Matilda body
 

Rutherglen (Victoria) Clearing Sale
8 Jones rd, 9.30, 23 feb
"Old army tank shell - possibly Matilda, c/w tracks"

Gillman Real Estate, 0260 328977

No pics or website.
Rich.

Hmmmmmm
 

I know of two hulls in that area, is this one near a shed ??

Kind regards

No idea Matt, I just read the paper.
Not working over that way at the moment, so won't be able to check it out.
Try google maps and see if it's position rings any bells.
Rich.

I decided to test Google Earth's directions. It seems Rutherglen is 25,573 km and 508 hours away from my home, including driving through Hawaii and Japan, with two unexplained sailings.

Terry, thats only an average of 50 kms an hour, bump that up to a more sensible 80km and it's a closer to a meer 300 hours.
See you there..
Rich.

tank
 

Apparently sold for $500 to local scrappies. Tracks and all.

The tank sold for $500, not sure to who as the man who bought it did not have a company logo shirt on. Could have been a scrap dealer.
It was positioned right next to a shed, property located next to the intersection for the road used for the vehicle line up many Corowa parades ago.
One of the Matildas that Ron Fry bought (and on sold???) many years ago as it still had his initials painted on the side.
Hull nearly completly stripped, no mechanicals. Tracks were rolled up in front of it, large sections siezed. It did have the ballistic skirt around the turret ring which I beleive is an Aussie feature.
There was the box/tank assembly (1st pic) also included with it. For the life of me I cannot work out if it is from a Matilda or another tank, it had the metal braided hoses, inspection cover. If someone could ID this....

Lost treasure
 

Hi
The tank is the fuel cell for the flame thrower, very rare, I did ask the agent but they did not have photos or seem that interested in my questions about its condition, they did tell me that they had calls from all over Australia and some one from South Australia was coming to the auction. I have a feeling that Ron Fry still owned that vehicle, I understand it was stored on that property after Ron acquired it from Upton's but never got it home....Bare Hulls like that weigh 19 tonnes so scrap guys get very excited, It was cheep, but add a crane to load it and 3 grand to bring it to my place and its not that glamorous.

Kind regards
Matt

I may be wrong but I heard the scrap merchant that bought it was from Corowa.

You are correct !

fella's don't let it get cut up. that tank is part of your armoured heritage your fathers and grandfathers fought and died in them !

Then and now, Who owns this hull ??
 

Hi Gents

Additional info for those of you that have contacted me regarding the hull

The buyer is a private individual who dabbles in scrap from Daysdale,

I beleive that RF is now aware of the tank being sold without his permission !!!, I am lead to beleive that discussions are underway.( I am unsure what you can do in this situation)

If you require additional info, just give me a call

Kind regards
Matt

well done fella's :salute: looks like it was never in danger of getting the chop. you aussies had me worried there for a while i thought you'd all lost interest in it. my mistake.

all the best

rick

ps. the guy i bought my churchill hull from a couple of years back was going to cut it up and weigh it in. it just goes to show that if you don't actively do something when the opportunity arises this stuff could go forever.

I like that pic of yours Rick. The expressions on your faces says it all.

ryan that aint me in the pic, that's neil the poor bugger that owned the trailer my churchill was getting dragged up on. he vowed to never do it again :D