
Who is the customer for the tank? I know Mr Putin is a little short on supplies.
You are dreaming or swallowing western propaganda. How the collective west has been completely duped by the politicians and the MSM. Real News; search Col Doug MacGregor, he'll tell you the real news.
What a shame that they have to be neutered😔
i just don't see the point of making unable to shoot, not like your Saling tanks on black market, or like you can go to the local gun smith shop order few dozen high speed rounds to send down range for target practice.
How Sad
Мужицкий анбоксинг, а не эти ваши айфоны.
LIVLRG
Its cringe watching this guy ruin that tank
please prioritize finishing the job for whistlindiesel
We waiting on shipping
@@MrHewesdeep wading kit and a life jacket. You know it makes sense.
Yes tank engines
Well seeing as the box at the opening had ‘Meteor’ stencilled on the side, it kind of gave the game away that this was a Centurion tank engine. I stopped watching after that.
Cool story bro
Boy I bet your fun at a party aren’t ya bill George ?
Odd....It would only have been an extra 30 seconds before he opened the crate to see what it was anyhow!