We Rescued A Pair Of Centurion Tank Recovery Vehicles! Will We Get Them Running Again?

In this video we travel to sunny Manchester to rescue some centurion recovery vehicles ready for some restoration. Not everything goes to plan as we have to fight with stuck brakes, tricky access and seized tracks to get these vehicles loaded up ready for restoration. To see these at the other end of their journey make sure to check out joes channel below.
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[@markbowen3638]

The way Joe is going he'll have more tanks than the British army! Glad to see them being rescued.

[@darthweeble7817]

That wouldn't be too difficult these days...!

[@paulcharlton4788]

I read somewhere there are more private military vehicles in the UK than the Army have. That was a few years ago now as well.

[@nicholasviney5975]

False advertising I've been watching this channel for ages and I've not seen Mat have a single fit, he's thrown a wobbly a few times but that's it. Good vid as always guys, love seeing this old stuff being saved and given a new life.

[@me37631]

At Last! Bring on the big boys, time to drive a Centurion Main Battle Tank! The Dogs Bollocks! Now we’re talking. Fifty tons of steel, a 27,000cc Rolls Royce Meteor Engine (of Spitfire fame), a crash unmeshed gear box and a giant thirst of four gallons of petrol to the mile. Fabulous and very exciting! Delighted that I wasn’t paying for the petrol I started my Centurion familiarisation course. I was taught to drive a centurion gun-tank at Bordon by a polish guy called Ray Stopinski. He could drive the Cent second to none. 27000cc, crash box, stick changes, double de-clutching, no brakes of any use. Real proper driving. Even with 27000cc to move it about the Cent takes some skill to get moving. Particularly so in mud, on sand, and across uneven ground. Tank driver training grounds tend to be uneven, muddy places and all the mud and unevenness wants to do is stop your Cent from moving. Stick in the mud. So off we go. In a cent there are three conventional pedals, except their huge. The gearstick rises between your legs and the steering is through two tillers at either side of your seat. Pull the right one to turn right and vice versa on the left. Start the engine, clutch in, into 2nd gear and off we go. On the hard standing its straightforward. Into third gear, double-declutch, same as a lorry. Match the engine revs to the transmission and road speed. Up and down the box. Five up and down, two reverse. Gently pull on the tillers and the Cent changes direction on its central axis. Fabulous and easy, how good is this. Next day onto rough ground, ‘The ‘Ulu’’ all rough ground is ‘The ‘Ulu’’. Off the hardstanding, it’s been raining and onto ‘The ‘Ulu’’. Onto mud. The Cent becomes a strange abrasively argumentative new animal. Whereas on the road its easy and obedient on the mud it doesn’t want to go. Add a little angle of hill and it just stops. Try again, pull off, stop. Try again, pull off, change gear, just stop. Try again, pull off, build up revs, go a little faster, change up, die a death, and stop. For fucks sake! Ray Stopinski waves his red circle traffic lollipop. Try again, same thing starts, try. Stop. For fucks sake. Have a fag sitting on the gun barrel. Ray explains that the mud and the wet and the angle all serve to stop the vehicle moving. I can’t get it from 2nd to 3rd. Ray explains I need to ‘stick-change’. What is a stick-change? He explains that stick change is a simultaneous three-way action involving the clutch, the gearstick and a steering tiller that must be done super quickly. So that the next gear is selected before the speed attained in the 2nd gear isn’t lost before the clutch is re-engaged and the engine power re-applied. Oh! Why didn’t you say so. It’s as clear as the three feet deep mud we are attempting driving in. It’s a complicated thing to explain to a relatively inexperienced driver. It’s even more complicated if it’s explained in a thick polish accent, with a wet fag in your gob, while gesticulating wildly with a red traffic lollipop and sitting on a centurion tank barrel in the rain parked in three feet of sticking mud. But it worked and I got it. Once you’ve got it you’ve got it. It’s just suddenly there. A fabulous feeling of achievement and strangely enough the more you practice the slicker you get. A real skill. I’d go so far to say If you could drive a Centurion properly you were the 'creme de la creme' of drivers in the entire British Forces. Much better than 'any' other drivers, there was more to it. No automatics, no synchromesh. If you can get one of these fifty-ton steel beast moving quickly, especially when towing on ‘The ‘Ulu’’, then you are a master and can drive anything. You were the 'best of the best'. www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CM3X4SC2

[@carlwilson1772]

Meteor was a derivative of the Merlin. A toy Merlin really. A Merlin was near enough 1300hp at sea level.

[@ChedgyMTB]

I’d like to know the back stories to any vehicles you collect. Ie how did the owner come to have them? Then how did you find them etc would be cool to know 😁 others might not agree but I’d like to know 😂

[@deepred6041]

Same here, that would be fascinating to know

[@gijohn2]

I agree with that

[@richardwedlock9526]

i bought the ARV with no tracks from a collector in oxfordshire 5 years ago and the other one at auction from a father and son in heywood, lancs

[@gijohn2]

@@richardwedlock9526 had you planned on restoring them both or scrap weight?

[@richardwedlock9526]

@@gijohn2 i had planned on making them into tiger 1 replicas but the cost of casting track at £68k each tank put me off the idea

[@tinymonster9762]

Its absolutely fantastic that these historic vehicles are being saved.

[@chullychullster3077]

Holy shit, I keep flinching each time they use the winch and one of them is stood in a great position to get their head cut off or get sliced in two if the cable snapped. I'm sure they know what they're doing, but still, when I hear it straining....

[@curtisss]

I feel the exact same way, I have seen one too many videos of people being killed on ships by tug lines that snap

[@captiannemo1587]

@@curtisss yah, unless you have a serious reason... best to stand as far away and to the side as possible.

[@jjojo2004]

Did I just watch a 15 minute video of a couple of blokes trying to pull a junked tank out of the mud? Thank you KZbin. AND I just SUBSCRIBED to this channel! LOLOLOL

[@fittermat]

Plenty more dicking around with silly vehicles to come

[@Unimerk]

Great video, lovely job you guys have 👍

[@leecollett8522]

Top videos Matt 😊

[@iwayini]

Awesome! Lets see if you guys get these running.

[@fittermat]

That's the plan!

[@Sarge084]

If in doubt, give it a clout!

[@neilobusk]

This is actually very sunny for Manchester.. me and my mum been watching joes channel will recommend this one too... she was fascinated by his learn to drive a tank vid... I guess there are probably more parts available for centurions then there are for Porsches seems to be a youtube thing at the moment. buy a broken one of them moan about parts... great vid...more please N x

[@robertpacker]

Amazing work you guys do 👍🤘

[@destinny29]

nice work lads

[@markleigh3]

Always remember Richard Hammond “you’ve scratched me tank” Do they make tank grade slippery Jim’s

[@Mark.R_]

"If in doubt, give it a clouth" Tom Baker as Dr Who's favorite way of fixed the TARDIS.

[@philltatham4732]

Excellent more toys 👍

[@ColonelBummleigh]

12:45 Robot Wars!

[@stevesmith7530]

That second one, you could have done with having an ARV handy. Got my coat, left.

[@fittermat]

One of the fodens would have been very handy!

[@andyhoare3993]

Gonna need a bigger toybox. (not jealous at all) 🤣

[@mikeschillinger4427]

Should've taken the Foden!

[@Herbybandit]

The second looks like it's in really good nick.

[@fredclarijs7370]

Nice

[@benswales2620]

Love that, don’t know, don’t care, got fed, got home 😂😂😂

[@johnnunn8688]

Nice to see a JCB driver that knows his shit.

[@anthonylewis679]

Love that british army black and green cammo scheme.

[@fittermat]

It’s rather good

[@bazwabat1]

Violence, and big hammers......might try that at work! 🙂

[@alancampbell1008]

How easy is it to find stuff like tracks for the missing bits?

[@bobpocock87]

I'd love to know where they keep finding them

[@peterlovett5841]

Now I have seen it all - someone getting jiggy-jiggy with a Centurion tank.

[@fittermat]

Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it

[@raysprott5493]

Great stuff, God knows where or how you find them all 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@johnnunn8688]

It must have been seeing the bare sprockets but wouldn’t it be fun to get a suitable vehicle and make a flail tank out of it 👍🙏.

[@formhubfar]

5:30.., Kango on that central bar will free the brakes up.

[@Wandering-manc]

Seen these in Hyde

[@michaelguerin56]

Joe would have been grinning like the Cheshire Cat after all that focused violence, would he not?😊

[@timorvet1]

FV 432 behind the excavator at 7:54?

[@deepred6041]

You had me at "Centurion"

[@fittermat]

Back when we made the best tanks in the world

[@gavinferguson]

any thoughtsabout reengine with a newer diesel or are there plenty of the old ones about

[@NUTTER8291]

Good to see you lending a hand Matt !! Question If the tank is in a position like this can you still use the tillers to stear the tank, while the engine is off ??

[@samleigh7817]

Not without the tracks, depending on the machine how the brakes work weather you can steer with no engine but on a big one unlikely.

[@NUTTER8291]

Sorry Obviously with the tracks lol Ut thanks

[@samleigh7817]

I remember the CVRT series, you had to undo the cover on the sprocket, unscrew a door catch and pull the drive shaft if you were being towed as it broke the gearbox if you were going any distance.

[@jons5366]

Just give'er the ol'jiggle wiggle! she'll straighten right out...

[@ianatkinson8464]

😎👍

[@mauricelevy9027]

Both of them still have their bazooka plates intact too. Poor old girls aren't they ,left unloved for Years no doubt . We had one in Munster in the '50s.

[@fittermat]

Soon be back in action!

[@paralogregt]

And in the 80’s in munster. My best fun driving of any vehicle ever. Never mastered a good stick change though.

[@patchmack4469]

i do love a good AEV - oh dear did someone apply the handbrake on the second one, this is why the army never use them, nice and clean though - nice recovery Flatter Matter

[@fittermat]

Cheers!

[@iantowers6972]

If in doubt give it a clout!!! Never fails if the hammers big enough !!!👍👌🤣🤣

[@fittermat]

There’s always a bigger hammer

[@philleeson7835]

Bigger the problem, bigger the hammer

[@lwilton]

What is the tracked thing on the other side of the fence from that second ARV? (Over by the material racks.)

[@PieAndChips]

FV432 variant

[@garyphillips7993]

Looks like you could have done with an ARV…

[@fittermat]

We will have one for next time

[@matttonks1591]

Urgh, Manchester... 😂

[@richwhittaker1857]

I want one

[@fittermat]

Got to work with what you’ve got

[@QALibrary]

Do you just go out and buy stuff or is it brought to order?

[@fittermat]

Have to grab these things as they come up

[@nickslistm246]

If I'm understanding right these two are tank wreckers / downed tank recovery units right?

[@fittermat]

That’s the badgers

[@nickslistm246]

@@fittermat ok so these are more like the US Army's m88a1, they get tanks unstuck and rolling again. I'm not very up on the hole British military vehicles, so I'm try to learn a bit so not to sound like a total idiot when i commit. Hello from Indianapolis, Indiana, US.

[@billspence1799]

The clue's in the name - ARV - Armour(ed) Recovery Vehicle.

[@babaganoush6106]

@@billspence1799 lol he’s American be gentle

[@1chish]

@@nickslistm246 Oi Oi Nick. There is no such thing as daft questions just daft answers. I am amazed you understand the accents. I struggle .. 😂😂

[@819ANT]

what area are you based in? do you have volunteers for working on these? where would one apply if so? Ex navy marine engineer with a fascination with such toys

[@1chish]

You do realise the engines are a little bit smaller than on ships? 🤣🤣 Just the right sort of hands they need though. Respects to your service mate. Per Ardua Ad Astra.

[@819ANT]

@@1chish i am aware :P i mostly play with tractors landrovers and old plant these days

[@geoffmcconville5792]

How many recovery vehicles does a man need?😂 you have single handedly blown the n+1 formula, n being the number you currently own! Applies to all forms of vehicular hoarding 😱

[@fittermat]

At least one for every day of the week

[@geoffmcconville5792]

@@fittermat well I suppose with your history that lifts the odds on one starting!!🤣

[@ianmitchell3725]

Where do you find them all so jealous

[@fittermat]

It’s surprising how many are still out there waiting to be saved

[@ianmitchell3725]

@Fitter Mat is going to need a bigger farm

[@markwilson9760]

Need a heavier excavator to push these around

[@66kbm]

No NI spec Saracens then.........

[@fittermat]

Not something we’re overly interested in to be honest

[@denisohbrien]

kinda weird seing that jcb, being a very capable machine, straight struggling with the tank, yet if you had a foden there probably have moved it no bother.

[@cbmsysmobile]

How the hell do you just manage to "find" a pair of Centurion ARV? BTW the British Army probably need these as half their Challenger fleet is out of action.

[@fittermat]

We found more than two, keep an eye on the bideos

[@1chish]

@ 10:45 that 'Beast' is a Foden - aka ERF (ER Foden). EC 14 if memory serves. When ERF was bought out by MAN I was a chargehand at an MAN main dealer and we had great fun matching the MAN electronics and speed limiters to the Cummins / ERF ECUs. In the end I worked out that if we opened up the Cummins / ERF limiter to 100MPH the MAN limiter would keep it legal @ 56MPH. Although I swear one could do 65.

[@philleeson7835]

Not an ERF. Two completely separate companies. Edward foden wanted to go with the internal combustion engine.the rest of the family wanted to remain with steam and the family split,E R forming ERF and the family staying with the Foden name

[@mrfishbulb7187]

Get out the IAV - Intelligent Application of Violence

[@tezinho81]

A whacking great hammer and a can of WD40 save the day again

[@davyfella]

I better not be hearing you refer to God's own Craftsmen as Remmy. Arte et Marte

[@fittermat]

It’s good to know kwik fit will never be short of staff while the remmy are still around!

[@SJThompson]

Ouch! Some of us were actually pretty good mechanics and never set foot in a Kwik fit even just for tyres. 😅

[@tlrfun3]

Very confused on the choice of music as clearly not loading a Boat 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@fittermat]

Give me 12 good men, few welders and a pallet of expanding foam and we could sail the lump

[@seabiscuits]

Are you saying welders and good men cannot be the same? Surely not! 😉

[@neilfairless4589]

When the PM agreed to help Ukraine, did Joe get a a call?

[@babaganoush6106]

I get confused with fitter and mr heyes

[@fittermat]

I’m fat, he’s skinny, we both like hammers and cool vehicles

[@babaganoush6106]

@@fittermat ok fanks for de clarificashun. Great to see the centurions being cared for

[@user-bc6cb9zu1u]

What a shitemare!